Identification Documents

Our society today is one that is threatened by crime. If there is a technological improvement to prevent something from happening, there are loopholes to work around the technology to breach it. In these times where security is of utmost importance and selective access is a necessity, identity cards are the best way to ensure selective access only to authorized personnel. Identity cards are an excellent choice for businesses, hospitals, schools, universities, private offices and other organizations and places of work, where selective access is of utmost importance. Identity cards come as PVC cards (which is better known as poly vinyl chloride plastic), and provide the card with protection from the effects of dust, water, dirt and air. Identity cards used in universities and colleges generally have a photograph of the person who is entering, and other details such as age, and designation or class and division.

Identity cards are a great way also of ensuring that the university, organization, or school that the identity card holder belongs to develops a sense of belonging with other members of the organization.

Another kind of identity card is the magnetic strip type, which allows access only to people with the card access, when swiped or presented in front of a sensor. These kinds of identity cards have a magnetic strip in their back and are unique to each user.

The Original Way to Make ID Cards

People have been creating and using identification cards since before the turn of the century. Prior to the early 1990s, the most common method of producing an ID card was known as the composite or film-based method. This simply involved taking a person's photo, cutting it out, and laminating it to a card-sized piece of paper containing the person's name, ID number, and any other personal information. Although the initial investment for a film-based system was relatively low, the time, labor, and individual cost per card was high. Plus, these cards were easily counterfeited. As a result, a new method called digital printing arose during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The New Way to Make ID Cards

Today, digital printing has become the technology of choice for the majority of organizations issuing identification cards - and with good reason. Digital ID card systems are growing increasingly affordable, are easy to use, and offer a host of benefits including. . .

• Ultra-fast production times(complete full-color photo ID badges in as fast as 25 seconds!)

• Low cost per card

• Single-step printing

• Unlimited card design possibilities

• Unlimited color options

• Automatic magnetic stripe, bar code, proximity, or smart card options (for access control, time and attendance, etc.)

• Powerful database options (for employee, student, or membership records or reporting)

• Highly durable cards

• Difficult to counterfeit

• Faster, easier badge replacement

• Far less labor

and the list goes on and on. But to truly understand the benefits of digital printing, you should understand how it works. It's surprisingly simple.

How a Digital ID card System Works

Digital ID card systems are made up of basically 4 components: The software allows you to create an ID card design and enter all the information you would like to appear on the ID card. The digital camera captures a person's photo and automatically loads it into the software. The digital printer/encoder takes all the text, photos, and images from the software and prints them directly onto a plastic ID card. And lastly, the computer is ties everything together. As you can see, digital printing really is a fast, efficient, and easy way to produce ID cards. And the results are outstanding. Just look at all the features digital ID cards have to offer:

The Vehicle Identification Number was originally described in ISO Standard 3779 in February 1977 and last revised in 1983. The ISO-VIN was designed to identify motor vehicles, trailers, motorcycles and mopeds and consists of several parts described below.

How to read a VIN

1st character- Identifies the country in which the vehicle was manufactured.

For example: U.S.A.(1or 4), Canada(2), Mexico(3), Japan(J), Korea(K), England(S), Germany(W), Italy(Z)

2nd character- Identifies the manufacturer. For example; Audi(A), BMW(B), Buick(4), Cadillac(6), Chevrolet(1), Chrysler(C), Dodge(B), Ford(F), GM Canada(7), General Motors(G), Honda(H), Jaquar(A), Lincoln(L), Mercedes Benz(D), Mercury(M), Nissan(N), Oldsmobile(3), Pontiac(2or5), Plymouth(P), Saturn(8), Toyota(T), VW(V), Volvo(V).

3rd character- Identifies vehicle type or manufacturing division.

4th to 8th characters- VDS - Vehicle Descriptor Section. These 5 characters occupy positions 4 through 8 of the VIN and may be used by the manufacturer to identify attributes of the vehicle. Identifies vehicle features such as body style, engine type, model, series, etc.

9th Character - The check digit "character or digit 9" in the sequence of a vehicle identification number (VIN) built beginning with model year 1981 (when the 17 character digit format was established) can best be described as identifying the VIN accuracy.

A check digit shall be part of each vin (since 1981) and shall appear in position nine (9) of the VIN on the vehicle and on any transfer documents containing the vin prepared by the manufacturer to be given to the first owner for purposes other than resale. Thus, the vins of any two vehicles manufactured within a 30 year period shall not be identical. The check digit means a single number or letter "x" used to verify the accuracy of the transcription of the vehicle identification number.

After all other characters in the VIN have been determined by the manufacturer the check digit is calculated by carrying out a mathematical computation specified. This is based on vin position, sample vin, assigned value code, weight factor and multiply assigned value times weight factors. The values are added and the total is divided by 11. The remainder is the check digit number. The correct numeric remainder - zero through nine (0-9) will appear. However, if the remainder is 10 the letter "X" is used to designate the check digit value/number.

10th character- Identifies the model year. For example: 1988(J), 1989(K), 1990(L), 1991(M), 1992(N), 1993(P), 1994(R), 1995(S), 1996(T), 1997(V), 1998(W), 1999(X), 2000(Y)------2001(1), 2002(2), 2003(3), 2004(4), 2005(5), 2006(6), 2007(7), 2008(8)

11th character- Identifies the assembly plant for the vehicle.

12th to 17th characters- VIS - Vehicle Identifier Section. The last 8 characters of the VIN are used for the identification a of specific vehicle. The last four characters shall always be numeric. Identifies the sequence of the vehicle for production as it rolled off the manufacturers assembly line.