Joining forces against increasing product and brand piracy
With the acquisition of tesa's subsidiary scribos on 1 September 2021, the KURZ Group, one of the global leaders in thin-film technology and market leader in security elements for banknotes and documents, will expand its expertise and product range. Over the past few years, tesa scribos has developed into a market-leading digital platform for brand protection, characterised by highly innovative security features. scribos thus serves a growing need of its multinational customer base, which values brand protection and wants to track where counterfeits of its products appear worldwide.
"scribos is one of Germany's TOP 100 Innovators 2021 and a leading provider of Brand Protection. KURZ has unique process and application know-how in thin-film technology as the basis of complex security solutions for product and brand protection. So much concentrated expertise is an extremely promising combination. That is why we see great potential in joint product development and in the exchange in R&D, which will open up completely new ways for our joint customers to protect their products and brands", explains CEO Walter Kurz.
"The scribos product portfolio has expanded and developed significantly in the 20 years of cooperation with tesa SE. While it was initially our tesa adhesive technology that made scribos products interesting, it is now digital features that can be combined with the anti-counterfeiting markings. This is a field in which scribos can develop significantly more perspectives for the future with another partner. Cooperation with the experts at KURZ is an ideal basis for this extremely creative and innovative team to continue to take off," says tesa SE CEO Dr. Norman Goldberg, explaining the decision to place the scribos subsidiary in new hands.
Competence shoulder-to-shoulder against global counterfeiters
Last year, German Customs reported a new record in the seizure of counterfeits: The total value of the goods discovered amounted to 238.87 million euros. Most affected were clothing and electronic products1. But other segments were not spared either. From medicines to tools to food and cosmetics, significantly more counterfeits were seized. Despite record levels of detection: experts agree that this is only the tip of the iceberg and that counterfeiters still manage to operate on a large scale worldwide without being detected.
An incalculable risk for brand manufacturers, which two industry giants for security solutions are now countering with a powerful alliance: With KURZ and tesa scribos, two of the most innovative providers of security solutions worldwide are combining their individual strengths.
Concentrated innovative power as a recipe for success
With the products and services of tesa scribos, the globally active KURZ Group is supplementing and expanding the portfolio of its core business area of security and further expanding the brand and product protection segment. In doing so, KURZ is relying above all on what the two specialised companies have in common: their enormous innovative strength, their claim to develop customised security solutions for individual needs, and their global service orientation.
"More than 500 customers worldwide already rely on our expertise, including global brands such as Peugeot, Bosch, Castel, Danone and Chloé," says Sebastian Praefcke, Managing Director at tesa scribos. "The marking technology from scribos is at the heart of the protection programme. The markings provide the touchpoint, in combination with the digital platforms and tools, to push counterfeits out of the market, create transparency in the supply chain and gain valuable market insights."
Leveraging synergies for high-impact solutions
With the acquisition into the KURZ Group, tesa scribos will in future be in line with other well-known subsidiaries such as OVD Kinegram (with its KINEGRAM® technology one of the world's leading providers of security solutions for the protection of government documents and banknotes), PolyIC (innovative manufacturer of printed touch interface technology) or KURZ Digital (application specialist for individual digitisation concepts). New synergies that are now emerging within the Kurz Group hold the potential for security solutions that make it harder than ever for counterfeiters worldwide to do illegal business. And they open up completely new digital brand and product perspectives for manufacturers.
Taking over the basis for success and retaining trust
In keeping with the motto "Never touch a running system", the existing organisation, including management and employees, as well as the tesa scribos locations, will also be taken over and retained in their existing form as part of the KURZ Security business unit. The sales relationship, customer service and security of supply for customers will also remain unaffected. "In 20 years, tesa scribos has developed into one of the leading solution providers for digital transformation at the product level and has redefined brand protection with markings and digitalisation solutions. We want to maintain this drive to success by strengthening the basis of this success story," explains KURZ and adds: "When it comes to the topic of security, trust is known to be the strongest currency. Just like tesa scribos, we have earned this trust from our customers over the years."
That's why customers will experience the alliance as a profitable bundling of expertise in security, with top products, solutions and service. And if you look closely - you will recognise the addition to the KURZ family by slight adjustments to product brand names.
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