Astute Electronics first European company to be certified to AS 6081

Astute takes testing much farther than simple visual inspection and functional test. The company uses scanning electron microscopy equipment to check to see if the part has the right marking and materials and also to compare parts against a library of known good parts it has built up. Therefore, if a component shows up with a different material construction it can be identified immediately as a fake.

Geoff Hill, MD, Astute Electronics, comments: “With our customer base, Astute has been at the leading edge of preventing counterfeit components entering the supply chain for many years now. Back in 2006 we identified that industry needed to take this issue very much more seriously than before. Since then we have invested over £1M in test facilities in the UK which are used to determine the authenticity of any components that we source which do not come with full manufacturers’ tracing documentation, a situation that mostly occurs in the course of sourcing obsolescent components. We also have set up a similar facility in our premises in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.”

Adds Hill: “Effectively, our test facility allows us to check the ‘DNA’ of a device against a proven ‘gold standard’ in order to determine whether or not the part is genuine or counterfeit. This process enables us to offer a 10 year guarantee on all components that we source out of franchise. We are proud and delighted to be able to offer our customers the highest levels of protection.”