Plastic Card Personalisation

• Embossing
• Thermal printing
• Inkjet printing
• Magnetic stripe encoding
• Barcode printing & testing
• Secure scratch-off labelling
• Mailing personalisation services
• Carrier printing
• Highlight colour printing
• Simplex/duplex laser printing
• Automated card attachment
• Automated insertion

The thermal printing process results in a flat printed finish on the card. Text, barcodes and small graphics can be printed on to the card in this way. A number of colours are available.

The inkjet printing process results in a flat printed finish on the card, as per thermal printing. However, this process runs at a much higher speed than the thermal process and is therefore more suitable for high volumes where lower print resolution for the personalisation is acceptable (such as top-up or scratchcards).

The embossing process punches characters through the back of the card, which results in a raised finish on the front. Text and numbers can be embossed on to a card, and the raised characters can be tipped in a number of colours including black, silver or gold.

A barcode or number can be digitally printed on white core material, then over-laminated so that the personalisation is protected by a layer of plastic. This results in the personalisation element being much more durable and is ideal for key-fob and luggage tag applications.

The magnetic stripe on the back of the card can be encoded with alpha and numeric data, which can be read by a card reader on a till, POS terminal etc. Examples of this information could be card number, member name, contact details or password codes required for secure entry.
CPI can encode this information on to the card, at high speed, during the personalisation processes. CPI would be happy to advise you what information can be encoded, and the best magnetic tape product to suit your requirements.

Should your card require any activation or information labels, CPI is able to attach these during the personalisation process.

Scratch labels come in variable sizes and colours and can be applied to both board and plastic products; an overprint of your company logo, text or other graphics can be added to the face of the label. The Hot Stamp process would be considered more secure and both processes are used to cover the secure data applied to the card earlier in the process.

Cards can be wrapped according to your requirements. They can be wrapped individually, in packs or in strings.

All personalised cards can be matched and attached to personalised carriers. This can be a letter, mailing, statement, leaflet, application form or point of sale carrier.