Ward/Kraft, Inc., a national leader in manufacturing business forms, labels, plastic cards and other commercial materials, has signed an agreement to license two-sided thermal label intellectual property (IP) from NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR). This license will allow Ward/Kraft to manufacture 2STTM label material as part of its label production process.

“We see great operational value in the use of two-sided thermal labels in the manufacturing and shipping process, making NCR’s innovation in this area a great opportunity for our customers,” said Mark Tucker, president, Ward/Kraft. “2ST products are rapidly growing and we feel confident that the opportunity to manufacture the raw material within the converting process will allow us to offer more advantages to our customers and accelerate that growth even more.”

NCR’s 2ST two-sided printing technology improves the efficiency of the direct thermal printing process by allowing simultaneous printing on both the front and back side of a label or other media. 2ST labeling improves operational throughput which reduces operating costs and environmental impact.

“NCR has already integrated 2ST labels into our own manufacturing and shipping process, and we’ve seen operational cost reductions of more than 30 percent,” said Eddie Noel, senior vice president and general manager, NCR Consumables. “By licensing 2ST label technology to a market leader such as Ward/Kraft, businesses will be able to realize similar benefits in their shipping operations.”

NCR is offering commercially attractive IP licensing terms to printer manufacturers and other businesses interested in its two-sided thermal printing technology. Leading printer manufacturers such as ToshibaTec and Sato currently offer 2ST label printers. For more information on NCR’s licensing program, contact the company at two.sided@ncr.com.

NCR’s 2ST two-sided printing technology is being used on receipts and other. Some of the applications include retail point-of-sale receipts incorporating return policies or customer satisfaction surveys, deposited check images on bank ATM receipts, special offers on gasoline pump receipts, and airline dual purpose boarding pass / receipt documents.