Modernization drives growth at Card Tec (India) Pvt. Ltd.

06 August 2020: Manoj K. Agarwal, Director of Bengaluru-based company adopts screen, digital, offset, thermal print technologies to roll out IDs, smart cards & RFID Cards & Tags.

How did your company begin operations ?
Card Tec (India) Pvt. Ltd. began as a small family-owned business. Since 1997, we have been recognized in the card industry for our innovative ideas. With years of experience behind us, we design and manufacture over 3 million cards a year for clients in financial and educational institutions, telecommunications and transportation industry, food services, govt. departments and corporate clients. Our growth is such that a few years ago we moved from our 8,000 sq. ft. factory to 16,000 sq. ft. factory in Peenya industrial suburb, Bengaluru.

How has been your expansion initiatives ?
We have doubled up our production capacity. Point to be noted here is that we did not increase our manpower, instead we upgraded our production facilities with more automation to increase overall efficiency. And as a result we could double production without increasing manpower. Our manufacturing facility has modern and security controlled systems.

What’s new at Card Tec ?
We have done a lot of development in the field of RFID. We are designing and manufacturing different types of RFID cards and also we are engaged in software and hardware projects for RFID cards. We are also developing AI (Artificial Intelligence), and designing products based on AI. For Example vehicle survellience and security system for Oil and gas tankers. Drone Based survellience with AI for oil pipelines and other sectors is under development.

Which are the growing sectors for you ?
Educational and hospitality sectors are a growing market for our products like ID cards.

What is the growth in Smart Cards and IDs ?
I guess the industry growth is about 20-25% and our growth is also about 25%

What about exports ?
Our domestic to export ratio is 75:25, with customers all over India, Africa (Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Mauritius), Middle East, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Nepal, United Kingdom), USA etc.

You have a jugalbandhi of screen, digital, offset and thermal printing for ID and smart cards printing ?
Yes, we use either a single printing process or combination of two, three or all four printing processes as per designs and customer requirement. We also use UV screen printing to incorporate security features such as colour changing UV etc. We combine a lot of these print technologies to bring out new and interesting products. We produce RFID certificates and government certificates on special materials like Tyvek and Teslin as we as paper scratch cards.
We make Screen Printed Cards. Inks used for Screen Print can be more opaque. Hence the output is more vibrant and beautiful than other forms of printing. We use automated screen printing press to reproduce designs exactly as per customer requirements.
We also make Screen Printed Coin Cards which have specialized designs used by Banks and Jewellers for packing of Gold and Silver Coins. They are attractive in design and make use of vibrant colours. They are made as per the sizes required by our customers. They are supplied with strong, self-adhesive backs.
We use offset printing for high volume cards for vivid colour reproduction and economical costs. The use of the traditional method of offset printing, still delivers many other advantages, especially true when printing PVC plastic cards. However, offset printing requires a much higher minimum quantity and the expected turnaround time is also longer.
We also supply Digital Printed Cards. Digital printing results in fast turnaround time and the ease of data printing. Digital printed cards are printed with utmost quality and accuracy as per the data supplied by our customers.

What are the hardware and software supplied by you ?
We supply time and access control equipment along with software to the government, corporates, IT, medical, insurance, companies. We also supply Biometric devices for fingerprint and eye retina scanning.

What are your views on the ‘Make in India’ ?
When it comes to Smart Cards and Biometrics, India is very self-sufficient although a lot of import is still being done.
About your prestigious projects ?
We have undertaken various smart card projects in the transportation, insurance sectors, e-purse applications etc. We have a team of dedicated professionals who are engaged in Application development and System Integration customised to client requirement. Some of the projects include the KSRTC smart card project in Karnataka, Medical Card Project for the Government of Nigeria, National ID for the Kingdom of Bahrain, etc.

What are the reasons for your success ?
Four key value drivers have been identified as performance enhancers – investing in a strong management team, comprehensive printing infrastructure, commitment to quality, customer service, strengthening brand awareness and harnessing technology. Our commitment to these value drivers help us in maintaining a strong foundation for sustained growth, innovation and creating optimal value for our customers and employees.

www.cardtec.biz / www. plasticcard.in /smartcardproduct.com