WIKA has updated two product families with QR codes on the dial face to give users quick and easy access to complete details about their specific instruments. The redesigns also improve functionality and make it harder for counterfeiters to pass off their copies as WIKA products.
Fakes and look-alikes impact more than just the fashion industry. When counterfeiters make knockoff designer handbags, the buyer might lose a few hundred dollars and be stuck with an inferior product. But when the fakes are pharmaceuticals, machine parts, or industrial instrumentation, end users risk real physical harm.
In the past decade, WIKA’s Brands & Patents department has uncovered and seized counterfeit gauges in Malaysia and Vietnam, and has even taken down a fake WIKA China website.
To assure customers that their WIKA instruments are genuine, we have given some of our most popular instruments a makeover. Look for these updated features on certain steel pressure gauges and mechanical thermometers.
1. QR Codes for Clear Instrument Identification
Our stainless steel pressure gauges and thermometers now have a small QR code on the dial. These instruments include our bestselling gauges 23x.30, 23x.34, 23x.50, and 23x.54.
2. WIKA Product Passport for Complete Product Details
Example of a WIKA Product Passport page
Scanning the code takes you to the WIKA Product Passport. This is an online portal with that particular instrument’s identification details. In one handy location, you can find the following information for that product:
- 11-digit serial number
- Item number
- Manufacturing date
- Product specifications — measuring range, connection type, IP rating, materials, etc.
- Calibration history (if relevant)
- Technical documents — data sheet, operating instruction, product approvals, certificates, and test reports
Having the instrument’s specs, documentation, and identification link assures customers that they have an authentic WIKA product. The online Passport also enables fast, error-free reordering, easy integration into existing systems, and improved lifecycle management. Another bonus: all documents are always up to date and available 24/7. No other comparable instrument manufacturer today offers this in-depth level of online information.
WIKA gauges with the brand’s signature blue color
3. Increased Counterfeit Protection through Color Branding
The QR code is a quick way to see that product’s unique serial number; this is compliant with the IEC 61406 standard for the unique identification of physical industrial objects. Customers can further identify genuine WIKA gauges and thermometers by looking for the brand’s signature color. All external elastomer parts, such as the window seal, vent plug/valve, and blow-out cover, are now in WIKA blue rather than a generic black or yellow.
This color change alone won’t deter all counterfeiters, but it does make the effort more difficult.
4. Better Readability with Improved Sealing Contour
The window seal in blue elastomer is not only a branding effort. It also is functional. Thanks to the seal and its improved geometry and contour, there is no longer any need for metal to be inside the case. This is important since bright light, like sunlight, on shiny surfaces can create reflections, which make it harder to read the dial face.
WIKA USA, Maker of Trusted Process Instruments
Stainless steel pressure gauges and thermometers remain an indispensable part of process industries, as these robust mechanical instruments reliably provide measured values without requiring power. These latest upgrades, as well as the Product Passport, offer added value — all without adding a cent to the price tag. What’s more, over 95% of the WIKA gauges and bimetal thermometers are assembled at our state-of-the-art facility in Lawrenceville, Georgia, using U.S. labor.
WIKA uses all legal means at its disposal to take action against counterfeiters. We do this not just to protect our industry-leading reputation, but also to safeguard our customers from harm caused by fake products and their inferior quality. For example, all WIKA stainless steel gauges undergo helium leak testing that’s 5,000 times tougher than the industry requirement. This level of quality control is something that product pirates would never do.
Contact WIKA USA for more information about these upgraded gauges and thermometers, and which genuine WIKA instruments are best suited for your industrial applications.