Uniplate is turning the humble vehicle registration plate into a customised frontline barrier to crime. “It’s our intention to promote the number plate to the same level of control as you would find in a passport document or identity card,” says Managing Director Devandran Naicker.
With as many as four in every ten number plates in Gauteng cloned, buying a fake number plate is as easy as ordering at a drive-through.
According to SA Number Plate Association CEO Zurika Louw, anyone can purchase the materials needed to clone a plastic number plate at a hardware store or a sign shop. “If you have a computer and a printer, you can make a number plate.”
With Gauteng’s experience mirrored throughout South Africa, a faked number plate is a frequent partner in crime, says Devandran (Dev) Naicker, Managing Director of Uniplate.
“It’s far too easy for members of the criminal enterprise to access materials to pirate number plates which are then used on vehicles in perpetrating crime.”
Worse, the car owner – “a normal citizen” – might then be stopped at a roadblock only to find out that his vehicle has been identified as being used in criminal activity. This can, and has had serious consequences for far too many ‘normal citizens’ in South Africa.
MARKET LEADER
Uniplate is the largest securitised licence plate company in Southern Africa, with its head office in Johannesburg and a factory in Pretoria. Established in 1957 it has been the sector market leader for the past 59 years.
Seven years ago Uniplate joined the German based international market leader in security license plates and vehicle identification solutions, Utsch Toennjes International (UTI), a partnership that has given the company an entry into new business segments such as vehicle registration services and identification solutions.
Since thenUniplate has become so much more than a number plate manufacturing business, saysNaicker. “Drivingthe industry forward as we do, with many innovative technological advancements relating to security and crime prevention, we pride ourselves on being “out of the box” thinkers, offering industry a truly professional service.
“Our unique position in the industry is that we are an integrator of solutions. We have taken a stance on number plates that is very different from other companies out there.”
Uniplate’s diverse portfolio of identification and securitisation products include Radio-frequency identification (RFID) enabled number plates and, wind shield label solution as well as verification solutions for smartphones based on digitally signed and encrypted QR codes. These solutions can be used for a variety of applications, e.g. for tracing of fleet vehicles, access control or even automated toll road services. “It’s a very different and dynamic type of product solution offering than simply a number plate industry.”
Globally a number plate is often a piece of metal or plastic, saysNaicker. “We are re branding it – especially in the Africa context – as a passport for your vehicle, to such an extent that you can secure, manage and control it in accordance with the relevant Government control and security behind it.”
The majority of Uniplate customers are in the number plates market, with governments setting the terms through standards and regulations. “We provide an offering into that space, in South Africa we currently provide just the number plate and attachment frames. But in countries like Malawi and Zambia we provide a very simple but secure plate, whereby its laser marked, has holographic element, sequential numbering and an expiry date, all of which can be traced back to the owner.”
With sluggish sub-Saharan growth rates, and new car sales in South Africa down 12%, trading has become “very tough; very challenging,” says Naicker. “But despite this we have been able to maintain levels of profitability.
EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE
“The only way we can do this is by providing our customers with exceptional levels of service and ensuring they have high quality products, delivered to them on time as and when they need it. From an internal perspective we have been creating teams of excellence which are well-oiled, lean culture and high performance organisation.”
Market leader for almost half a century, Uniplate innovating spirit continues to drive it forward. “We are ahead of our competitors, the majority of whom still see the number plates as a piece of material. The only way we can step-change that game and raise the number plate above a merely commoditised item is to adapt to a changing technology-dependent on fast information for the fourth industrialised world.
“In Africa today we have more cell phone users than any other part of the world, and if the person in the street can scan a number plate on a vehicle and marry the two with simple off line technology, how much could that assist in crime reduction?”
Daily crime statistics in South Africa make stark reading; 151 cars thefts – most exiting via South Africa’s porous borders and ending up in countries like The Congo and South Sudan – 31 hijacks, 300 thefts from cars, and 695 residential burglaries. “These are alarming figures,and we are trying to provide a solution, and work with Government to eradicate the problem by creating a barrier of entry for the thief.”
In any incident of crime, 90% that are investigated are solved by eye witness assistance, said Naicker, a chemical engineering graduate with a BMW auto manufacturing background, who joined Uniplate in 2015 after eight years with Afrox.
“Most basic crimes are committed with a get-away vehicle in mind, and if you can identify the vehicle confidently you will be helping to reduce crime. With Uniplate technology you are helping law enforcement to police and solve crimes at a far faster pace, as well as providing an identity for the country, with a one set standard and not four or five hundred variants.
The South African Government’s first round of draft legislation has been out for public consultation for nine months. “We have all provided comment and are now going through the second round. What we are looking at is a national plate very similar to the EU where there is one type of plate with GB or another nation specified. We can have a similar type, with the South African flag on the plate and have a national specification for that.”
INVESTMENT AND UPGRADES
Meantime Uniplate is “pushing the envelope to say how we elevate the level of the number plate to the same level of a passport document. To do this you have to provide the manufacturing infrastructure andsystem upgrades, and over the last year we have spent R2 million upgrading production lines, putting them into one production area, and creating lean manufacturing principles and processes.
“Now we need to invest in online digital technology and verification software programs to manufacture the number plate encoded with all relevant details to provide the new solutions of a national plate.” Should the South African government decideto roll out with it, Uniplate will be ahead of the curve, with all necessary equipment processes and capabilities already invested in the plant, saysNaicker.
“We are trying to transition this old process – so long in the market – into a new interactive product using technology; shifting the landscape and moving us into becoming a high performance organisation.”