CardTREX 2026 is coming to Lohmann. From October 27 to 28, the International Card Manufacturers Association's flagship European event moves to Lohmann's TEC Center in Neuwied, Germany, complete with live demonstrations in the Bonding Arena and guided tours of the production facility. Ahead of the event, we sat down with Christoph Krämer, Senior Market Manager Graphics at Lohmann, to talk about what is changing in card manufacturing, how Lohmann's adhesive technology is keeping pace, and what visitors can expect to see on-site in Neuwied.
Q: Christoph, what's the biggest shift you're seeing in the market right now?
A: Card bodies are moving away from new PVC toward recycled PVC, PLA, rPETG, and materials like Parley Ocean Plastic. That's good news for sustainability, but it means manufacturers are bonding chips onto substrates that traditional adhesives were never designed for. The chip bonding step has to keep up with that shift without slowing production down.
Q: Does that mean manufacturers need a different adhesive for every material?
A: That's exactly the trap we want to help them avoid. If every new substrate needs its own qualified tape, you end up with more inventory, more complexity, and more room for error on the line. Our approach is to develop one film that performs reliably across the widest possible range of card materials, rather than a patchwork of single-purpose tapes.
Q: How does DuploTEC SBF fit into that picture?
A: DuploTEC SBF is our solvent-free, thermoset transfer film for chip and sensor bonding. It's engineered for materials such as rPVC, PC, rPETG, PLA, and Parley Ocean Plastic-based substrates, and it activates at lower temperatures than traditional hotmelt tapes, which protects heat-sensitive materials and saves energy on the line.
Q: What about applications beyond payment cards?
A: The same film range supports biometric sensor integration and electronic card security codes. We offer a non-conductive version for mechanical bonding and an anisotropic electrically conductive version for chip-to-antenna connections. It's already proven in production with global card manufacturers and meets Mastercard Card Quality Management requirements and relevant ISO standards.
Q: Lohmann is hosting this year. What will attendees see at the TEC Center?
A: We'll have live demonstrations in our Bonding Arena, so visitors can see various bonding and manufacturing processes in action rather than just hearing about it. These demonstrations are enabled and supported by the exhibitors and sponsors of the event. We're also opening our production facility for guided tours, so people can see how these films are actually manufactured.
Q: What's your advice for anyone attending CardTREX this year?
A: Come with an open agenda. CardTREX brings together the whole card ecosystem, from payments and identity and access to security, so some of the most useful conversations happen outside your own immediate application. We're looking forward to that exchange as much as to showing our own technology.
Conclusion
CardTREX 2026 takes place October 27–28 at Lohmann's TEC Center in Neuwied, Germany. The event's value comes from ICMA and the exhibitors who make it happen each year, and we're glad to help bring that experience to Neuwied this time and show the full range of card applications we serve, from payment and smart cards to passports, ID documents, and beyond.
Register for CardTREX 2026 or reach out to the team directly to plan a conversation ahead of the show.
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