Friday, September 7, 2012

Hallmark Cards (Lawrence, KS)


Product(s) What do they make?
Greeting Cards and Ribbon.


Market(s) for whom do they make it?
Ultimately individual consumers, but they take orders from big box stores such as Wal-Mart and Target and so on.


Materials.
Paper, Plastic, Glitter, Poly, Glue, metallic film, brass, copper, aluminum, rayon fibers, blowing agent, color beads, vinyl, ink, 


Forming Technologies.
Laser Cutter, Embossing machines, pneumatic punches, dies, assembly line folding/stacking/packing

Cutting Technologies.
Laser Cutter, die cutters, hand cutting.


Joining Technologies.
Glue.

Finishing Technologies.
metallic film adhered with heat. Glitter applied to glue. Embossing.


Overall Impressions/Epiphanies.
I had been in Hallmark before. Mainly in the warehouse side when I would repair their forklifts. Just being in the warehouse was cool and impressive. I had caught a glimpse into the manufacturing area at one point but never got a tour.

Seeing the individual processes that go into each card, how it is cut, folded, embossed, glittered, fuzzied with the rayon fibers, and finally packed up was really cool. I would have really liked to see the ribbon forming process in action, perhaps another day.

Most of all I was impressed with the engineering of the production line and all that goes into the design of the process of how the card is assembled. I think that would be a fun task, to figure out how to automate an entire process. Not necessarily industrial design, more engineering, but still it would be interesting.

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