RETAILOBSERVER.COM SEPTEMBER 2017
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AHAM'S ANNUAL MEMBER MEETING
LOOKS AHEAD TO THE NEXT 50…
AHAM added a milestone to its history at its 2017 annual member
meeting, The Next 50…, with its largest-ever attendance. Attendees
took part in sessions on cutting-edge appliance industry issues like
cybersecurity, counterfeit products, and the circular economy and
got an inside look at product safety regulation from Consumer
Product Safety Commission Acting Chair Ann Marie Buerkle. AHAM
also honored five members for their leadership and service.
MANUFACTURERS URGED TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST
COUNTERFEITING
Whether water filters, air bags or ink cartridges, counterfeiters
will duplicate and sell anything that has the potential to make money.
In the process, they are putting consumer safety at risk, and
potentially causing serious harm to brands' reputation. It's in
manufacturers' best interest to fight back, counterfeit expert Bruce
Foucart of Foucart and Associates told AHAM members. "The
more of a pain you can be to counterfeiters, the more likely they are
to go elsewhere," said Foucart, former director of the U.S. IPR
Coordination Center, Department of Homeland Security.
CYBERSECURITY EXPERT: MORE CONNECTED FEATURES
BRING NEW THREATS
The number of connected devices has grown to more than 8
billion, and appliances are adding more connected features. But
malicious code that exploits vulnerabilities and turns connected
devices into weapons is also growing at an exponential rate, accor-
ding to Ron Ross, a fellow at the National Institute of Standards and
Technology and head of the Federal Information Security and
Implementation Project. That means manufacturers need to give
serious thought as to how they'll build security into their products,
not consider how to add it afterward, Ross told AHAM members.
"Even with the best security, no measures will stop all attacks,"
Ross said. "When you're designing an appliance or any kind of
system, build security in."
CIRCULAR ECONOMY: A CHANGING MODEL
Are the days of using a product until it stops working, discarding
it and replacing it, over? Probably not, but it's likely that more
companies will shift to a product-as-a-service model as consumers
demand products that last longer and do more. Scarcity of
SEPTEMBER
I N D U S T RY [ N E W S ]