 The different types of technologies that are evolving, and as I had said, they're certainly not being adopted at a wide rate, but it is interesting to see what's coming out, because our smartphone will continue to play a significant role. DNA taggons, which is a very interesting technology, they can actually embed a DNA molecule into the product or actually even into the material itself. This would require a special reader, but it is something if there's a high value pharmaceutical product moving through the supply chain, that is a potential where it could be used. Or a chemical taggon could be put actually even in a pill itself with some of the oncology drugs now being at such a high cost, this is an area where pharmaceutical companies might move to in terms of authenticating and verifying that those drugs are the ones they produced. And certainly the place of being able to see if a label has changed color, then it might have moved through the supply chain and it wasn't kept at the right temperature, so that we as consumers would be able to begin to recognize some of these things, and even at our pharmacies as drugs are delivered that they would be able to see that that drug moved through the supply chain safely. And another interesting technology we ran across was the smart labeling, where when a label was put on a package, it actually acquires authentication. If that label were to be removed and reapplied to another package, if something was being diverted in the marketplace, it would actually indicate that it has been tampered with. So there's so many different new technologies now that are occurring and developing because of this rampant problem of counterfeiting and diversion and fraud occurring, so it's certainly some new technologies that are emerging. The whole Internet of Things, the industrial Internet of Things is really demanding a greater level of tracking and data collecting, so sensors and indicators and optics and smart labeling are certainly growing, more accurate and readable vision systems are occurring. We did hear that a lot of the vision systems have some very sophisticated capabilities now, so that's an area where the adoption rate is growing, and four out of five pharmaceutical companies are already using vision systems just to verify that their coding and marking and labeling is all on the product correctly. We're only half of the food companies are at that level of technology now, and that will continue to grow. And we really only heard a few companies who are really using any covert or smart technology and the majority of those, like I had said earlier, were pharmaceutical companies. So while a lot of this technology is available on the market and available to manufacturers, it's not being adopted at any rate of speed, but it will continue to evolve as the supply chain continues to grow. And we heard that one of three participating companies talked about their using temperature sensing technology now, and it's really at the pallet level, is it moves through the supply chain to assure that that product has moved through at the correct temperature. So if we really look ahead, what's ahead for the whole systems integration process of this is some of the end users we talked to suggested integrating vision and print systems into one unit and making smaller coding equipment so that it can be actually integrated into the machine, or making a robot more mobile that is able to authenticate and look at the printed codes and markings as they're going down the line. So some interesting innovation that they're looking for as well in their own manufacturing process. And if we look at the cloud, the usage of the cloud, there were some companies we talked to that were using the cloud. For the most part, there's still some skepticism in terms of the security that they will find in the cloud. So that's again, that's an area as data continues to increase and storage continues to increase and the supply chain continues to grow longer and more complex. The cloud will begin to be used more to be able to transfer that data more easily between the manufacturing and as it moves out of the manufacturing into the retail market, into the distribution market so that those codings and markings can be trapped. But what will be needed is going to be a centralized database. One of the questions we got during the presentation last week is does this database exist now and it does not exist now, but it exists within each company's supply chain. So looking ahead at data integration is to have an architecture or a platform that allows this data exchange to happen seamlessly and certainly very easily so that those codings and markings and numbers and any kind of covert marking that's used can be trapped and traced throughout the supply chain. And now if we look at the spending on equipment, two out of three brand manufacturers will continue to spend on brand protection in the next 12 months. And a third of those companies predict they're going to spend even more. So that's good news for the industry. And what's really driving this is there's continued increase in product demand. I think in every research project that we work on increasing demand and increasing throughput and production rates is the number one reason driving the need for new equipment, updated equipment, and as they're producing more skews, that's more product track and trace that's occurring. And as lot runs get smaller in the pharmaceutical industry, again, that there's a need then for greater track and trace for that as well. And when we look at where they bind their equipment from, two out of three companies we interviewed are buying majority of their brand protection equipment in the U.S. So if we look at what kind of attributes are they looking for, there's no surprises here. They definitely need repeatable quality and reliability. They need speed and accuracy of marking the product as well as reading and verifying that product. They need data exchange between systems. And print clarity is certainly a given in terms of being able to mark that product so that all through the supply chain it can be read clearly. We had talked about some of the changes that the retailers are demanding at this time. And we didn't include that in this report because it's certainly something that's on the table but not really been determined. So print clarity though is very significant in being able to track a product in the warehouse and finding that product in case there is any type of a recall. So when we look at what's the outlook for OEMs and suppliers and where are the opportunities to work more closely with your brand manufacturers? Certainly as more technology evolves, each company might have a very customized solution that they're looking for. So really collaborating with the customers, looking at what their needs are specifically, how are their skews increasing, how is that affecting their manufacturing, how the marking and coding equipment can be made simpler, easier to operate, easier for connectivity is something that they're looking for. And as we talked earlier, integration is something that's very significant in terms of being able to have layered solutions and being able to retrieve those systems easily. And the use of QR codes is growing. Excuse me, getting a direct link to the QR codes is important. But it was interesting when we looked at some of the statistics, only 9% of the people in the U.S. are actually actively using QR codes. It's higher in Europe and it's even higher in Asia markets. They have less access to computers, so they're using their smartphones more than we are in terms of QR codes. And we did an informal study, just a raise of hands in the presentation last week. And it was surprising, many people had at one point downloaded and used a QR code. But for the most part, it did mirror this lower statistic here in the U.S. There weren't a lot of people who are actively using QR codes, but it is something that will continue to grow if companies can embed even more information about the safety of that product and how it's been tracked in the QR codes. We as consumers would continue to use those. So anytime there's a new technology, it certainly does take a while for adoption to occur. In looking for data standardization, a methodology of how the data is collected, how it's documented, how serialization numbers are assigned, how they're maintained, how they're retrieved, the pharma industry is looking for that type of standardization so that we're using the same processes around the world. And that is certainly not available right now, but when we look towards moving to the future, something that we'll want to move to as a global economy. And I talked about an international database being able to have this information globally. So if you've got product that you're manufacturing offshore and that product is being re-imported into the United States, that there's some way that we can authenticate either us as the consumers or the patients of these products or the pharmaceutical chain of supply through the pharmacies they can authenticate products. So that is definitely a pretty large goal to look at, but certainly something that's going to be needed to close those gaps in the supply chain. And there will be one of the industries to look at is the fish industry. I won't get into any of the details here, but fish is something that is not highly regulated at this point. We talked to quite a few fish distributors and they're not really manufacturing. They're processing the fish and listening to some of the problems that they're having and some of the solutions that they're looking at now to really track where fish is coming from and authenticating that it is actually the fish as it is labeled. And as I've said several times in our presentation, the rate at which social media is moving is very quickly. So if there's any type of bad press or a recall of any type, it can be very damaging to a brand. They want to be able to respond quickly, remove that product from the shelf so that their own name and integrity of the product is not damaged any further than it would be during a recall. So if we look at here, I've given you a quick snapshot of what you'll learn in the full report. And one of the VP of operations and food said that the biggest challenge is really just staying informed and being aware. And that really relates to us as consumers as well of being aware of products that could potentially be fraudulent or counterfeit. One thing we did learn is buying over the Internet, particularly for pharmaceutical products or even other food or other related products. If the cost is so low that you're like, that is amazing, I'm going to have to buy that. I pay four times that much when I go to the store. It would likely be a fraudulent product or a product that's been diverted and diluted. So you really have to kind of pay attention as consumers to protect ourselves in terms of what seems authentic and what seems too good to be true. So in the full report, we really look at the entire supply chain and what's happening at every aspect of that supply chain. And there are other resources that you can go to. The PMMI Media Group has serialization playbooks. They have a playbook specifically on the healthcare industry, packaging development, labeling these all touch on the track and trace and the issues that are at hand now. So again, as I started the presentation, I looked at the press to just see in the last couple of weeks what were we hearing about. And in the last couple of weeks also in the news was the advancement of e-commerce, retailers, consolidation, and the use of drones. And we did a little bit further research and we looked at the port authorities and they are reporting flat import and they're changing and altering their supply chains to adjust to this as retailers shop more online. Container shipments, there was a study done that there is some significant industry consolidation going on with container shippers and that could definitely affect the long-term supply chain as well but they're feeling the effects of that as others are. And the use of drones, certainly the regulations that are going to take place, we don't even know yet as we all hear in the news, this is something that's a growing technology. But Walmart has announced that they are testing drones in one of their distribution centers to inspect labels and inventory and it's a process now that would take a month for a person to use a handheld scanner and they can do it in certainly far less time. And that's an inventory or that's a technology that would be very disruptive technology in the distribution centers. And if we look at how fast online shopping is growing, Walmart is taking this on as well. They just bought a company called Jet.com and they have expanded, they started in 30 markets, they are now expanded to 60 markets. So depending on where you live, this might be something that's available to you. So these are all technologies that are going to continue to drive the need, even a greater need for track and trace in the future. And Walmart is at the leading edge of some of this technology as well. Amazon is also emerging into this drone market and we even heard all different kinds of drone usage in terms of trucks moving into a neighborhood and delivering off that the drones are on the top of a truck and we could have packages delivered that way as well. So it's just all technology that is driving a greater concern for track and trace of our products. So that brings us to the conclusion this morning. I do encourage you to download the report and share it with your staff. But I'll field some questions now at this time. And Paige, did you want to jump back in here or should we just look at the questions here that are available? Yeah. Well, thank you for your insight on the latest report on brand protection product traceability. Very, very useful information I'm sure for everybody that has attended for us. So yes, I will open up the field for discussion or questions. I do have a couple that have come in throughout the presentation. First question here is, is blockchain technology used or planned to be used in track and trace applications? Very good question. It's something that it's an emerging concept. So we didn't really hear much about it. Unfortunately, I can't really get into the details of it. So that would be something that we would we would certainly want to look at as we update this report. Okay, wonderful. I do have a second question here and it asks, who decides on investments in track and trace? Is it packaging, operations, logistics, IT? Could you kind of explain who decides on the investment side in track and trace? Certainly. And right now it's a team approach, but we do hear more companies are actually creating positions for safety inspection, supply chain managers. It's a growing field. So your larger companies are certainly adding on departments and people to manage this. Your smaller companies, in most instances, are still relying on their suppliers to help them make these decisions. They don't often have the specialty in-house. So it's a collaborative decision as we had seen as one of the opportunities to engage further with your brand manufacturers is really to collaborate with them because this is something that is still evolving at the brand manufacturing level of who takes responsibility for this and who actually monitors all the data and what departments are evolving is also occurring. So it's a very good question because it's something that it will help you to look at in an area where you can engage with your brand manufacturers more thoroughly. Thank you, Donna. I don't see any other questions. Feel free before I end the webinar to jump in and type in the chat box down in the lower left if you just had a question or maybe I missed you or something to that extent. But on behalf of PMMI, I do want to thank you for participating in today's webinar. Just as a final note, you will receive an email to complete an evaluation on today's webinar and ask that you complete it as soon as possible and let us know how we can improve our webinars in the future. Again, I do want to apologize for the technical difficulties there. I should get it up and running as soon as possible. So again, my apologies on that end. But I don't think we have any other questions. So I hope everybody has a wonderful day and we'll see you at the next webinar. Thank you. Bye.