What is the ARA?

The ARA (Awards & Recognition Association) is an, “organization of 4,000 companies dedicated to increasing the professionalism of recognition specialists and advancing the awards and engraving industry.” Recognition Specailties is proud to be recognized for 25 years of membership at this years ARA annual members breakfast on March 9th in Las Vegas. That is 25 years of continual innovations, refinements, and improvements to ourselves and industry practices. When you think of truly great awards and recognition products available, you are thinking of what the ARA has done. From putting out training programs, to new and exciting product lines, the ARA helps many businesses achieve or maintain that competitive edge.

Because of our commitment to the ARA and the industry, the ARA has awarded Recognition Specialties a 25 year member pin, commemorating our membership and dedication. The pin (shown below) marks our dedication to the industry, and our commitment to continuing to provide excellence in our customer service, our products and our commitment to the industry.

Recognition Specialties is a proud 25 year member of the ARA

Recognition Specialties prides itself on producing fantastic products with value. This is consistent with what the ARA teaches, and our own philosophy on awards and recognition products. With our high standards for quality, we guarantee that any of our awards, plaques or our new canvas prints will be beautiful. We strive for perfection, because every product not only represents us, it represents you — and for the last 25 years, the entire ARA industry.

Recognition Specialties also manufactures many name badges worldwide. Our website NiceBadge.com is a portal for getting the best name badge anywhere. Our Executive line of badges, with a unique gold or silver frame is for the professional; you won’t get a more professional name badge anywhere. Recognition Specialties offers traditional line of plastic only name badges that is often a more cost effective choice for many employees. With a lifetime guarantee on all of our name badges (and we’re the only company that guarantees our name badges for life!) you can see why we say that we are the leader in name badges. Check out some of our online samples, or submit a mockup. We have low setup fees, and no minimums.

Recognition Specialties award letter and pin

The Recognition Specialties team is incredibly talented and hard working: and, as such ultimately it is our staff that makes us successful. Our staff page is a great way to learn about who we are, and many of our hobbies. Our staff are some of the hardest working people in the industry.

You probably wonder what Recognition Specialties has in common with County Music…..Last month we had the privilege to be involved with a benefit concert that benefited our Veteran’s with James House, Steve Azar and Darryl Worley. What a great cause. Southern Oregon like many communities had many of our men and woman leave for various places in our world to help keep our Freedom in the USA. This Summer the majority of our troops came back, and what a better idea, then a benefit concert put on just for them.

As I was waiting for the concert to start I couldn’t help feel the patriotism and pride that was in the air. Wow! I am usually aware and quite proud to be an American but tonight was different for me. I felt an overwhelming emotion of gratitude and was amazed that so many people in our country are willing to go out and protect me and my family and all of our rights that are part of being an American. Once the concert started it was quite evident that each of these country stars were truly there to say thank you to our military personnel and they were humbled and so thankful for their service as well.

So still you are probably wondering what we have to do with all of this. Recognition Specialties was honored to create plaques for each of the stars as well as the band. We decided to laser right on the oak plaques in the shape of Oregon so they will always remember the great time had by all and where it was had!

So thank you James House, Steve Azar and Darryl Worley for giving our troops a great thank you gift that will be remembered always…

Whether you are part of a “Green” business movement or just trying to reduce the environmental footprint of your business Eco-Friendly badges might be right for you. Eco-Friendly or “Green” name badges are becoming more and more popular. It is unknown how long the plastic used name badges takes degrade, but it is safe to say it is a very long time. Conversely, green name are made of materials that will naturally degrade over time.

The most Popular materials for Eco-friendly badges are leather and wood.

With laser engraving becoming more widely used in the engraving industry traditional plastics and metals are being pushed aside for new materials such as leather and wood.

With wooden name badges you get a distinct contrast of colors where the laser etches the badge, making your logo, name, and title clearly stand out on the badge. When a leather badge is lasered you get the same color difference as in wood but you will also get a completely different texture where the laser has engraved.

Eco-Friendly badges are easy to read, comfortable to wear, and help reduce the environmental footprint your business makes. So if you are considering purchasing badges in the future keep in mind that there are Eco-Friendly options out there!

Over time name badges, no matter how gently they are treated can become scuffed, scratched, and the logos on them can fade.  Once this happens a new badge has to be ordered to keep a professional look. To avoid having to reorder damaged name badges try our domed name badges.

Domed Name Badges look classy and are extremely durable thanks to a protective polyurethane dome layer that keeps your badge looking like new even after years of use. With a normal badge you have to be careful of where you put your badge as it can easily get scratched in your pocket or purse. The polyurethane mixture we use is self-healing so if your badge is ever dropped or scuffed the domed badges will not be damaged. Unlike some resin coated badges ours will not yellow over time. These badges have been put through some serious tests and come out clean, see this testimonial from one of our satisfied customers.

To Whom It May Concern:

I’m Writing to express my amazement over the name badges I received. I am the manager at Dairy Queen and we often order badges from Recognitions Specialties, but on this last order they suggested we purchase their new, more durable badge.

When we received the badges we put them through some tests. We dropped, bent, and sent them through the wash and they performed magnificently. It was then we decided to really test their “durability”. We took one of the badges and placed it in a fryer at 350 degrees for thirty seconds and removed it. We were stunned to find the badge unscathed. It had become soft and flexible from the heat, but in less than a minute it regained its rigidity and form!

I am writing this letter to first of all say thank you for suggesting a great product and secondly as a testimonial for the durability and strength of the new badges.

Sincerely,

Samantha B.
Manager Dairy Queen

Here is a video showing the durability and strength of our domed badges.

Whether you are honoring your employee of the year, presenting a retirement plaque, or giving your boss some much deserved recognition we have what you are looking for.

Acrylic awards are very affordable and are popular for all occasions. They come in a large variety of shapes, colors, and sizes.  These awards are laser engraved to give a crisp, frosted glass look.  They are easily customized to your exact needs.

If acrylics are not what you are looking for, traditional plaques are a great way to honor someone for any achievement. Traditionally plaques are made from wood but can be plastic, bronze, or even granite.  Wording and artwork can be lasered directly onto the wood or onto a brass plate. Plates can come in many colors and styles and typically have a gold or silver back plate.

The occasion dictates the award or gift.  While plaques and acrylics are great for honoring employees there are other options for your boss.  Recognition Specialties offers a variety of executive gifts.  Most popular is our World’s Best Boss coffee mug.  It is an 11 ounce sublimated mug; the artwork is permanently pressed, and it is an affordable gift for the boss in your life. If it is a higher end item you are looking to get consider a custom marble desk wedge.  A marble desk wedge can have up to two lines of engraving as well as a logo sand carved into it.  The marble desk wedge with its smooth finish adds class to any desk or office. If you really want to go the extra mile Recognition Specialties can even fill the engraved marble with real silver!

Name badges are an effective way to connect with customers.  When choosing the correct badge it is important to ask several questions before making a purchase:

- What am I looking to get out of my name badges?

- Are they for security? If so a photo identification badge would be the best choice.

- Are they for basic employee to customer identification?  If this is the purpose it may be best to choose a basic design where the employee’s name is the main focus on the badge.

- Are they for impressing customers?   For a professional look it is best to have a badge with a logo on it as well as an employees name and title.

- Are the badges for building team unity among employees? Unity in design of the badges can help accomplish this.

- Are there brand standards that the badges must meet?  Make sure to let us know what they are we are happy to adapt to anything needed.

- What is my price range?  Have a set budget. Keep in mind what you are looking for.  Executive framed badges with a logo are the highest quality badges while class act badges with no logo are going to be more affordable.

- Who is going to wear these badges?  Are the badges going to be exposed to any harsh chemicals? Certain employees may require different fasteners.  Will the badge be something that an employee will be proud to wear?

Once these important questions have been answered the next step is to request a free mock up which we will have made up within 24 hours.  Feel free to request any changes on the mock up; we will work diligently until the perfect badge design is created. After the mock up is approved production will be started on order!  We are currently running 5 to 7 days on new orders and 1 to 3 days on all reorders.

Today we are all faced with some very real, very trying times. Most everyone has been affected at least to some degree by the downturn in the economy. We here at Recognition Specialties are working hard to make sure we keep our customers happy.  Since it has been slower we are trying to push ourselves to come up with new and innovative ways to keep our customers happy, and make us better as a business. Things such as working on making our turnaround times tighter, right now we are aiming for our Badge turnaround time to be 2 days for existing customers from order date to ship date. And 7 days for new customers from order date to ship date. We also are continuing to work on our quality and accuracy by putting steps in place that prevent mistakes from happening or “Poka Yoke” (a Japanese Lean Manufacturing term for mistake proofing) our processes so that our customers get the highest quality, most accurate, quickest turnaround products possible.

We have recently been working on making our site more multimedia friendly. We have noticed that our customers seem to enjoy that the employees each have a page about themselves. This is something that is missing in many businesses today, often times it is just a faceless company that is producing the product for you. Our employees here at Recognition Specialties are extremely important, and very skilled. We value each and every one of them – here are a few of our YouTube videos that showcase their skill as well as some of our machinery!

Hotstamping

Laser Engraving

Tricked out Name Badge

A little while back we began what has been described as a journey, that of learning and starting to apply the principals of lean manufacturing. Why did we do this and what is it? We originally began looking at it due to the ups and downs in our business, what we saw was that employees would become stressed because some days were extremely busy while others had a much lighter workload. By applying the techniques that we learned we were able to smooth out some of the bumps and make for a less stressful workplace. Lean at it’s purest is the elimination of waste – wastes of time, non-value added steps, basically anything that isn’t of value to your customer. The effects of this are happier workers, higher productivity, a more reliable workflow, and higher quality products. We truly believe in this mindset and will continue to try to apply these principles in the future to create a better product and better business.

Does it really matter if you have a Name Badge or not? Yes it does, it can accomplish a few different things, for one your employees will feel more of a sense of belonging as well as feel that they are part of a team. What about your customers – having a badge helps you to look more professional, it can also help them to feel more at home in your business. When the customer notices your name they can also give good feedback on the fine customer service you provided them with.