Seshaasai Produces Identification Cards for Citizens of India with Help of Xerox

With nine locations in India, Seshaasai Group is the number one security and variable data printer in the country, offering end-to-end print services, including offset and digital printing, back-office operation and logistics, and business process outsourcing to customers primarily in the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) industry.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), an agency of the government of India, was tasked with a project to produce and distribute social security identification cards for every individual in the country. An aggressive 15-month schedule was set, but due to the enormity of the project and many intricacies involved, production fell behind. In an effort to accelerate the project, the government of India extended an RFP with very rigid qualifications.

With a principle of never turning away a customer, Seshaasai answered the RFP, coming in with the best price—and strategy. As a result, Seshaasai was awarded 50% of the contract.

Numerous challenges surrounded this project: The cards needed to be printed in multiple languages, complete with variable data information, including citizen photographs and be laminated, finished, assembled, and stuffed for mailing. But perhaps most challenging was the volume as the government of India required a half million cards be produced per day. And all this had to be accomplished by Seshaasai without disrupting service to their existing customers.

The Solution

Already a Xerox (Booth 1202) customer with more than 52 equipment installations, Seshaasai worked closely with their Xerox team to develop the right strategy and pricing to help them compete for the UIDAI contract. They also received the assurance that their equipment would stay up and running, working with Xerox to plan out spare parts requirements to make sure supplies were always on hand.

To bring their vision to reality, Seshaasai relied upon their Xerox iGen4 Press, Color 1000 Press and DocuColor 8080 to manage the workload. To ensure everyday work remained undisturbed, two of their production facilities in Mumbai were prepared so that if production stopped at one location, the other could take over.

Because production included printing photographs and substantial amounts of data, the Seshaasai software team also developed a workflow so that the equipment could RIP all data at high speeds.

Seshaasai’s software team created an online dashboard to meet the government of India’s condition requiring online tracking of production at every stage of the process. The UIDAI was then able to monitor every step from data download through production to dispatch—with no phone calls or waiting. Every batch was reconciled to the last number.

Real Results

With their spare parts and service planning, efficient workflow and high-speed, high quality equipment, Seshaasai was able to keep its facilities running 20 hours a day, exceeding their quota by producing and dispatching 0.7 million ID mailings daily. Seshaasai exceeded the government’s expectations to print a half million cards per day by 40%.

Within 120 days, Seshaasai produced and dispatched 60 million identification cards with corresponding letters and was able to reconcile 100% of the data downloaded with what was printed and sent out.