Hallmark Cards Production Center

We are all familiar with greeting cards.  We get them on our birthdays.   We get them as ‘get well soon’ messages when we are sick.  We even get them as invitations.  They connect people over long distances, or short!  Last Thursday, Materials and Processes toured the Hallmark Cards Production Center (101 McDonald Drive, Lawrence, KS).   This is one of three facilities supporting Hallmark Cards Inc. in the United States (right here in Lawrence!)   They greeted the world in 1958, producing and packaging greeting cards, ribbons, and bows.  They produce 8-12 million cards in Lawrence…Each week!  How do they do it?  With great production methods and processes.  These greeting cards can include messages, pictures, glitter, pop-up features, etc.  Many cards start out together, printed front and back onto a large sheet of paper.  Before cutting these cards out, some of them include a little shimmer.  The shimmer you see on these cards is a type of thin foil. Hot metal plates sit on one side of card. On the other side, the foil heats up, and sticks to where the metal plates touch the card.   The cards are then ready to be cut out.  They use a die-cutting method.  A die-cut has sharp, thin blades that are bent into the desired shape of the card.  They are pressed onto the paper, so the cards can easily be extruded individually from the large piece of paper.  Other processes the Hallmark Cards Production Center utilizes is “flocking” and “flittering.”  Flocking is a process that adds that velvety material to a greeting card.  Some nickname it “bumblebee fur.” However, the correct name for the material is cellusuede.  Flittering is a process that adds the glitter to greeting cards.  This company also produces ribbon and bows.  The ribbon is made from polypropylene.  They also make their own ribbons spools with plastic from an injection mold.  Hallmark goes through several materials a day, and produce a ton of scrap.  Thankfully, they are big recyclers.  Italy is actually their biggest scrap buyer!  They are very close to being a zero percent landfill facility.  We all have given and received greeting cards and they continue to be a holiday staple.  Hallmark has helped continue this tradition.