El Salvador Ministry of Defense chose to use a Zebra P520 card printer to print its identification cards
The armed forces of El Salvador, a Central American country, are charged with defending the national territory and
sovereignty, maintaining the public peace, tranquility and security, and supporting democracy. The Ministry of Defense is
the agency that oversees El Salvador’s armed forces, and serves as the main advisory bureau regarding national defense
policy to the President of the Republic and General Commander of the Armed Forces.
Strong security measures are
essential for the Ministry to properly carry out its agenda. That’s why the El Salvador Ministry of Defense chose to
use a Zebra P520 card printer to print its identification cards. The Ministry of Defense purchased its printer from Docusal/ScreenCheck
Latin America.
The Ministry of Defense is using ISO CR-80 PVC cards with holographic image protection
for its ID cards. In addition, microtext and ghost images were included in the card design for enhanced security. The P520
printer is used eight hours a day, five days a week.
Printing ID cards in-house lets the Ministry of
Defense maintain a high level of confidentiality with the data used in issuing the cards. Other factors involved in the agency’s
decision to purchase the Zebra P520 printer include its quick printing and affordable price tag.
“The
Ministry chose a Zebra printer because of the quality and security it offered for ID cards for employees, officers, and other
internal users in the institution,” reports Mr. Oscar Oquely, staff member of the Administrative Direction in the Ministry
of Defense. “Through the in-house administration of the ID issuance process, the Ministry of Defense is now able to
design and issue a unique document for multiple departments and operational units within the institution.”
The Zebra P520 prints color text, photographs, bar codes, signature scans and graphics with a 300 dpi resolution and
encodes magnetic stripes or smart cards. It laminates with clear or hologram over-laminate patches. The P520 prints and laminates
both sides of a card for dual-sided applications.
“The printer is used by the personnel of
the Human Resources Department and the Planning Unit, which both belong to the Administrative Direction,” Oquely notes.
“Our personnel were well trained by the printer distributor, and have found the printer to be user friendly.”
The printer’s small size also makes it easy to move to different military locations where it is needed for issuing
identification cards. Overall, the Ministry of Defense reports that its P520 printer is very reliable and flexible for printing
cards on demand.
“The security features and high-volume printing capacity of the printer have
met our expectations,” Oquely sums up. “In the near future, the incorporation of a magnetic stripe is being considered,
as a result of the generalized use of the unique badge.”
The Zebra P520
The P520 is a robust, high-speed
color card printer designed to produce highly secure, laminated, high quality photo ID cards for high volume applications.
It prints color text, photographs, bar codes, signature scans and graphics with a 300 dpi resolution and encodes magnetic
stripes or smart cards. It laminates with clear or hologram over-laminate patches that meet ISO standards for card flatness.
The P520 prints and laminates both sides of a card for dual-sided application,,
