Full Details & Guidelines

Serially Numbered Custom License Plates Imprinting — Includes Variable-Data Capability

Item #40067: 12x6” Aluminum, Unembossed

Item #40069: 12x6” Aluminum, Embossed Variable Data

Variable data and serial numbering for
custom auto and golf cart license plates

Thanks to the variable-data capability of the production line used to produce our full-color reflective aluminum license plates, each individual tag in a production run for the above item numbers can be lettered with its own unique alphanumeric serial number, name, title, or motto. Variable data and serial numbers can be sequential/ consecutive or arbitrary/ nonsequential according to your preference.

This combination of variable-data output on premium-grade Atlas Duraplates™ employs the same production process with the same “build quality” employed in the manufacture of most states’ ultra-durable passenger plates. Its availability for the general consumer market through Leeward Productions comes to you courtesy of our exclusive relationship with the U.S.’s predominant supplier of state-license-plate-grade printing solutions and serial-numbering systems to prison industries.

Examples for license plate use include:

  • Serial numbering for municipal or retirement-community golf carts, or government and corporate vehicle fleets.
  • Variable-data imprinting of company job positions, department titles, or store locations for use on car/ truck fleets, such as to help identify employees on job sites.
  • Individually personalized employee or student names for special awards.

Also useful where numerous small signs may be needed, such as:

  • To mark uniquely designated areas within industrial facilities indoors or out. (The heavy-duty state-license-plate-grade construction is made to take a beating from the elements.)
  • For fenced areas where a unique, permanent notice or sign is needed for each.

Variable-data layout and submission
format requirements

  • Overall plate layout and graphics must be identical for all plates.
  • Same reserved area must be used for the variable-data imprint on all plates. Up to three variable-data fields per plate can be designated.
  • A monospaced font from our library must be used, one per variable-data field. “Monospaced” means a typeface where each character in the font takes up the same horizontal width as all the others. In many cases, these look just like the fonts you see used every day for the large alphanumeric serial number on official state license plates.
    • Item #40067 (flat variable data): Can use any monospaced font available in our library. Several are available, suitable for different situations (normal character width, condensed, extended, etc.). Otherwise, we can purchase a font specifically tailored to a unique need and add it to the cost of your order.
    • Item #40069 (embossed variable data): There is a single embossed font available for the large alphanumeric character string, the same one as used on North Carolina’s passenger plates, at the same fixed size. Additional variable-data fields are output with flat characters, and can use any monospaced variable-data font from our library, at any size, just as with item #40067. The availability of a single embossed font is due to the very high tooling cost of creating font embossing dies — in the tens of thousands of dollars to engineer and produce dies capable of withstanding 20 to 30 tons of impact force for millions of impressions.
  • Font colors. For either item #40067 or #40069, variable data can be printed in black, blue, green, or red ink. Artwork on the rest of the plate can be full-color.
  • Text alignment and fitting:
    • Item #40067 (flat variable data): Variable-data text can be any size, and align either flush left, centered, or flush right. All text within a variable-data field must be the same point size and alignment. We will test that the longest entry fits the available space, and can size the text accordingly.

      If you are planning out the plate layout yourself, we strongly recommend that you test beforehand on your end using one or more dummy entries with a representative font. Any overset text for the actual imprints will be automatically truncated during output. If the longest entry requires a text size that’s unsatisfactorily small, the tradeoff is to abbreviate the longest entry(ies) so the field’s text size can be larger and all entries still fit.
    • Item #40069 (embossed variable data): As mentioned, font and size of the variable data is the same as North Carolina’s passenger plates. Variable-data text must be vertically centered on the plate (equidistant from both top and bottom plate edges). Placement from left to left can be anywhere, subject to 11/16” left/right margins. The maximum number of characters is eight.
  • Submission format for variable data. For plates using a single variable-data field on the plate, the process is easy. Simply submit the entries in a common electronic text format such as email or Microsoft Word, using a single carriage return between each entry, and we will do the rest. Point out what the longest entry is (whatever has the largest number of characters) so we can test to make sure it fits at the size to be output. Note that variable-data text submitted to us via email or Word will be imported into our Microsoft Excel variable-data spreadsheet template for actual output. Or we can supply you with the template instead, so you can input the entries there to begin with if you prefer.

    For plates with two or three variable-data fields that must be coordinated with each other, filling out our Excel spreadsheet template is mandatory. (Each variable-data field utilizes its own column in the spreadsheet.)

    More complex variable-data fields can span multiple lines on the plate. Variable-data production runs with multiple-line field entries must also be submitted using our Excel spreadsheet.
  • Proofreading of submitted text is the customer’s responsibility. No liability is assumed for incorrect copy printed as submitted.