by Ursula Kampmann
translated by Almuth Klingner
June 21, 2018 – While, in Panmunjom, Kim Jong-un and Moon Jea-in started a new chapter in the history of Korea, around 250 participants met in Seoul for the 30th Mint Directors Conference between April 22 and 26, 2018. Members of the mint industry from 36 nations were present, coming from central banks and mints, from suppliers, direct marketing companies, the media and coin conventions.
The presentation of the MDC‘s old and new guidelines. Photo: MDC 2018
The topics dealt with at the MDC show the current state of the community of the minting industry. Among the important topics were the old and new guidelines published by the numerous sub-committees for the members of the minting industry.
Old and new MDC guidelines
The MDC’s objective is to make its members’ lives easier, to answer basic questions in a joint effort, and to share the results with everybody.
For this purpose, the Technical Committee has compiled over the last few years several (digital) handbooks which are EXCLUSIVELY distributed to mints and the supply industry. To be able to use them, you need to sign a declaration guaranteeing the confidentiality of the information.
The following handbooks are available:
The Coin Design Handbook – to be ordered here.
Protection of Coins Against Fraud and Counterfeiting – to be ordered here.
Security Features of Coins – to be ordered here.
Quality Assurance for Circulation Coins – to be ordered here.
Update of the guideline “Coin Design Handbook”
Klaus Meyer-Steffens, who will hand over his role of chairperson of the EVA Coin Group to Ingmar Gründel in 2018, presented his preliminary work on a new chapter for the Coin Design Handbook managed by the vending industry. This chapter will outline the suitability of certain coin materials as regards machine sensor sensitivity.
In his talk, the expert presented the study’s first results for brass- and copper-plated steel blanks. In a second step, further material combinations shall be studied.
A visit at KOMSKO was also an occasion to compare the Korean mint to one’s own. Photo: MDC 2018
The new guideline regarding benchmarking
The newest addition is a guideline on the topic of benchmarking in the minting industry. It seeks to introduce uniform standards for the self-assessment of mints all over the world.
In a first step, KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are identified, i. e. data that can be used to express a mint’s performance in figures. Dr. Manfred Matzinger-Leopold is responsible for this part of the book.
Günther Waadt then covers the best practices regarding materials, tool design and striking.
Patrick Gimmi provides the external vision: How does the supply industry view mints and blank producers? Which criteria influence the evaluation, apart from the hard figures?
Dr. Peter Huber, in turn, switches this view around: His part is about things the mint industry can learn from the comparison with other industries.
A print version of the benchmarking book was distributed to the participating mints at the MDC. For a digital version, contact Peter Huber.
Guideline regarding coin blanks burnishing
Big mints and blank producers are currently working together with Spaleck on a coin blanks burnishing guideline. Since different treatments of the blanks can heavily impact the striking process, the industry is looking for a common standard.
Part 1 of the guideline covers basic questions like:
- Which burnishing media achieve best results for which material?
- Which chemical compounds are indispensable?
- How should wastewater be treated?
- Which equipment achieves best results?
- Which techniques are best suitable for drying?
Part 2 is about current case studies.
The guideline’s initiators are aware of the impossibility of covering all the methods of blanks burnishing. Therefore, they view their publication as a first step to be systematically extended. Nonetheless, this guideline is an essential resource for checking one’s own methodology and working out new methods.
In the next part, we will look at individual studies which were presented at the MDC.
Part 1 of our articles on the MDC covers the future of cash.
Here, you get to the website of the MDC 2018.
The Mint Directors Conference has a new website.
The MDC2018 was organized by KOMSCO, die Korea Minting, Security Printing & ID Card Operating Corporation.
On this website, you can find out more about KOMSCO.