Category: Uncategorised

Maintaining the security and safety of any workplace can be difficult, particularly when constant arrivals, deliveries, contractors and visitors to site create a busy environment that’s hard to monitor by CCTV. It’s very easy for anybody to merge into the workforce and walk around the premises. Secure identity and access solutions give employers control over access and protection of assets, while keeping the entire workforce and any visitors safe.

Using proximity cards and keytags allows you to control access to entrances to your building, as well as ensuring controlled access of offices, rooms, compounds and secure areas of the site. Employers remain secure in the knowledge that only card or keytag holders have abilities to gain access to permitted areas and locations.

The major benefits of setting up a system using proximity cards or keytags are:

Scanning

The use of HID proximity card readers in any work environment allows greater security with controlled access to areas of the site. These readers use RFID technology to scan proximity cards and keytags and allow appropriate employees to access permitted areas of the workplace. The cards and keytags are simple to use, providing employees with flexibility and speed of access and reducing overall time spent accessing secure areas. Opt for use of keytags when photographic ID is not required to access internal areas of the workplace.

Regular Use

These security devices are extremely easy to use and a quick swipe of cards or keytags allows employees to gain access to all permitted, protected zones of your site, ensuring worker productivity and site access is maintained at optimum levels. Keytags can be fitted to any key ring or clip and are durable, so easily withstand regular daily use.

Secure Option

Proximity cards and keytags are difficult to duplicate. The technology used by ID card printers cannot be counterfeited. Further, anybody with criminal intentions who should come into possession of cards or keytags will find it difficult to get into your premises as it will be impossible to gauge the doors or areas of the building which can be operated using specific devices. The additional security measures employed within your premises, such as security cameras, would soon alert your team to the presence of strangers with criminal intentions.

Integration with Additional Technologies

These secure options can be integrated with additional technologies, such as photographic identification, hologram printing, custom logos, UV inks, micro printing or smart cards. This allows even greater on site security for all workers needing access to various areas of the premises and makes it extremely easy for site security personnel to identify genuine cards, maintaining secure access to your business premises at all times.

Avon Security Products provide high quality ID card printers featuring all the security printing options needed to generate the proximity cards and keytags required on your site. You can quickly compare and contrast different ID card printers to select the product most suited to the needs of your business.

To maximize your return on investment and ensure your ID card printer continues to produce quality photos and information, it is necessary to perform proper maintenance. While there are many types of maintenance products available, it is important to choose high quality printer cleaning supplies to avoid damaging the sensitive printer components and to achieve maximum benefit.

Save on Supplies Costs with Proper Cleaning

When your ID card printer becomes dirty, the print quality will suffer. Pictures may lose detail, lines or streaks may appear across printed items and in some cases there will be voids in the printing. These types of issues consume your printer supplies and generate cards that are not usable. The expense of these wasted items can be saved by investing in quality printer cleaning supplies and following a regular schedule for maintenance of your printer.

Card Cleaning Rollers

Designed to clean the cards before they pass through the inking system and printer head, high quality card cleaning rollers are essential to maintaining the performance of your ID card printer. If you choose the cheapest brands, the rollers are more likely to break down and allow pieces to pass through the internal mechanisms, possibly causing damage to the printer head, your ribbon and other vital internal components. High quality rollers such as those supplied by Avon Security Products are designed for maximum cleaning and will not disintegrate into your printer under proper usage.

Card-Style Cleaning Kits

Most printers are designed with a self-cleaning feature that can be maximized with card-style cleaning kits. These kits include cards that may be adhesive, or use an alcohol solution to remove any dust and debris from the interior rollers in your ID card printer. To use them, you simply start the printer’s cleaning cycle and feed the card through. Just as lower-priced rollers may disintegrate and cause damage to your printer, so can cheaply-made card-style cleaning kits. High quality printer cleaning supplies ensure that when used properly, they will remove the maximum amount of dust and debris possible while remaining intact throughout the cycle.

Follow a Printer Cleaning Schedule

To maintain the best quality printing possible, you should set and stick to a schedule for cleaning your printer. While you should check your user manual for specific instructions, a good general rule of thumb is to perform the cleaning whenever you have to change the ribbon. This is an excellent system for printers that are under heavy use. For printers that are not used heavily, you may find a two-month cleaning schedule works best since dust and debris can still build up. Be sure to use a dust cover for added protection when your printer is not in use.

Making the relatively small investment in high quality printer cleaning supplies from Avon Security Products will help you get the most out of your ID card printer while cutting down on repair and wastage costs. View our full product lineup or contact us to help you find the best solution for your printer.

Lost ID cards are a serious problem for many organizations. As well as the hassle of replacing the card, lost ID cards also raise potential security concerns. Therefore, it’s essential to reduce the risk of card loss as much as possible. ID badge holders are an essential part of this strategy.

Benefits of ID Badge Holders

ID badge holders allow people to keep their cards on their person at all times. With their cards securely held in ID badge holders, people have their hands free to carry out tasks. There are many styles of ID badge holders available, including badge reels and lanyards, so every type of organization can find a solution to card loss that suits the particular needs of their industry.

Why Choose ID Badge Reels?

Badge reels are a professional choice for office workers. They allow employees to quickly pull out their badges when they need to present them for identification purposes. The badge reel then automatically retracts to put the badge back into place. Badge reels with custom logos represent the company and present a professional image. Choose a high quality bade reel that securely attaches to the employee’s clothing to reduce the risk of card loss.

Why Choose ID Card Lanyards?

Lanyards are a great choice for gym employees or anyone who works in an active job. A lanyard holds an ID card in a holder that can be worn around the neck on a strap. Lanyards can quickly be put on and taken off. Some lanyards also have a safety feature that allows the strap to break away quickly if it becomes caught in equipment or machinery. Choose a lanyard with a customized strap as a visible representation of your organization.

Customizing ID Badge Holders

ID badge holders can be more than just a practical solution to card loss. They can also help to present a professional image of your organization. Choose a customized design for your ID card holders to help make your employees or members easy to identify while they are wearing their ID badges. Use your organization’s colors or feature the logo prominently on the design of the badge holder.

Protect your organization against card loss by issuing every employee or member with a badge holder. Let everyone in the organization know how important it is to use their ID badge holder at all times to reduce the risk of losing a card. Design attractive badge holders that everyone is proud to wear and you could dramatically cut the rate of card loss in your organization.

For more information, or to order ID badge holders for your company, contact us today!

When you have a great business, you want to have people experience you, love you, and keep coming back to you for more. There are tons of marketing efforts that you should consider employing, but when it comes down to building relationships with your consumers, customer loyalty cards often reign king.

Everybody loves getting something for free, even if it means they’ve spent a few dollars to earn that reward. Customer loyalty cards improve brand recognition and repeat business by putting your company at the forefront of shoppers’ minds. Companies both large and small, have historically benefited from the use of customer loyalty cards after experiencing stagnation in sales when other marketing efforts have flattened.

Restarting Stagnant Growth

According to Loyalty360, coffee giant Starbucks pointed to the implementation of its loyalty program for a 26% rise in profits in 2013 which came about from a boost in revenue that landed at $3.6 billion. Electronics superstore Best Buy also employed a similar strategy where it increased the points in its rewards program by 25%, thus boosting the company’s online sales in an effort to better compete with sites like Amazon.

Positive Return on Investment

Marketing efforts come in many sizes when it comes to expense. Some can be very costly, and measuring return on investment can be cumbersome at best. Customer loyalty cards however, are markedly affordable in terms of the revenue they can provide your company, and the return on investment is pretty easy to measure in cold hard numbers. Once you’ve laid out the structure and expectations of your customer loyalty cards’ program, you can easily put metrics in place to understand how much you’re putting into your program and how much money you’re getting back in return. This method of marketing costs significantly less than a lot of options, but the rewards are often far greater than expensive alternatives as well.

Retention Realizes Rewards

When people have a choice between two different stores, if all else is equal, they’re more likely to choose the one that will reward them for their visit. It doesn’t matter if you’re offering a certain percentage off of purchases for members of your program, or if you give away a free item after so many visits, repeat customers are more common when they have a reason to visit your establishment.

Reinforcing their Reason for Shopping

Customer loyalty cards have a large impact on the purchase of things that customers need to invest in anyway. Whether it’s a daily cup of coffee or a bag of dog food, people respond positively when they’re being rewarded for adhering to their normal routine. No matter what you sell or what kind of service you provide, you can benefit by positively reinforcing the behaviours that make up your target demographic.

Competing Doesn’t Have to Cost a Fortune

As a small business, it can be tempting to feel like you have to undercut the competition just to compete in the marketplace. Keep in mind that you still have bills to pay, and if you get caught up in the game of quantity versus quality, you can find yourself shoveling a lot of product out the door for lower-than-desirable prices just to get attention from consumers. Customer loyalty cards allow you to keep your prices at fair market value while rewarding shoppers for their patronage on infrequent and easy-to-budget-for occasions.

Are you interested in learning more about how customer loyalty cards can help boost your bottom line? Contact our team at Avon Security Products, and let’s talk about your company’s goals!

Owning a printer comes with responsibility. Just like other electronic equipment like computers and television sets, printers are supposed to be handled with care for them to function efficiently. A good ID card printer should function efficiently in terms of the quality of print and the speed. The printer should be able to produce good quality copies in the resolution of the images and texts and also the easy of operating them.

In order to know if the printer is functioning well, it is also important to understand the technology behind the printing process. Printers use a vast of different materials such as ink, powder toner, and electrostatic charges among other things. The ink jet printer technology for example is based on tiny nozzles that spurt fine ink of mist on paper.

Signs That Your ID Card Printer Needs An Upgrade

There are several indications that necessitate the upgrade of an ID card printer:

• In cases where the ink jet printers become notoriously slow and reduce the quality of their printing, they need replacement. For example, if you want to print multipage copies for a client but you end up waiting for the ink jet printer to slowly produce the copies, then you need to upgrade your printer. The printing speed therefore determines if you have to upgrade your ID card printer or not. The printing speed is measured by the number of pages it prints per minute as well as the number of characters it prints within a minute.
• Apart from the printing speed, you should monitor the monthly duty cycle of the ID card printer to measure how effective it is. The monthly duty cycle is the rating of pages per month that the printers produce. If the duty cycle of the printer began at 1000 pages per month, monitor it and see how many pages per month the printer s producing. A good functioning printer should have a duty cycle far much beyond your needs making it easy to operate. The printer will undergo wear and tear especially if the duty cycle is lower than your needs, and therefore you prematurely wore it off by over working it.
• Furthermore, a good ID card printer should be compatible with the Operating System of every computer. There should be an efficient OS-to-printer communication, where it is easy to read data from any computer, mobile device of USB devices. If the printer has problems with the OS-printer communication, then it needs upgrading to enhance efficiency.
• The resolution of the printing quality is also an issue that needs upgrading. Resolution refers to the dots-per-inch that the printer produces, which translates to quality. Consider the number of individual dots of ink sprayed within a square inch of a printed paper. If the resolution starts to decrease, that ID card printer needs replacement.
• The power supply is another consideration. A printer which has a worn out power supply, one that is unstable, or under powered can lead to the malfunctioning of the ID card printer. It should have a good power supply of about 450 watts. If there is a problem with its power supply, sometimes just repairing the problem can only stabiles it but its voltage power will drop, reducing the efficiency of the printer. It will therefore call for the upgrading of the printer.

In case you have experienced any of the above signs which call for the upgrade of your printer, then you need to contact the best photo ID warehouse to get the expert help as well as acquire a better printer for your services. To learn more, contact us at Avon Security Products today!

There are a lot of reasons your organization may be implementing ID cards. In most cases, you want your ID cards to include a name, picture and other important identifying details about the person carrying the card. This is usually done for safety and security purposes, but finding the right ID card templates to fit your needs can be a bit more challenging. Here are some of the places you should look for templates

The Printer Manufacturer

If you have already purchased a machine capable of printing, laminating or otherwise creating ID cards, there is a good chance the manufacturer of that machine has already put together some basic templates for you to choose from. Some of these printers include a CD with an application that allows you to design your own template, or others may send you to a related website so you can choose from a wide range of up to date template options.

Avery

This labeling giant and office supply provider is known for their awesome templates for all shapes and sizes of labels and other printed material. They have also added ID card templates to their list of available products. Just go to their website, sign up for a free membership and you will be able to explore a variety of preset options that you can use for your office or school.

Online Search

A quick search online turns up tons of free template options that can be downloaded at any time. Each website has its own unique designs that you can choose from and modify to your liking. If you are looking for free ID card templates, this is the best way to find something that meets your expectations without spending a large amount of money.

ID Creator

This is a dedicated ID printing service. They have a lengthy list of templates to choose from, and allow you to import all of your employee or student data directly into their system. Once your information is uploaded, they will print the cards for you and ship them to you all at once. This can be a simple way to let somebody else handle the details after you have chosen the overall look of your new ID cards.

ID Software

Since ID cards have become a mainstay among many office complexes and large businesses there are several dedicated software programs out there to help you create your IDs. This ID programs are typically designed to work hand in hand with the rest of your office productivity software so that you can quickly and easily choose a template and enter all of the necessary information.

There are tons of ID card templates available online and through specialized ID printing services. Your choice of templates will likely depend on the type of ID printer you plan on using and how much you want to spend to get the perfect card. Start by looking at the templates that are designed specifically for your printer, and then branch out to see what other options are available. To learn more about ID cards and the best printers in the industry, contact us at Avon Security today!

Lanyards are an overlooked but important part of many businesses. When your company uses ID cards, passes, door cards and similar cards, then having an easy way to keep track of these items is essential. Many business require you to display your ID badge at all times, which makes a lanyard another part of your work uniform. Breakaway lanyards however are far more suited to certain industries than non-breakaway lanyards.

Why Use Breakaway Lanyards?

Breakaway lanyards differ from traditional lanyards in one key design difference. These lanyards when pulled on or caught have a breakaway clasp that separates, allowing it to be harmlessly removed from the wearer. This is an important safety feature, as in many industries a necessary lanyard can get caught on machinery, the wearer can be badly hurt.

Industries That Benefit From Breakaway Lanyards

There are many jobs there a lanyard may get caught on machinery or could be pulled on by another person, and in jobs such as these breakaway lanyards help assure safety and avoid injuries. If you work in any of the following professions breakaway lanyards should be seriously considered.

• Industries that utilize heavy machinery. This can include engineers, repairmen, the printing industry, and auto mechanics. Essentially any job where one has to use equipment with a lot of exposed moving parts, where you have to bend or lean over open equipment to use, or where repairs to such equipment take place. These jobs can become very dangerous if a lanyard is caught in the machinery and you cannot break free.
• Similar to the above industries, construction is another job where one is often exposed to situations where physical safety is a chief concern. In environments such as a construction site anything that can get caught on exposed materials and trap the wearer is a safety hazard. Breakaway lanyards will ensure that workers don’t get caught on anything, and don’t do damage to themselves or the worksite in the process.
• Any type of job where a physical, combative style role may need to be taken, such as: a club or bar bouncer, security guard, or police officer. Many professions expose you to people who will grab or pull at your clothing or may try to start an altercation. In professions such as these breakaway lanyards keep employees safe from harm.
• Education may not appear as hazardous as the above jobs however, it is one that has a potential for accidents due to working with children. If you work with children for example many may pull down on a lanyard as a joke or simply to get attention. Despite no malice being involved people have been hurt by having their necks suddenly jerked downward by someone pulling on a lanyard.

Lanyards are a very important part of workplace safety. If you’re looking for breakaway lanyards for your company there are several business devoted to selling ID equipment and accessories. Avon Security Products is one of the largest providers of identification based solutions in Canada. With over ten years of business experience and international clients in both the public and private sectors their success speaks for itself. When you need lanyards, ID cards, software, or any other identification solution Avon can help. Contact us today for more information!

ID cards allow businesses, schools and other institutions to quickly identify employees and members. Therefore, it’s essential to have an ID card design that clearly communicates all the key information in a single glance. Follow these ID card design tips to create cards that look great and fulfill all their essential requirements.

1. Keep it Simple

The simplest ID card designs are often the best. Avoid over-complicated designs with too many images or fancy fonts. Instead, focus on developing a clear ID card design that contains a few key features: your company name, the employee’s name, picture and role, and the expiry date of the card. Every element should be large enough that it is easy to notice with just a glance.

2. Use a Large, Clear Image

Perhaps the most important aspect of an ID card is the photo of the employee. The photo allows employees in charge of checking the identity of people in the organization to quickly decide if the cardholder is the same person shown on the card. Take a well-exposed against a plain, light-colored background and ensure it appears large enough on the card to allow easy identification.

3. Include the Name of the Organization

The name of your organization should appear prominently on the card, so that lost cards can be returned. Include the organization name and logo on the card so that they are easy to recognize.

4. Use a Suitable Font

Choose a font that is easy to read for your ID card design. Steer away from fonts that are overly fussy and don’t use italics. Capital letters are often easier to read, so put key information in all caps.

5. Choose the Background Colour Carefully

A background that is too dark can make the information on the ID card difficult to read. Choose white or a light background colour for your ID card design. Consider using different colours to designate different levels of access.

6. Consider ID Card Holders

Are you going to issue ID card holders or lanyards for your ID cards? You need to check that your ID card design works well with the holder. Ensure that the card holder doesn’t cover any key information, such as the employee name or your organizations’ logo. You may need to leave a small border around the edges of the card to ensure that important information isn’t covered by a standard card holder.

Take the time to develop a good ID card design for your organization. Clear ID cards allow you to quickly and easily identify employees and ensure that everyone on your premises has the right to be there. Invest some time in designing ID cards that contain all the key information in a clearly presentable format to protect the security of your organization. For more information on ID card design tips or how to get the best printer for your organization, contact us at Avon Security Products today!

How you choose to regulate access to your buildings or offices is a question involving finances, convenience and quality. When you think about security at a given property, you have to think about each potential threat or vulnerability that could exist for that specific security risk. One such important decision is whether you wish to use magnetic swipe cards for your staff and visitors or whether barcode cards are actually better. A close investigation of each will illuminate a better view of how the two options compare and contrast from one another.

Magnetic Swipe Cards

In this method, the magnetic strip on the card actually stores the information about the individual carrying the card. When the strip is read, the machine is able to use decoding software to uncover what information is contained within the strip. Magnetic swipe cards are real veterans in the security space, having been in mainstream public use since the 1960s. Access to information is fast, but a dedicated hardware reader is also required.

The downsides to the magnetic swipe cards solution versus a barcode scenario is the longevity of a single card’s viability and integrity. In many cases, magnetic swipe cards are best for use cases such as libraries and gyms. The reason for this is simply the frequency of swipes. A gym or library should have fewer uses by orders of magnitude, as opposed to in an office where card swipes could happen potentially dozens of times weekly. Frequent use and improper storage of magnetic swipe cards will likely yield you a damaged magnetic stripe rather quickly. If you have users of the cards who may have difficulty maintaining their card’s pristine condition, a laminated barcode card might be another option worth exploring.

Barcode Cards

With a barcode card, the logistics are slightly different than that of the magnetic. With this type of card, you also benefit from the comfort of knowing that it has been in use for over thirty years. On barcode cards, information is not actually stored in the card, but rather in a central database within your organization’s network. When the card is scanned by the reader hardware, it deciphers a value from the information in the barcode that the naked eye couldn’t determine. This value is a reference in your company’s internal network. That reference will point to a file containing the pertinent information to the cardholder. Provided there is no latency in the connection between the system scanning cards and the network containing user data, there will be a near-immediate feeling to how fast the data comes in.

You should be extra careful to make sure when ordering cards and readers that they are on the same barcode platform and that they are fully compatible. Newer barcode readers employ a form of ‘2D’ barcode reading, whereas older systems are on what is known as a ‘1D’ protocol, thus making it impossible for newer cards to be read on the older hardware.

Which is Best?

Which choice is best is going to come down to the specific use cases involved, the type of circumstances and the various variables at play, including budget. A simple and working understanding of how these technologies compare and contrast is fundamentally valuable to know in advance as a business owner or decision maker in the area of security hardware.

For more information on magnetic swipe cards or barcode cards, contact our team of security experts at Avon Security Products!

Clear ID photos are essential for ID cards, as they allow holders to be quickly and efficiently identified. If you’re struggling to take good ID photos of your employees, members or students, try these top 10 tips, which can help to improve the quality of your photos.

1. Use a Good Camera

It’s essential to use a camera with good enough specifications to take photos for ID cards. Choose a camera with a minimum of 12 megapixels. Most digital cameras and even some mobile phones meet this requirement, although older phones and some webcams may not.

2. Choose a Plain Background

Always take photos in front of a plain white or pale grey background. Avoid backgrounds that have texture or patterns and move furniture out of the way. Position the person roughly 3 feet from the background to minimize shadows.

3. Use Good Lighting

Where possible, take ID photos in daylight. Position the person so that the light falls directly on the face, rather than coming from the side or rear. If daylight is not an option, use an overhead artificial light, rather than the flash function on the camera.

4. Check the Camera Settings

Turn on auto focus, auto white balance, and auto exposure before you take your photo. Turn off the flash and any digital effects, such as filters.

5. Position the Person Correctly

Ask the photo subject to face the camera directly, without tilting or rotating the head. Frame the photo so that the face and neck take up the majority of the photograph, without being cut off by the sides of the frame.

6. Remove Head Coverings

Have people take off hats or helmets so you can see their faces and hair clearly. If someone needs to wear a headscarf for religious reasons, make sure the scarf isn’t casting shadows over the face.

7. Consider People Who Wear Glasses

People who normally wear glasses should wear them in their ID photos. However, it’s important to ensure that the eyes are visible. That means no tinted lenses or sunglasses. Line up the photo to avoid light reflections on the glasses and check that the glasses frames don’t cover the eyes.

8. Check the Expression

It’s easiest to identify a person from a photo that shows a neutral expression. Ask your photo subject to stare straight into the camera with open eyes and a closed mouth, without smiling or frowning.

9. Check the Photo

Check the photo immediately after taking it to ensure it fits the requirements. It’s very easy to snap an ID photo that is blurry or that shows the card holder with closed eyes. By checking the photo immediately after shooting, you can quickly take another if the first photo is no good.

10. No Photo Editing

Don’t edit the photo after you’ve taken it. If it’s not suitable, take a new one rather than trying to airbrush out shadows or other frustrating features.

By following these tips, you can take ID photos that are true likenesses of your employees, students or members. Use these photos on personalized ID cards so you can be sure that everyone on your site has the right to be there. For more information on ID photos or cards, contact us at Avon Security Products today!