In April, SAE International released its first-ever standard designed to help companies ensure they are procuring and installing legitimate electronic parts rather than counterfeit ones. The standard, AS5553, Counterfeit Electronic Parts; Avoidance, Detection, Mitigation, and Disposition, was developed primarily for companies in the aerospace and defense industry.

Counterfeit parts are widely perceived to be a growing problem. Preliminary data from studies conducted by the U.S. Department of Commerce, for example, show the number of reported counterfeit incidents jumped from 3,868 in 2005 to an estimated 9,356 in 2008. This rising number is a concern for companies throughout the aerospace and defense supply chain, but particularly for prime contractors and subcontractors, since counterfeits can cause a number of problems, including schedule delays, cost increases and performance issues.

According to Bruce Mahone, director of Washington operations, aerospace, for SAE International, the organization’s new counterfeit electronic parts standard was created at the behest of NASA, which was concerned about the rising number of counterfeit electronic parts in the supply chain.

“Electronic parts are very interesting. If you buy them directly from the manufacturer or from one of his authorized distributors that carries all the warranty details, what they call the pedigree of a part, you are pretty well assured of getting the correct part,” says Mahone. “The problem is, things like aircraft and certain spacecraft like the space shuttle have such long lives that the companies that originally manufactured the parts often go out of business or no longer make the parts. So you can’t buy directly from the manufacturer or from one of his authorized distributors. You end up going to a broker who basically buys up old parts.”

Brokers may or may not be aware they are selling counterfeits. Either way, they are a significant source of counterfeit electronic components, which can range from parts that are clearly fakes to those that are hard to distinguish from the real item. Types of counterfeits include parts have been remarked, components that were salvaged from old assemblies and defective parts that should have been destroyed by the original manufacturer. Or they are parts that are sold as new, but are really refurbished, with much more limited life spans than the new components they claim to be.

AS5553 was designed to combat the influx of these types of problem parts into the supply chain by providing recommended practices and procedures to help companies reduce the chances of receiving or using counterfeit electronic parts. Even though it was created for the aerospace and defense industry, it can be adopted by any company that is dealing with counterfeit electronic parts in its operations.

However, given the standard’s stringent requirements, it may not be as practical for industries such as consumer electronics, where turnaround times are vital, unlike aerospace and defense, where the focus is on developing mission- and life-critical aircraft and spacecraft.

“Counterfeits are a concern for all electronics, but it’s just a more critical, dangerous and expensive concern in aerospace,” says Mahone.

Now that the counterfeit electronics standard has been published, SAE is beginning work on a companion standard that will focus on alleviating similar problems with counterfeit mechanical parts such as fasteners and fluid fittings.

The new standard will be comparable to AS5553, says Mahone.

“It will be similar in a lot of ways. And the paperwork part would be similar. But the testing would be different and you’d be dealing with different types of companies. I think different people would have the expertise to not only manufacture but also try to counterfeit mechanical parts.”

The standard is in the early discussion stage; those interested in joining in the effort can contact SAE for more details.