Think Plastic and Grow Rich

Plastic products redefine their role in the industry.

It has become so intertwined with our lives that we often overlook its significance. We find it in various formats necessary for the ease of monetary transactions, efficient luggage tracking, coast-to-coast calling and room privacy. All-purpose plastic has transformed itself into a plethora of products that make life a whole lot easier.

The plastic card has carved a clear and definite path for itself in the plastic products industry. "Plastic cards represent over 80 percent of our printed plastic division's annual revenue," said Dean Boustead, sales manager for Allegheny Printed Plastics, a plastic card manufacturer and printer based in Cranberry Township, Pa.

Steve Pruitt, national marketing manager for Teraco, Midland, Texas, said that several market surveys showed that "the plastic card industry is growing each year at a rate of 10 percent to 12 percent." However, Pruitt noted that traditional payment credit cards are not the largest share of printed plastic cards.

While plastic cards seem to be the leading product offering in the plastic products industry, there are, however, a wide variety of non-card items that hold their own. Pruitt noted that non-card printed plastic items represent about 15 to 20 percent of Teraco's overall sales. "Keytags, luggage tags and name badges are our best-selling promotional items. Our offering of these and other plastic items is part of the history of how Teraco grew to be a leading plastic manufacturer," he said.

Manufacturers say that while non-card plastic items tend to sell at a slower pace than their card counterparts, there are definite opportunities for non-card plastic items in the promotional products industry. "The market for non-card plastic items is in a slower growth mode than other plastic segments, but there remain ample opportunities for distributors to penetrate the promotional market with attractive printed plastic products," said Pruitt.