BEP Ramps up for New Catalyst Series

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s outgoing Director, Len Olijar called 2022 an exciting year on many fronts in his introduction to the agency’s Annual Report, citing progress in a number of areas, including the goal of upgrading its facilities.

The expansion of the Western Currency Facility (WCF) in Fort Worth, Texas, is nearing completion, adding 40,000 sq ft to house production equipment and a new vault. Once completed this year, the WCF expansion project will provide approximately 300,000 sq ft of space for increased production capabilities and vault storage, and will support reclamation efforts, upgrade security and enable the accelerated development and testing of future currency, while improving environmental performance and safety.

In the Washington DC area, a major milestone was the transfer of land from the US Department of Agriculture to the Department of the Treasury for the new currency manufacturing facility in Beltsville, Maryland, that will replace the current 100 year-old plant in the capital.

Investment in new printing and processing technology for the next generation of banknotes is now under development. The multi-year migration from 32- to 50-subject printing is progressing, supported by the introduction of two new intaglio presses valued at $27 million at the WCF, while the utilisation of single note inspection is being extended across all denominations.

Previously, the BEP shredded all sheets that contained at least one defective note; in 2022 it reclaimed 317.6 million notes, thereby diverting 349.8 tonnes of waste materials. Without reclaiming these notes, it says it would have used an additional 100.9 tonnes of ink and 4.3 tonnes of solvent to complete the year’s order, which would have generated an additional 1.1 million gallons of wastewater, 2.5 tonnes of air pollutants and 88.5 tonnes of industrial solid and hazardous wastes.

The combination of large sheets and SNI is not just reducing waste, but increasing productivity and helping the BEP to achieve savings of over $20 million in manufacturing costs.

In addition, the BEP continues to make strategic investments to develop and implement new security features for the next currency series, in support of which it spent $70 million in R&D initiatives during the year.

The new series, known as Catalyst, will have ‘increasingly complex features to deter counterfeiting’ says the BEP, along with a raised tactile feature to support denomination by the blind and visually impaired community. The first in the series, the $10, will be ready for production in 2026.

During FY 2022, the BEP reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 15.4% year-over-year from 2021, which is attributable to the completion of energy efficiency projects and increased renewable energy purchases. Over 33% of the BEP’s electricity now comes from renewable sources and plans for the new production facility include significant investments to operate with a reduced carbon footprint, support cutting-edge renewable energy systems and provide effective storm water and land preservation.

The Federal Reserve System’s currency order for the year was on schedule and under budget, according to the report. 6.4 billion notes were produced, down by 9% (600 million) over 2021, reflecting a gradual return to pre-pandemic levels.

The cost per 1,000 notes (including direct labour, materials and applied manufacturing overheads) was $63.96, lower than the budgeted $66.43 per 1,000 due to material savings achieved from lower-than-expected spoilage (7.1% versus an expected 8.2%).

Revenues were $1.012 billion (up from $928.9 million in 2021), and the excess of revenue over expenses was $153 million (versus $64.4 million in 2021) which, as authorised by law, is used to fund working capital and equipment requirements.

(The Banknote Conference, which takes place in Fort Worth, Texas from 13-15 May 2024, will include the opportunity to tour the renewed WCF facility).