INDUSTRY NEWS
Color In Mail Offers Unique Solutions With Xerox Presses
Midrand based direct mail printer Color in Mail is experiencing a second generation of success with Xerox solutions .
Color in Mail was founded by Warren Stanton in 2003 with the aim of bringing colour variable data printing to the direct mail market focusing on meeting customers ’ wants and needs . Although true production-level variable colour printing was in its infancy at the time , Stanton knew that there would be a market and demand for solutions based on this capability .
The most important element in this market is the capabilities of the equipment , whether it can handle production volumes , colour print quality and volumes of variable data . This relies on a combination of printing hardware , for print quality and data handling software to achieve the correct merging of data elements . For Stanton , the choice of supplier was made relatively easily , based on the many years of experience which his father , Gavin , had with Xerox solutions in his own company dating back as far as 35 years ago to the time of laser xerographic printers .
Color In Mail founder Warren Stanton .
Xerox Business Partner XBC-IT , with the support of Bytes Document Solutions ( BDS ), has assisted and guided Color in Mail through the learning curves and growth that the company has experienced . Stanton commented , ‘ If you look at the length of that particular run it is more than 58,000 sheets , however , there are no less than 14,000 completely unique combinations of images .
Add to this the various values of the offers and clients ' details and every single sheet is unique . This is not something that can be done conventionally , it requires the power of digital printing combined with database management .’
www . bytesdocumentsolutions . co . za
BusinessPrint Expands Capabilities To B1 Printing With Kodak Technology
elimination of plate processing , SONORA Plates help increase productivity , simplify operations , and remove costs by reducing the number of steps required for plate making . Post-imaging , the plates can go immediately to the press , and they provide BusinessPrint with the same resolution , reliability , accuracy and repeatability as traditionally processed thermal plates while improving stability and consistency of print due to the elimination of unstable , hard-to-maintain processing systems . ‘ We wanted to create a first mover advantage in South Africa regarding the use of process free plates to reduce our environmental impact and eliminate the cost of chemicals .’
Fred Ebersohn , Kodak SA , Jose Frazao , Wayne Kleynhans and Massimo Mancini , Business Print , Gary Campbell , Antalis SA and Komal Sharma , Kodak .
Pretoria based BusinessPrint , a print house providing B2 digital and litho print services for clients producing books , magazines , flyers , brochures , and stationery , has expanded its capabilities by introducing B1 printing to its offset print services .
The company added a new offset press along with a KODAK MAGNUS Q400 Platesetter . Looking to increase its productivity , the company soon upgraded to a MAGNUS Q800 Platesetter Z-speed with Multi-Cassette Unit , KODAK SONORA XP Process Free Plates and a KODAK PRINERGY Workflow System .
The integrated solution was carefully designed to spearhead the company ’ s future success , explained
Jose Frazao , BusinessPrint ’ s operations director . ‘ Our investment in Kodak technology has enabled our company to expand the range of applications we can offer our customers , while significantly improving our productivity and performance . The KODAK MAGNUS Q800 Platesetter with the Z-Speed option , which images 40 SONORA Plates per hour , has increased our capacity by 30 % and alleviates the production constraint we experienced with our first platesetter .’
KODAK SONORA XP Process Free Plates were chosen as part of the firm ’ s commitment to reducing its environmental impact , as well as to cut costs by removing chemicals . Today , 100 % of the plates that BusinessPrint uses are SONORA Plates . Offering high quality and the complete
Integral to BusinessPrint ' s future is the automation of print processes , which is why the KODAK PRINERGY Workflow System is an essential tool for the company . ‘ The KODAK PRINERGY Rules-Based Software has allowed us to automate imposition of regular jobs and provide a close-to-humanlessprocess from artwork submission to print ready impositions ,’ said Frazao .
It has been nearly three years since BusinessPrint integrated the combined pre-press solution , and the impact to the company ’ s bottom line is material . ‘ We did evaluate offerings from other suppliers , but we wanted one supplier for the platesetter , workflow and plates . And it is a decision that has boosted our capacity by 30 % and is helping us keep the promises we make to customers .’ www . antalis . co . za
PG 12 JANUARY 2018 AFRICA PRINT JOURNAL www . AfricaPrint . com