In The Boardroom™ With...

Mr. Curt Baskin
Marketing Manager for the Plastic Card Market
Sun Chemical

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Thank you for joining us today, Curt. Before discussing Sun Chemical solutions in greater detail and the upcoming Cartes America please tell us about your background.

Curt Baskin: I worked for Ashland Chemical Company before getting into the specialty ink business at Sun Chemical in 1984. I worked in sales for Sun Chemical before becoming a product manager/marketing manager for the last 15 years. I am responsible for Hi-Tech graphics ink systems as well as our ink systems used for plastic card applications.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Please give us an overview of Sun Chemical solutions.

Curt Baskin: Our technology of UV curable screen and offset ink systems were designed specifically for use in the manufacturing of plastic cards. Sun Chemical also offers security products and electronic materials products.

Sun Chemical and its parent company, DIC, can provide a complete solution for credit card and laminated plastic card printing. We have a full line of ink systems, coatings, adhesives, and magnetic tapes. In addition to our color management solutions, we offer anti-counterfeiting brand protection products and silver/graphite conductive inks.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Any new Sun Chemical products or solutions you will be featuring at Cartes America?

Curt Baskin: We will feature our SunCarte UV screen inks at the show and display how our ink products appear when screen printed on plastic cards. Our SunCarte UV screen inks feature 24 color offerings, including silver, gold and pearl colors. We will also feature our Sun Chemical Dispenser Program which utilizes an ink dispenser unit to maintain color consistency during offset printing. Our DIC magnetic tape along with special color offerings will also be featured.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: What is the unique value proposition Sun Chemical brings to the table?

Curt Baskin: Sun Chemical’s unique value proposition is a combination of our high level of customer service, as well as the high standard of quality of our products.

The technology we offer to the plastic card market is of real value to the plastic card market. For example, SunCarte UV curable screen products eliminates the problem with volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This is a true green solution and a safe environmental decision. The use of UV curable screen products eliminates the high energy demands and cost of gas or electric dryers which are very expensive to operate.

Additionally, with our UV curable screen solution, we have been able to increase print speeds from 800-1,200 sheets per hour to 1,500-2,000 sheets per hour. Our ink is a long flowing ink system designed to work on Sakurai cylinder presses and Natgraph UV curing units. This system allows for the high energy outputs required, both in mJ/cm2 and mW/cm2 and reduces the excessive infrared/heat coming off the curing units. This eliminates the shrinkage and distortion of the core PVC sheet and solves the downstream registration problems when the printer goes to decorate the sheet with offset graphics.

The reshooting of plates to compensate for the shrinkage and distortion is eliminated. Sheets processed thru a curing unit with excessive infrared/ heat from poorly designed curing units or excessive heat from conventional dryers is not a factor in the process.

The SunCarte UV offset ink system has excellent printability on a wide range of plastic substrates and offers high bond strength without any fading or color shift after lamination. With our color management equipment and dispenser program, Sun Chemical’s unique product offering for the plastic card printer is the most comprehensive in the industry.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Curt, are there any “wins” or success stories you’d like to mention?

Curt Baskin: Due to confidentiality, I cannot name the companies, but we are working with organizations that manufacture secured credit cards as well as businesses that manufacture gift cards, hotel and loyalty cards. We were very conservative before going to market. I wanted to be sure we had our UV curable product technology running in production at several different printers with the success level of what we planned and designed. Our technologies are currently running very successfully at different printers/manufacturers in North America.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: What resources are available at www.sunchemical.com for the security community?

Curt Baskin: In addition to a complete listing of our products online, visitors can download a free white paper that describes our solutions for the card manufacturing industry. The white paper can be downloaded at www.sunchemical.com/plasticcards. Additionally, the site includes the phone number—708-236-3798—for our technical support experts for screen, offset, security, magnetic tape, and electronic materials.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Thanks again for joining us today, Curt. Are there any other subjects you would like to discuss?

Curt Baskin: Sun Chemical is working with equipment manufacturers and substrate manufacturers to continue to advance our technologies for plastic card applications. Sun Chemical also works with design artists and their firms to offer them fresh ideas and special effects for new card designs.