Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

We here at Modity Inc want to wish you all a happy holiday season and a merry Christmas.

How to Re-order Proximity Cards

If you have ever ordered proximity cards, or any access cards for that matter, you know it can be a challenge, but reordering can be just as confusing. During this process, the end of the box will make the process easier.

First you need to make sure you picked the right card to re-order. Depending where you are ordering from there could be a number of brands that are all compatible with your system/reader. The differences here could be in lead time or in price.

Next comes the tricky part, the encoding. When you are placing the order, the information you should have on hand is:

• Card Range (the range you are looking to order)
• Facility Code
• Card Format Number

This information can be found on the side of the box the cards came in.When you order Proximity Cards and Access Cards from Modity Inc. we will contact you shortly after your order is placed to obtain this information.

With this, your order will be good to go and your cards will be on the way in no time!

If you are ordering cards for the first time, it might be useful to check out our Card Careers post, and if you still have questions call us here at Modity Inc at 800-903-8515 and talk to a sales representative about your specific situation!

We Caught You Wristbanded!

While we are taking a break from all that ID card printer talk, let’s look at wristbands too!

Now when I think of wrist bands, I think of kiddie rides at carnivals, water park passes, and well the hospital. But I did some digging and found out that there is more potential there than just that!

Wristbands can be used for amusement parks, resorts, cruises, sporting events, night clubs, zoos, admission to events, and general visitor management. Color coding and custom print wrist bands make all this possible.

Different colors can code for different days of the week for things such as amusement parks and resorts but they can also be used as for visitors to your company.

There are a variety of wristbands available for the medical field. We offer the Z-Band series as our medical wristbands. These are white bands that are MR-safe. Our variety includes softer wristbands used for pediatrics and varying sizes for adult wristbands. We offer wristbands that have adhesive closures and ones that have clip closures. The clips can come on a variety of colors that could be used for classifications The Z-Band brand offers an antimicrobial coating to protect both the wristband and the patient. These wristbands are designed to withstand the soaps, alcohols, and other common cleaners and solvents to remain scannable and reliable!

As far as supplies are concerned, Modity Inc has it all. We offer printers, wristbands, and for the ones that need it, ribbons. We also offer an all-in-one custom wristband printer system! If you need some advice on if a wristband system is right for your business, we are happy to help!

It's All About the Label

Let’s talk about label printers. I know, I know. Typically we seem to be about all things card printers, but we do know a thing or two about labels and label printers.

Label printers are used for inventory management, shipping, labeling/organization, and more. Which print you pick also depends on the width of the labels you need to print.

So if you are in the market for one of these printers, there are some terms that should keep popping up. The most important, and to me, most confusing, is direct thermal and thermal transfer.

Direct Thermal printers are exactly what they sound like. They print directly on the labels using heat. Think of the receipts you get at grocery stores, they are usually printed on thermal paper that turns black when heat is applied to it. This means no ribbons are needed!

Thermal Transfer Printers need a ribbon. Heat is used to adhere the ribbon to the label. (Wait this sounds familiar… oh yeah, that’s how direct to card printers work too!) But that means you need a ribbon for this one.

Direct Thermal labels are designed for short term printing because as stated above, the labels react with heat. Thermal Transfer labels are designed for more long term.

We offer printers such as the Godex EZ DT-4 Printer, the Zebra S4M Midrange Label Printer, Dymo LabelWriter 450, and the Primera LX400printer.

Look for more to come on Label Printers!!

Understanding ID Card Printers

What kind of cards are you looking to print? Is it single or two sided? Are both sides in color? How many will you have to print? What does your budget look like? All of these factors effect what printer you need!

Finding the printer that fits your needs can be a little tricky. There are so many brands and acronyms. We started looking at this with our Printer Jargon post but wanted to look at it a little more in depth today.  

First let’s look at DTC and Retransfer printers. If you’re looking at this thinking what the heck does that even mean, don’t worry. Both of these terms refer to how your printer works.

DTC, also known as direct to card, is the more common version. DTC printers use heat and dye-sublimation to adhere color from ribbons onto the card itself. These printers use a print head and layer the color panels onto the card. When you use a full color ribbon (YMCKO/T) your results are a full color printed card. Many of these printers boast near photo quality images and advanced color match between your monitor and the printed card.

Retransfer, sometimes referred to as reverse transfer, is a newer kind of printer. This printer adds an extra step where it prints your image onto a clear film that is then adhered to your card using heat. The advantage to this is tamper evidence and edge to edge printing. The color image is a one layer instead of 4 layers as it can be with direct to card printing. These printers also boast high image and color quality.

Now you might find yourself thinking, okay, they print differently, so what?

DTC printing is faster and fewer materials are required for printing a card. You can get high quality prints as well.

Retransfer printers are more secure but they are more costly. So once again it depends on your needs.

Dye Sublimation (Dye Sub) and Resin Ribbon both refer to ribbon type. In Dye Sub printing, the color panel is changed from its solid form directly to a gaseous state then solidified on the card. Resin is melted onto the card. Resin ribbons are recommended for printing bar codes and QR codes onto cards.

So if you’re looking to print a scan-able code onto a card, be sure to utilize the resin panel.

Other factors to consider are how many cards you are printing. This is where those entry level/ low volume, midrange/medium volume, and high volume/industrial words come in to play. With this you need to look at how often you are assigning cards. While at first the card issuance might be high, what does it look like for the rest of the year? Does it make more sense to contract a printer instead of buying your own machine?

A plastic card printer can be a great investment for your company. There is a lot that can go into that decision though. If you have questions we here at Modity Inc are happy to help. Its our job to help you find the right printer!

New Look for the New Year

Hello everyone and Happy New Year!

We are starting this year with a little bit of change...

A New Logo!!!

So lets take a moment and look at the old...

 

And now for the new!

So we have a new look but the same great service!

Think it will take some getting used to? We do too, but we hope you like it as much as we do!

Goodbye 2014!

Happy New Years from Modity Inc!

No, we don’t have any snappy New Years sayings or graphics but we are working on it!(Cross your fingers for next year)

But what we do have is fun too, I promise. Well its fun if you find work related things entertaining…

We have an overview of some of the things we did this year!

Customization – Customizing gift cards and lanyards isn’t new to us. We are happy to help with that. But what is new is the option to preview your lanyards as you build them with our lanyard tool!

This year we added custom print badge reels too! Now you can get your company name and/or logo printed right on your reel!

One more custom thing we added, we started printing custom inventory labels!

Wristband Printers – We added wristband printer systems! These printers can be customized for the information you need on the wristbands, such as name and time. The better part is we can set it up for you!

Photo Printers – Along with expanding our custom options, we expanded our products a little bit. We added dye-sublimation photo printers! So instead of ink, this is one more printer that takes a ribbon!

So as you can see we took our familiar and expanded it some. Still, at the core we are still the same lots of inks, ribbons, and customization to fit your needs.

Have a happy and safe New Years. We will see you in 2015!

- The Modity Inc. Team