Image ReTransfer PVC Card Printing

The Trials and Tribulations of Marketing a Superior Technology
Overview by James Childers - CEO of Smart Card Supply.

ReTransfer Printing is an amazing technology that allows you to print FULL COLOR, FULL BLEED IMAGES in perfect color without the pitfalls of traditional dye sublimation card printing.  We at Smart Card Supply have been supplying ReTransfer printing technology to our customers now for almost two years through the IDX380 from IWS.

Traditional "dye sub" card printing requires that the print head of the card printer print directly onto the card material through the printer ribbon.  This process is efficient, inexpensive and allows the card printer to move the material directly under the print head for printing. 

This method of printing always leaves a very thin white border around the card as the print head cannot adequately print completely out to the edge of the card without risking serious damage to the print head.  Depending upon the printer this can leave a "border" of up to 1/32nd of an inch around the edge of the card.

ReTransfer printers have two consumable components: 

The first is the Printer Ribbon:  This ribbon comes in YMCK (Yellow, Magenta, Cyan and Black Resin) format and is used to print all of the images on your card by mixing these colors in a Dye Sublimation process.

The Second component is the Transfer Film.  Rather than printing directly on the card itself, the ReTransfer printer prints a reverse image on the laminate transfer film and then bonds this material to the face of the card.   Since the ReTransfer Film is slightly larger than the size of a standard CR-80 card it is possible to print over the entire surface area of the PVC card without the pesky white border that is required on all other dye sublimation printers.

Additional advantages of the ReTransfer process: 

Durability of Card is substantially improved by bonding the substrate film with the card material.  The ReTransfer process encapsulates the printed image within a bond of extremely durable material and increases the card life substantially.  Additional security overlays may be adhered on top of the bonding film to increase durability and improve security.  Custom secure holographic overlays are available for use with the ReTransfer printers sold by Smart Card Supply.

Cost savings are seen in the reduced wear and tear on the print heads.  Since the printer is printing on a substrate material (film) that is very thin and strong there is less wear on the print head because there is very little variation in size or texture on the surface area of the film.  Since the film is a standard thickness the print head does not have to move to accommodate thickness variations in the cards.

Consistency of Printing is a result of the process that prints directly on the transfer film. Each print is extremely high quality and there is little variation in the print quality because of the way that the film and ribbons are loaded into the printing chamber.  Once the film has the reverse image embedded, it is then laminated to the PVC material.  In a traditional printer there are several variables that affect the print quality including card size variations, edge smoothness, foreign material on the card surface, ribbon tightness and as the ribbon is used there is a tendency of the ribbons to stretch or move slightly out of alignment.  This is not the case with ReTransfer printing as this process is very tightly controlled.

The history of commercial grade ReTransfer printing is somewhat interesting and colorful, and I believe it is important for all of our customers to understand how this technology is, was and almost nearly wasn't available for their use. 

At this point I must insert a disclaimer here that the comments made herein are those of myself and represent my opinions ONLY and not those of the various manufacturers listed.  The Manufacturers and their trademarks listed below are not affiliated in any way nor do they approve of this message from Smart Card Supply.

ImageWare Systems (IWS) was one of the very first to see the potential of this new technology in the commercial workspace and brought it to market here and throughout the world in the form of their EdiGuard IDX 380 printer.  The IDX 380 was a huge success with our customers here at Smart Card Supply and we sold substantial quantities to gift and loyalty card issuers, State, Local and Federal Governments and business customers with rave reviews.

IWS had a serious problem though...They are also the manufacturer of the EpiSuite line of card printing software products.  These products are among the best in their class and are sold and/or supported by many card printer manufacturers including Eltron and Fargo.  Fargo has a professional series known as the HDP series of printers.  The HDP series of printers uses the ReTransfer technology and is aimed squarely at government and large card issuing companies.  The HDP series of printers from Fargo can only be sold and/or serviced by very highly trained and territory controlled "authorized" HDP Dealers. 

While the manufacturers claim this "limited distribution strategy" improves customer support and ensures "properly trained and authorized" personnel are engaging the customer, it clearly and substantially reduces competition, narrows the channels of distribution and artificially inflates end user prices and manufacturer/dealer profits above those seen in traditional Keynesian "free market" economic models.

The HDP series is very robust and substantially more expensive than the IDX 380 that was available from IWS.  Worse yet, the IDX 380 was available through a standard distribution model and was even ***GASP*** being sold DIRECT TO THE CONSUMER on the Internet (You can thank us for that) instead of through the "limited distribution model". 

Since IWS was a software partner of Fargo, IWS's entry into a competing hardware business that struck at the core of their most profitable market was not received with open arms.  IWS was forced to make a decision - Lose Fargo's business on the software side (which was the core of their business) or continue to market the IDX 380 and directly compete with the HDP series of printers from Fargo. 

At the beginning of last year (2003), IWS removed the IDX 380 from the US market and completely removed any reference that it ever existed from their website.  We continued to support our customers by purchasing printers, materials, consumables and replacement parts from overseas suppliers in Germany, Singapore and Malaysia.  We must emphasize here that the EXACT SAME PRODUCT that was not being sold in the US was very readily available from IWS's international divisions and was fully available throughout Europe and the Far East.  This product was only removed from distribution in the North American market.

After withdrawing their product from the US Market, we noticed that some other manufacturers were marketing products that were very similar to or even exact copies of the IDX 380.  This is known in the industry as OEM (Original Equipment Manufacture) product and is where a company re-brands the product with their logo.  The UltraMagiCard Prima pictured to the right here is an example of this OEM product.  Do they look similar?  They are exact replicas of each other.

Still there was not a single manufacturer making a strong commitment to bring the ReTransfer technology from the "Limited Distribution" Professional level to the Commercial Level... Until NOW.  We finally found a manufacturer that will not only support us with new sales - yes even those nasty "low margin" direct to consumer Internet sales, but will also support our existing installed base of IDX380 printers with service, parts, training and end user customer support.  Meet our new premiere partner - DIS - Digital Identification Solutions.

Smart Card Supply is an authorized reseller for Digital Identifications line of EDI Secure XID Re-Transfer printer Family.  This is a re-incarnation and an improvement upon our existing IDX380 offering.  Please review the entire line of XID ReTransfer Printers.  Please contact me directly if you have any questions about this technology or if you have an IDX380 printer in need of support.

Sincerely,

James Childers - sales@smartcardsupply.com