In the Works

Customized Card Products Lead to Advances in Adhesive Research

When it comes to finding customized solutions, no one is as dedicated as Superior Tape & Label. Over the years, we have earned a name for ourselves as the “fixers,” working with companies to overcome label and adhesive challenges with innovative solutions.

One of the most recent additions to our arsenal of solutions is a patent pending attaching label. The product was strenuously tested for a span of nearly 6 months. This unique project allowed STL to test their attaching label with actual carriers, signature panels, and cards.

“The client came to us wanting to make changes because they had bought new machinery and were completely changing their process,” said Research and Development Engineer, Cris Silivasan. “We took that opportunity to build a custom product that not only worked with their machines, but was better than any previous label solution they had before.”

This project was a collaborative effort that included members from the client’s development staff as well as members of the STL team. “For the first time, we were able to test the actual working bank cards, which is a great opportunity,” Silivasan said. “We were able to test variations of different cards and different panels. We learned a lot from that.” Not only did this give the client an incredible new finished product that would work for all their cards, but gave the STL research team an insight into the best products on the market for a variety of cards.

The testing process compared a multitude of common carrier adhesives, narrowing the options down to three that were converted into finished label products and mounted on test cards. The process was repeated with the signature panels until a final product was created. After small batches of cards were run and several changes made to ensure the cards would run smoothly and attach properly, the cards were produced in several large batches.

Although the solution for the client was unique to their new process, the information gathered during the testing process is something that Silivasan believes will help with the development of future products.

“If a person had the exact same setup, they would be able to use it today,” Silivasan said. “But more importantly, this process helped us design the best attaching label we have on the market—even for metal cards.”

Another innovation that came from this testing process was the implementation of a patent-pending technology for implementation with our attaching label—a solution that STL says will guarantee not to rip the carrier 100% of the time.

“We’ve been testing all these adhesives on every card we have access to,” Silivasan said. “Major banks, Mastercard, Visa, metal, plastic—all of it. The research we’ve done and the things we’ve learned, I think, will motivate us to think of new solutions that we can’t even imagine right now.”