Banknote 2014: Anticipating Innovations

Gerben van Wijk, Marketing Manager, KBA-NotaSys:  

Our stand will feature interactive presentations on all our technological development. Apart from the printing equipment we have recently introduced, we have also launched new solutions in the area of prepress which are certainly beneficial for our customers in terms of efficiency and environmental impact. 

In 2013 we launched our new mission which now is “to bring innovation and inspiration to the global high security printing community to enable the efficient production of currency and other security documents”. Our focus is to go further than the development and deployment of new technologies. We want to support our customers in improving their processes and be a true solutions provider. This new approach is already visible in our 2 nominations for the IACA Excellence in Currency Awards. Both the Protecta varnishing unit and the PlateCoat intaglio plate-chroming device have been developed together with our customers (FNMT from Spain and Banque de France respectively). The 3rd nomination in our category, LOOK from G&D, also was developed in close cooperation and features our NotaMark II technology. 

Efficiency is becoming key in the banknote industry. We notice that the market in which our customers are active today is getting more competitive and therefore orders have to be printed with a “first time right” approach, production times have to be reduced and there is a clear demand for increased quality. As mentioned earlier, we try to support our customers by giving them efficient technology, combining those processes that can be combined as seen in our CheckNumeroProtecta which combines full sheet inspection, numbering and varnishing in one press. We are also working with our customers on increasing machine up-time by reducing make-ready, with our fast plate-clamping system on the SUSI IV for instance, and by training and supporting them on important topics like preventive maintenance and quality control. 

Delphine Vie, Group Marketing Manager, Hologram Industries:  

Hologram Industries company will focus on our latest development in terms of banknote security, more precisely on Zero Order devices and color permutation features for banknotes like the DID™ and  mostly Plasmogram™ technology made of a thin, continuous, nano-structured metallic film showing incredible light transmission and reflection properties. This technology was designed in late 2013 and has already won the IHMA award for Best Innovation in Holographic Technology. 

Zero Order devices are based on color permutation and traditional diffractive technologies such as Alphagram™ technology. E.g. patches on high euro denominations and the Brazilian 100 real stripe are using this latest technology. 

The company is developing now in the direction of high security solutions for banknotes and convergence of Hologram. Industries optical and digital know-how applied to high security features for security documents. 

Craig Conrad, Crane Currency:  

Crane Currency will be introducing a new security feature based on its proven micro-optics technology. This new security thread provides an easily detectable optical movement that enables rapid validation. These new micro-optic effects are some of the most difficult features to copy or imitate, and will set new standards in secure design. Most importantly, is naturally soil resistant and highly durable due to its unique construction making it suited for even high transaction notes. 

The Crane stand will offer a presentation on the new micro-optic based security thread. In addition, visitors will be able to view samples of the most recent banknotes that incorporate Crane design and security features such as MOTION^TM. The booth will include a selection of brochures providing information about the company, AST-durable substrate solution, how to incorporate MOTION into your banknote, and details about our new security feature. 

We work on many new R&D projects at any one time, each at a different point in the development cycle. Some are closer to production than others. Most recently, Crane gave a talk at the Currency Conference in Athens, describing a new technology that allows us to put wide MOTION stripe and patches on banknotes. This new technology provides significantly new capabilities in advances in images and size of icons, making public recognition far faster and easier while making it significantly more difficult for the counterfeiter. Unlike traditional MOTION thread, this technology is put on after the paper is made, or even after offset printing. This adds additional design creativity, flexibility and security capabilities to the central banks. 

Central banks are becoming more and more demanding, as the ability to counterfeit becomes easier given the availability of desktop publishing. The first line of defense is always the general public, so therefore, they are looking for features that are very obvious and easy to understand by the general public. Given that, they want features that are bold, work in all lighting conditions, and can be understood without explanation. As advanced security features become more necessary, they are looking to put these on high circulation notes, such as those that come out of automated teller machines. This puts new demands on the durability of security features. The differing levels of sophistication by different central banks drive a mix of general public security features as well as machine-readable and covert features, which are only known by the central bank. In addition, regional and environmental conditions also drive unique demands. For instance, the environment in Sweden and the practices of how banknotes are handled, are very different from those of Thailand. Thailand banknotes are subjected to a much greater level of humidity and soiling, for example. 

During the conference, we expect to be asked how we are able to meet the central bank requirements I have discussed earlier. Therefore, we will be highlighting our ability to bring sophisticated micro-optics technology into security features that are: easily recognizable; extremely difficult to counterfeit; durable in all environments; and able to provide the design flexibility to easily integrate into the design of the banknote.