Written by 
ID Data Cards, a company of the TALL Group, has had its best 12-month period for the past five years following record levels of growth. The company manufactured more than 42.5 million cards and key fobs during 2011 for organisations in the banking, retail, leisure and business and government sectors, representing an 86 per cent growth in production in just two years.
Despite the difficult economic climate, ID Data has achieved a host of new business wins during the year that will generate more than 20 million cards and key fobs per annum. Furthermore, the challenging trading conditions in the UK were offset by significant opportunities in emerging markets with exports now making up 44 per cent of revenue. This included more than two million bank cards being shipped to Africa in the second half of the year.
The record growth has resulted in ID Data increasing its workforce by more than 15 per cent. This has included almost 40 full time and temporary positions at the company’s purpose-built, high-security card plant in Petersfield, Hampshire. In particular, nine new production roles were added in December following the introduction of a 24-hour manufacturing operation to meet demand for card and key fob solutions.
ID Data also invested £100,000 in a new mail inserting system to boost its card fulfillment offering and double capacity at the Petersfield site. The high productivity mailer can handle up to 12,000 items per hour and provides very low cost per mail piece. It enablesthe company to better deliver card solutions across all aspects of the production and fulfilment process including design, manufacturing, personalisation and mailing.
John Cooke, Business Development Director at ID Data commented: “We have undergone considerable development in 2011 in terms of growth, investment, innovation, people, accreditation and exports making us well placed to expand the business further during the next 12 months. This record growth is a result of working closely with our customers to create unrivalled, end-to-end solutions for all payment, loyalty and gift card requirements.”