Commonwealth of Australia
ePassport Personalization
The Australian ePassport project was awarded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in 2013: The project was supposed to both renew all personalization equipment and introduce a comprehensive solution (including quality print and lamination of data pages) for an average annual volume of 2.5 million ePassports. Thanks to a previous successful cooperation, Mühlbauer was designated to provide the complete personalization hardware and software, as well as the personalization management system. The 5-year project also included the seamless integration of the new system into the existing infrastructure, the supply of the complete line consumables for the project, the training of local staff, which was provided by experienced on-site staff, as well as the provision of full-time local maintenance and service support.
For the personalization of the ePassports, two centers with high-volume personalization equipment were set up in Melbourne. Additionally, documents are personalized in nine domestic and two foreign state offices in London and Washington D.C., which are all linked to the central data site and equipped with desktop personalization systems. In the course of the personalization process, MB INCAPE collects the datasets from the central secure document management system, transfers them to the personalization center and prepares them for further processing. Then the ePassports are personalized with the prepared datasets. The finalized documents are issued to the applicants by means of secure, high-speed passport mailing systems. Applicants can directly collect the finished documents in the domestic and foreign state offices.
