Demand Heats Up for Thermal-Transfer

Security concerns and compliance issues influence production and drive solutions.

Employees present I.D. access cards to enter Safford, Arizona-based Impressive Labels. Some then proceed to the thermal printing cell where, under 24-hour a day video surveillance, they finish and imprint labels, adhering to strict procedures throughout production to ensure security—nothing leaves the caged-off area unauthorized, even waste materials are destroyed inside the cell.

The customer—a software company requiring product authenticity labels—wouldn't have it any other way. The same holds true for government projects and industries with other high-risk products.

"We offer a wide range of solutions and have invested largely in making our production plant a secure one," said compliance manager Jim Stewart.

According to Stewart, authenticity, security and warranty labels are burgeoning markets for thermal-transfer.

"We've produced a security label on holographic material displaying the end-user's logo. In the background, the company name is printed so small that magnifying equipment is required to read it," he said.

"Another security label was created on our offset press in four-color process," Stewart continued, "again with the company's static information encoded in a background mosaic. Variable data is later imprinted by the customer on an as-needed basis."

Stewart said that in many cases, customers request labels with consecutive numbers or consecutively-numbered bar codes—products which are produced in the thermal print cell. "These labels range from plain white paper labels to very sharp-looking labels done on one of the several films we work with," said Stewart.

Kapton by DuPont is one such film, a high-performance polyimide film used when extreme temperatures are involved. In addition, Kapton has outstanding resistance to most chemicals, solvents, lubricants and fuels.

Customized With Color

Stewart noted that thermal-transfer labels used to mean plain white paper labels that were variably imaged with shipping, warehousing and asset management information. But the trend is to create a custom look combining thermal printing with logos and art.

"For instance, the design might be a four-color process label that includes all of the generic data needed for the customer's product line, such as logos and agency approvals. The labels are printed and shipped to the customer as a print-on-demand solution. When the production line needs them, the exact number of labels can be variable imaged with model, voltage or serial numbers."

However, Stewart noted the market has not declined for blank thermal-transfer labels. "In fact, it has increased," he said. "Many larger manufacturers now demand that suppliers' incoming shipments arrive with the contents, PO number, packing list number and other data identifiers on a label attached to the carton or pallet, allowing receivers to scan an order into their inventory as it hits the dock."

Manufacturers of electrical equipment, computers, power tools and other products approved by agencies such as Underwriters Laboratories and the Canadian Standards Agency, need labels that are approved as well.

"Impressive Labels has a number of approvals dealing with the letterpress, screenprinting and flexo graphic print processes connected with thermal imprinting," said Stewart, and while it is possible for a manufacturer to obtain approval after the fact, it can add time to turnaround.

"Approved labels can be printed at our facility, or shipped to the customer's location with the thermal-transfer ribbon, so the customer has exactly what's needed to be agency compliant," he said. "We also provide the software and the thermal printer to the customer, providing a turnkey operation."

Card Carrying Members

Headquartered in Boston, Arthur Blank & Company produces more than 400 million cards per year—including ID badges, loyalty cards, phone cards, security swipe cards, access cards, drivers licenses, gift cards, phone cards and luggage tags. And according to Marketing Manager Paul Blanchard, heightening security concerns are increasing customers' demand for many of these products.

Ink jet is used for the high-volume, high-speed runs, while thermal-transfer is used for smaller runs of up to 50,000 pieces.

"Thermal-transfer represents a healthy portion of the company's business," said Blanchard. "Lots of work that was embossed years ago, is now being done with thermal-transfer, which has a very fine resolution and produces a clean, sharp effect."

For this reason, Blanchard noted that it's more often the customer rather than the distributor requesting thermal-transfers.

"It's really a question of aesthetics," he said. "Thermal-transfer bar-codes don't read differently from those produced with ink jet, and there's no major cost difference between the two processes. They just look better."

Blanchard added that the company produces a high volume of blank cards and cards with pre-printed static information which customers can variably image as needed on their own thermal-transfer printers.

Many forms distributors also have thermal-transfer printers in-house and are doing some of their own finishing work on blank cards, printing bar codes, numbers and personalization.

The cards are frequently tipped on to a piece and used as part of a mailer or integrated product.

"Cards are nice products for distributors to add to their arsenals," Blanchard said. "They're already selling tags and labels, and this is just one more value-added product they can offer."