Case Studies
Issue No. 31 - October/November 2006
ScreenCheck makes the wise choice
The manufacturer of member cards, loyalty cards, gift cards, credit/account cards and photo ID cards has grown dramatically during the past two years into a well-targeted high-tech niche.
Scott Elvish and Greg Mudie are partners in ScreenCheck. The pair got into the business of printing photo ID cards and basic membership cards separately but simultaneously – Scott founding Quickcard and Greg acquiring Identacard South Australia – in 1998.
They joined forces in 1999 but it soon became clear that their growth was being limited by production capacity. The answer was to acquire Plasticard, a 20-year-old company that needed reinvigorating.
"The merger of three businesses gave us the volume to update the production equipment and win new business," Scott says.
"The company started with some fairly agricultural production equipment and it has been a five-year process to gradually bring in new plant to meet our customers' requirements,"
The company became ScreenCheck in July 2001 and broadened its customer base by acquiring a Queensland business, QM ID Systems. The name change formalised a relationship with ScreenCheck International Group for access to specialized software for photo ID issuance.
Interstate expansion continued. In 2003 Crown Technologies in Perth was acquired and in 2004 ScreenCheck opened a branch office in Parramatta.
"We still had a limited offering to our clients, so we planned a shift towards specialized high quality, larger volume card production systems," Scott says.
"We use specialised equipment for printing on plastic. Most of our equipment is made overseas, so there has been a lot of travel to trade shows etc."
Customer demand drove the technical upgrade.
"Understanding our market niche has been important to our growth," he says. "We have focused on the commercial market as opposed to banking. Our delivery times are the fastest in Australia.
"Providing a total card s...
