Plastic cards are being increasingly used across varied industries and companies. In fact, it is being widely used in:

Banks
Retail outlets
Department stores
Rental outlets
Clubs
Hotels
Schools
Colleges and universities
Companies

One of the main reasons for the increased use of plastic cards is that the high-quality print production provides for clear and visible identification and distinction from competition. And the second most important aspect is the durability of these cards. Third in place, is the lasting impression these cards provide, along with a high sense of value where end-users are concerned.

The following are the varied types of plastic cards:

Business cards
Gift cards
Membership cards
Loyalty program cards
Discount cards
Key cards for hotel rooms
Identity cards for varied institutes and companies
Secure bankcards – debit and credit cards
Smart cards

Where the size of plastic cards are concerned, they can be cut into a variety of sizes and shapes, depending on the client’s requirement. However, in spite of this flexibility there are some highly recommended standard sizes:

3.5x2 inches for business cards
3.370x2.125 inches for bankcards – credit and debit

There are also international formats that are listed as:

ID-1 / ID-2 / ID-3

The thickness of plastic cards, internationally, ranges between 10mil to 30mil. While this is regarded as the international standard range, the cards can be made thinner or thicker than this, depending on the client’s requirement.

In comparison with any other material, cards manufactured from plastic provide high quality custom graphics, which can be printed on the cards. These cards turn out to be the visual representation of the company; actually functioning as miniature billboards for the company.

There are various methods that can be used in printing plastic cards. These include the following:

Offset printing for cards without full-colour graphics.
Two-colour process for cards using only two-colour graphics.

Thermography is a process of printing plastic cards, wherein the raised print effect of printing, using engraved plates is stimulated.

FFour-colour printing is the most common method of printing graphics on plastic cards.

UV glossy coat.

No matter what method or type of plastic sheet, or graphics is to be printed, we maintain ISO requirements for manufacturing all cards. We consult our clients and put across to them all the possibilities to create the best cards for them keeping in mind their budget constraints. For us, the most important aspect is client satisfaction.

Nitecrest is one of the leading specialist providers of pre-paid telephone, account, loyalty and Gift cards in the world today. Our expertise has earned us an enviable reputation for excellence in providing top quality cost-effective solutions to an impressive global client base.

Our card factory is specifically targeted toward the Membership, Loyalty & Gift Card markets, with encoding, embossing, thermal printing and ink jetting solutions. Combined with the fulfillment department, we provide an in-house direct mailing facility that is capable of catering for any marketing scheme.

Producing cards 24 hours per day and up to 7 days per week, we hold a capacity to personalise more than 200 million cards every month.

Nitecrest’s philosophy is to continually invest in the latest equipment to maintain our position as the world’s dominant figure in the card manufacturing industry. Over the past twelve months, capacity has increased by 200% with the addition of a 3 million pound capital investment.

At Nitecrest, we can supply you with a varied selection of plastic and board cards depending on where you plan to launch your cards in the market place. We can also help with design if required.

Here is a selection of the most popular cards used:

500 Micron HIP (High Impact Plastic)

These are very popular in the telephone card market place. These cards are UV varnished to the face and are a quite durable card that is ideal for this type of market when the card will only be used a couple of times and then thrown away. Cards can have pin and scratch panels applied with our superb Atlantic Zeiser machines that can produce over 30,000 cards an hour, each card being camera read twice to avoid any duplication in the pins.

This type of card is also used for Special Promotions as a "give away" card.

360+ Micron Paper Board

These are also popular for telephone cards as these work out at a very low unit price when ordered in large volumes - Used widely in the Worldwide GSM markets where price is very sensitive - UV Varnished to face only. These cards are also environmentally friendly!

760 Micron Plastic

These are used in many areas - Gift, loyalty, Membership, Payment cards etc. These laminated cards are extremely durable and manufactured to the ISO banking card specification.

Cards can be personalised by thermal printing, injet DOD, embossing and/or encoding, depending on the transactional use. Nitecrest handles this by use of high specification machines tailored to your requirements.

All cards can be flow-wrapped in various ways for added security:

Individually / Strings / Bags / Shrink Wrapping / Over bagged etc.

The option is yours.