doi:10.3850/978-981-08-7920-4_S1-C05-cd

ABSTRACT

Counterfeiting in the construction industry is the deliberate intention to deceive the construction owner, manufacturer, supplier, or contractor by fraudulent representation of materials or products. The normal quality assurance/control processes may not be adequate to detect counterfeit products due to the high level of sophistication of some counterfeiters.While counterfeiting has been an ongoing problem in the construction industry for years, it recently has been brought to the public’s eye due to high-profile cases such as the Chinese drywall incident. By traveling internationally and interviewing different contractors, government agencies, owners, insurance companies, manufacturers, and suppliers, the research team was able to gain knowledge on the issue. Of special interest were situations in which problems with counterfeiting were identified: how they were identified, what products were counterfeit, and whether accompanying documentation such as mill reports and other paperwork or certification stamps were fraudulent. A lack of knowledge about this threat was apparent throughout the industry. Even within individual industry sectors, the level of knowledge on the issue varies greatly. The goal of this research is to increase awareness of the problem and inform people of effective ways to mitigate the problem. The most important point to be taken from the research is the need for all members of the supply chain to intimately know the entities upstream of their position in the chain.

Keywords: Counterfeit, Construction, Product integrity, Low-cost source countries, Quality, Supply chain.

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