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AIA: Strengthening Safeguards Against Counterfeit Parts

by Marion C. Blakey, AIA President & CEO
Originally appeared in Trade & Industry Development, May 09, 2011

Counterfeiting has been around for nearly as long as humans have traded things of value. An Aztec manuscript from the mid-16th century, for instance, cites warnings against making false cacao beans, which were used as currency. Counterfeiters made wax replicas and refilled hollow beans with sand.

Today counterfeiting affects manufacturers as well as treasuries, and is a particular concern in aerospace and defense.

Each year aerospace products safely transport billions of passengers and billions of dollars worth of cargo. They reliably perform national security missions, protecting citizens at home and troops in the field, and maintain communications, surveillance and research capabilities in space. Their performance day in and day out is a testament to the safeguards of this industry that keep counterfeit parts from putting lives and national security at risk.

Read more at Trade & Industry Development.