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Five Ways HID Global iON Technology Boosts Card Issuance Productivity and Cuts Costs

In addition to overall card security, ID card issuers are also seeking ways to improve productivity and curtail spending. Whether it is an enterprise corporation issuing employee badges, a large university issuing multi-function student IDs or a government entity issuing driver’s licenses — card office managers need assurance that the solutions they rely on go beyond merely getting the job done. They need solutions that save time and money.

This is precisely where HID Global’s patent-pending iON™ technology comes into play. Available with select HID® FARGO® card printers, iON — or “instant on” functionality — is an industry-first HID innovation that transforms the card office into a powerhouse of card issuance productivity while simultaneously reducing costs in five measurable ways:

  1. First Card Out: iON technology enables the printer to rapidly heat the transfer roller (in the case of retransfer printers) and/or optional laminator, allowing the unit to reach optimal operating temperature in just seconds, expediting the entire printing and lamination processes. To put this into perspective, other printer and lamination products can take up to five minutes to initially heat up. Conversely, with solutions that employ iON technology, units are ready to produce high-quality cards and IDs in under 60 seconds — virtually eliminating that all-too-familiar long wait for the first card. For laminated cards, this can mean your first card is ready up to 80 percent faster than with other products and can save you up to 20 hours in wait time per year on average.
     
  2. Unprecedented Card Throughput Speed: Beyond initial heat-up and readiness, iON technology facilitates overall print speeds. For direct-to-card printing, this translates to up to 225 cards per hour and up to 200 cards per hour with lamination. In the case of retransfer printing, up to 230 cards can be produced per hour. For organizations that need to print larger batches of cards quickly, iON technology meets the mark.
     
  3. Maximum Uptime: Solutions that not only ready themselves for production quickly but can also intelligently self-regulate temperature are ideal for higher volume issuance. iON technology-equipped units boast built-in intelligent temperature sensing and control to ensure that units consistently stay at optimal operating temperature — eliminating the inconvenience of a forced cool-down cycle during peak operation. As an added benefit, this function also helps to lessen risks associated with overheating, such as warped cards.
     
  4. Energy Efficiency: Eco-friendly, energy-efficient solutions not only support corporate and government-mandated green initiatives, they also assist organizations with cost reduction. GreenCircle® Certified for their energy conservation attributes, iON-equipped card printers reduce electrical and overall energy usage to an on-demand status by automatically self-activating sleep mode when not in use. During independent, third-party testing, GreenCircle certified a 66 percent energy savings for an iON-equipped HID FARGO retransfer printer over comparable retransfer printers. Because energy conservation directly correlates to lower overall energy costs, this can have an especially significant impact for organizations that utilize multiple printers to meet higher volume card printing demands. For these larger projects, users can potentially save thousands of dollars in annual energy costs.
     
  5. Printer Longevity: Due to HID’s iON and heated roller temperature sensing technologies, both retransfer printers and printheads are protected from unnecessary wear and tear. Because retransfer and lamination rollers are only on and consuming energy while in operation, printer components are not subjected to consistent high temperatures which can take a toll on various elements or sacrifice performance and dependability over time. As a result, printer components do not deteriorate as quickly and tend to have fewer servicing needs — potentially extending printer longevity.

iON and Beyond

For those seeking to take advantage of iON technology advancements, HID Global offers two options. Visit the following links to learn more about the HID FARGO HDP6600 retransfer printer and the HID FARGO DTC5500LMX direct-to-card printer — or contact us at sisales@hidglobal.com.

Beyond iON technology benefits, both the HDP6600 and DTC5500LMX also offer wasteless lamination — further supporting green initiatives and cutting consumable costs by up to as much as 40 percent. To learn more, check out our white paper, Sustainable, Simple, Cost-Saving: Wasteless Lamination.

Debbie Kappl is a Senior Product Marketing Manager with HID Global and brings over 20 years of experience marketing hardware and software security technologies spanning ID card printing, host access and integration, and B2B supply chain management and payment solutions. Prior to joining HID in 2015, Debbie served as a senior marketer, product evangelist and educator in both product marketing and sales support management roles for U.S. Bank and Attachmate Corporation. She is based in Minneapolis, MN.