Plastic has been the main source of materials for payment cards in the past years, yet plastic pollution and energy consumption are becoming a growing global concern for human beings. When we wish to pursue a greener future for the payment card industry, the choice of material can indeed largely determine the environmental impact of payment cards— that is why we will need to end the use of virgin plastics in the industry. The choice of materials can influence the entire lifecycle of a payment card, from the aspect of the supply chain, product design, manufacture, and usage to end-of-life recycling.

This session will explain why we need to choose more eco-friendly materials, how can the choice of materials be critical for payment cards, and how can payment card manufacturers utilize their existing resources to drive the adoption of more sustainable material choices for their clients and end customers.

Denise Noha, EMV Product Manager, Barnes International, will present Advances in Card Certification Testing: Visa Europe Self-Service PVT.

Tabletop exhibitors briefly present; groups rotate from exhibitor to exhibitor

Presentation of a new biometric solution among various biometric access offers. Value proposition of the biometric card and targeted market for an emerging solution.

Today everybody is talking about going green, but there’s still a long way to go. Switching off the lights and not flushing toilets is not enough; in this situation there are no half measures. Going green is a matter of change, in terms of production, use of resources and product portfolio.

This presentation will include:

• A short introduction about SPICA’s approach and investments in the last few years to be more sustainable, both on the production side and in terms of catalogue.
• An explanation of the circular economy approach.

A look toward the next steps in this evolution.

Efficient internal processes are key for the success of each company. With the market globalization, this approach gets new size of complexity. On top of the internal challenges, the majority of external drivers are forcing card manufacturers to thoroughly rethink their production landscape, supply chain and general business set up. Geopolitical issues like the continuing pandemic, lack of raw materials and costs of energy need to be taken into consideration for future strategy development. Inside impacts, like organic and inorganic growth, pressure for cost efficiency and call for efficient thinking in product design and process execution.

What can be done within new product developments and in the daily card manufacturing production process?

In the card manufacturing and engineering of the card construction, the associated raw materials production technologies are the main levers for optimization. Standardization on material and process is key for implementing a multisource concept. The multisource concept requires a global approach on one side, combined with a local network of suppliers on other side, to find the optimum overall material supply, sustainable product design requirements, cost of freight and energy; all parameters are even more important to be considered in the light of geopolitical issues. Compatible manufacturing technologies enable flexible supply chain and load balance and improve product producibility and lead times. A holistic Total Cost of Ownership approach is the right way to accurately evaluate the cost impacts of the different parameters.

This presentation follows the evolution of chip payment cards from the early days of contact-based chips to dual-interface; progressing to new innovations such as biometric cards, NFC tags, custom logo and payment + crypto.

Metal cards for financial applications are encountering a strong growth in diffusion in many countries, thanks to the perception of being stylish and exclusive products, associated to high-value services reserved to successful individuals. Branding and marketing by financial institutions have raised the expectations of customers in terms of design, quality and duration, driving the introduction of new combinations of materials and manufacturing processes. The many constructions of the cards generically defined as “metal,” together with the growing volumes, require adequate manufacturing and personalization methods.

Because of their flexibility, laser and inkjet represent a powerful technical solution, allowing to interact with many different substrates to make variable permanent marking and engraving and color printing. The appropriate use of laser technology opens the possibility of obtaining multiple and attractive visual effects, leveraging the material interaction knowledge and appropriate configuration of sources and optics. Ink jet requires appropriate selection of components and inks, where these last are crucial to ensure the quality of the results, but also the persistence of the same.

For both applications, rather than a traditional “card personalization expert” approach, it is required a specialized knowledge of the base technology and its components, in parallel with the development and experimental work, so to address the most effective way to benefit from all the potential of the available solutions.

IXLA’s presentation will brief some examples and conclusions from the experience cumulated during the product development and testing of laser solutions and some initial considerations regarding the inkjet use in this field.

Michael Dorner, owner and CEO, Variuscard, will review how the card industry can profit from new technologies such as blockchain, non-fungible tokens and phygitals. He’ll also introduce new ways of promoting cards and adding value to the product.