Marc, the issue is MUCH, MUCH broader than management system certificates. On a daily basis, counterfeit certificates, reports, records, etc. create huge problems for the business world. <snip>
Here is my situation in looking at this...
First of all, in the 1980's I worked in a lot of DoD companies, some of which I can't put on my resume (confidentially aspects). Around 1989 I was in a company and two DIA fellows came to the door and asked for me. I came up front and they asked for a conference room where "we can talk". Did that and they stayed and questioned me until 5PM and said they would be back the next morning, which they were. We spent the best part of the next day "talking" about the company. Finally they left and I didn't hear from them again. Personally I thought it was hilarious because I knew I did nothing wrong and I knew the company did nothing wrong - But these guys were playing "good cop, bad cop" just like in the movies (and, I would guess, happens in real life more than we know).
Then, about (hard to remember the exact time/date) maybe a year later I saw an article in the local paper about a company which was surrounded by DIA personnel and vehicles, including trucks (yup, guns and the whole bit). The DIA folks told everyone to stay at thwir desk or work station until they were called for would not let anyone leave until they were "interviewed", and... They carted out every file cabinet, boxed up practically everything paper, the few computers the place had (including the engineering department's drafting computer) and drove off with everything. They quite literally closed the company down.
My involvement? I did some work for them in verifying the laboratory records, outside testing (I had a lot done at Wyle), materials certs and all that jazz. And yes - Metals to the mill, and a few times to the ore mine(!). Their accusation was that I, or someone working there, falsified test or other records. None ever were, but... They they smelled a conspiracy to defraud and pressed on.
I won't name the company, but I will say that they were involved in glass sealed bulkhead electrical (mainly for systems such as data transfer, sensor communications/data, controls systems, etc.) connectors for use in nuclear submarines, jets (both commercial and US services aircraft) and a few other "high reliability" applications. Most of their products were DoD related, so scrutiny was serious and "heavy duty" (for lack of a better word). A DCAS rep was always looking over my/our shoulder.
How did this come up? The company hired a lab guy to take on the job full time as I had other more profitable things to do (and they seriously needed a full time person). I probably screwed up because as I transferred to him what his job duties were at one point I remember I did say something like "Don't let sales talk you into trying to get testing done quicker than is realistic, as they will pressure you for test results so they can get the product on the QPL list." When you're involved with testing at places like Wyle, you get to understand that if you're scheduled for time/date on a shaker, for example, or in a chamber, you might actually get in a week, 2 weeks or so later than they originally promised. I would figure out a schedule, double the time, and submit it to management so I was always "on time" or early. Sales did not like a drawn out schedule which, if you let them, they sort of brow beat you into promising all the testing in a shorter time (something I refused to to - I gave them "worst case" schedules without saying they were "worst case". I just said - Here is my timeline). "Well, if we ship it FedEx..." which I was already doing was a common "we can do this faster" talking point they would throw out.
Well, the guy they hired was pressured by sales. He was a young fellow and not (in my opinion then and now) qualified to do the job, and was definitely without any manufacturing experience, much less experience in DoD work. So - Sales pressured him, he freaked out and contacted the DIA as a "whistle blower" (which he eventually got something like US$75K for...). He was convinced I, or someone in the company had falsified test data.
So - What happened? I didn't find out until some years later. I was doing supplier audits for a very large company in the mid-2000's. One day it came up on my schedule to audit that company. It was back up and running, and in fact was quite nice compared to when I did some work there years before. When I arrived it was the "same old crew" that worked there when I did work there (relatively small local company). They all knew me from when I walked in the door, and I knew almost everyone there. During a lunch with one of them I asked what ended up happening. He told me that it took something like 9 months(?) (during which the company was essentially out of business) before the DIA brought everything back. The DIA screwed around with threats of various charges during that time. In the end the company was fined for "promoting QPL products" when, in fact, the test results were not in. Sales had pushed for "quick" test results, didn't get them, but pushed out a sales pamphlet announcing some items for sale "in the near future" that were not on the QPL list - Yet. So, no orders were taken prior to the actual QPL listing was approved and entered. The DIA had to save face, as it were, so they sort of had to charge them with
something to justify their actions. I think there was a small fine, but no data or tests were falsified so the DIA was sitting there looking like asses. The company (sales) had done no more than say, in so many words: "Coming soon!" The DIA asshats cost that company one heck of a lot of $$$$. They saw a conspiracy where there simply wasn't one.
Now - Why the long response... In some ways I admit some of my posts here are, in a way, a part of the diary of my life. In this case I am also wanting you to understand that I know, and have lived through, "traceability". In this case, I was, when I was there (not to mention a number of times in subsequent work) seriously involved in "traceability". I have a special place in my heart for that necessity and all that it encompasses. In automotive I was involved in airbag design and development, from components to completed assemblies where again, traceability requirements are serious, complex and highly regulated. As you may (or may not) know, I have also worked in product and process design of explosives in two places. I can't tell about my work with Boeing and a few other companies, and I'm sure you understand why...
Anyway - At the company which was "raided and frozen", part of my job at the time I was involved was verification of metals. Not just CoC or CofA's, but traceability of metal which reached back to practically the mine the metal ore came from. In short, I fully understand traceability of (in this case) metals, not just to the mill.
Now - On to counterfeit parts. They existed in the 1980's when I was in DoD aerospace and marine applications, and have existed for hundreds of years. You can easily go back to the US's civil war (and the second world war, the Vietnam war and the Iraq war, for that matter) where unscrupulous profit seekers sold everything from rifle shells filled with sand (or totally empty) to shells which were "expired". Tank repair parts, aerospace parts, you name it - Fraud and greed are not new.
Blockchain - I have no idea where "blockchain" will end up. At this point I believe it is a good idea - If it works. But I don't believe it's a proven technology and I am not convinced it won't be compromised just as "hologram" labels and so many other traceability/verification methods have. The US has designed some $$ bills. An example is the US100 bill. I'm looking at one of the "new" ones right now - Blue "streak" down the middle, colors and I guess it's a watermark. Of course, no one counterfeits these any more with the possible exception of nation-states (North Korea has been
accused of it). This isn't the old movies "bunch of guys in the back" printing off bills. My position at this point is blockchain has potential, but it is not a
proven technology. Does it have great promise? Well, yes, but like
Edison's concrete houses (and all computer CPU chips going back 10+ {15+???} years) sometimes a "great idea/technology" simply doesn't work out or an exploit is discovered.
*** For those of you who are interested, it's a complex story which includes a couple of mines Edison bought which failed, his need to sell concrete, and some other interesting stuff.
Read (for starters):
4: Concrete House - 10 Inventions by Thomas Edison (That You've Never Heard Of) | HowStuffWorks
and
Thomas Edison: The inventor's patent for the construction of all-concrete houses.
and
Edison's System of Concrete Houses - Scientific American
But note that there are some errors in one link which states Edison envisioned
wooden molds. In actual fact, he didn't (his patent was for metal moulds), but a fellow investor in the mines (if I remember correctly) did successfully try wooden molds about 10 years later (circa 1917) and successfully built (poured to be more precise) several "blocks" of the flat roofed homes. Needless to say, they just never caught on.
But back to my story...
Admittedly, it would be nice if actually there was no possible way of falsifying the certificates issued by the original mill, for example. Sounds good theoretically, but again - So did Edison's concrete house patent. It took a number of years, and millions of dollars Edison lost, before Edison finally gave it up as a failed idea.
Blockchain is a bit new for me to trust what it will do what theoretically it claims it will. I'm admittedly pessimistic at this point. My iMac is still on El Capitan. I don't for a minute trust High Sierra. I want to see it run for at least a year before I would consider upgrading. Even my iPhone 6S+ is still on iOS 10.3. Everything works. I don't need or want the "new stuff" (e.g.: more "emojis") iOS 11 offers. I may upgrade the OS next year.
Admittedly, and obviously, I'm not a gambler. And I have often times in posts in this forum said I'm not a businessman.
Now, let's imagine a fully digital process which by the same document could be emailed in a way that no unauthorized alteration happens (such as via blockchain), the process could be done in minutes and cost pennies.
Well, time will tell. Same with:
Like, for example, a distributor of metal alloys sell bars of stainless steel and titanium and uses counterfeit certificates in the process. If there was no possible way of falsifying the certificates issued by the original mill and such certificates would be available to any interested stakeholder, that would be a huge benefit to the business world. Ditto for food safety data, healthcare/patient data, any critical data where integrity and security is paramount.
Sounds ideal. Will it work?
And also, admittedly, I know nothing about VeChain - But they'll get their share of $$$. They have a theory to sell and DNV has bought in. I do hope all the hype turns out to be true and it actually actually works. We won't know for a number of years whether it really does or not.
Think back to all the promises of technology advances at the
1962 Seattle Worlds Fair, and
GM's 1939 "This is the future"
Blockchain? We'll see.