Inkjet & Digital Printing
HP Indigo Technology Enables B.I.G to Personalise Name Badges for Tesco
Monday 16. June 2008 - HP today announced that B.I.G, a subsidiary of U.S.-owned Brady Corporation (NYSE: BRC), has been using HP Indigo technology to produce personalised name badges on behalf of its client, Tesco.
B.I.G, based in Teddington and Ipswich, employs 65 people across its two sites and has been an HP Indigo customer for seven years. The company offers a range of digital services and produces business cards on its HP Indigo press 5000 and personalised corporate name badges on its HP Indigo press s2000.
Tesco, a contact of B.I.G’s for nine years, contacted the company because it recognised that name badges within its stores were being under used as a marketing tool. It challenged B.I.G to produce employee name badges that would improve the quality of relationships between Tesco’s staff and customers. Tesco wanted to modernise the design of the badges in such a way that would maintain its corporate identity, enhance its stores’ branding and make the name badge personal to the wearer.
B.I.G and Tesco developed the new name badges which feature a combination of images and text personalised with information about the wearer.
Each Tesco store has access to an electronic ordering form, created by B.I.G, where the information is collected to personalise the badges. Employees enter their name, job title, an optional interesting work-related fact and the year they started to work for Tesco, before being directed to an image library, where the wearer can pick from one of 50 images to represent an interest or hobby that will appear on the badge. The data is then sent to B.I.G for the customisation of the badges.
B.I.G produces the badges on an HP Indigo press s2000 and utilises HP’s liquid ink technology to produce offset quality print and special colours to achieve corporate colours. Once the ink has been applied to the substrate, the badges are then die cut before being coated with a clear resin to protect and enhance the information on the badge.
“We designed the name badges to be produced on our HP Indigo press s2000, which has been customised by HP to print on the plastic substrate used to form the badge,” said Tim Smith, general manager, B.I.G. “Our press can handle printing on this tricky substrate brilliantly and without HP’s technology we would not have been confident that we could produce the print quality that Tesco required.”
The company has produced and distributed over 100,000 new badges so far, but in order to supply all of Tesco’s staff with badges, it expects to produce over half a million items. The badges are currently being made according to a roll-out schedule agreed with Tesco. The HP Indigo press s2000 can print 500 four-colour A3 sheets or 12,000 badge faces per hour ensuring that orders for replacement and replenishment badges are fulfilled within 72 hours.
“Tesco is a market leading brand and the print quality of the badges was of paramount importance,” said Smith. “In our opinion, using an HP Indigo press is the only viable way to produce the high quality print, the level of variable data and the volume of items required by Tesco. Our client has been very happy with the final result and has received positive feedback from its staff and visitors to its stores.”
B.I.G began trading in 1988. Since then the company has supplied more than 25 million badges and over 50 million business cards to an ever growing list of prestigious clients. The company is committed to maintaining their position as a leading provider of brand-enhancing badges and print solutions through technology, and the continual introduction of new and innovative products.