Funeral Home Installs Xerox Versant 180 Digital Press
INDUSTRY NEWS
A good printer is an essential tool for a funeral home . Choosing a photograph of a loved one for the memorial booklet is not a simple matter , particularly in times of mourning .
Kobus Herbst , owner of Martin ’ s Funerals Randburg , said that in the celebration of each unique life , it is important to provide an individual experience . Funeral programmes and memorial booklets should therefore be as unique as possible .
Using the Xerox Versant 180 , Martin ’ s Funerals Randburg prints funeral programmes in-house on different types of paper stock and with different finishes . Each programme is printed to the highest quality standards , and much of the process is automated .
‘ This wasn ’ t always the case , and the Xerox machine has changed our lives . Our old competitor machine was too small and couldn ’ t handle the finishing options and different types of stocks . We were doing everything manually and my wife was working through the night ,’ Herbst said .
‘ The extra time the Xerox Versant 180 has gained us has given us the ability to offer even more personal service ,’ Herbst explained . The solution for Martin ’ s Funerals Randburg was put together by Hentschel Adams from Xerox ’ s business partner in Sandton , Xerox Document Excellence . The Xerox
Versant 180 was installed at the Randburg branch of Martin ’ s Funerals where the highest volume of programmes is printed . Adams also suggested replacement printers for Herbst ’ s other branches and consequently the Xerox SC2020 was installed at remote branches such as Witbank , Middelburg and Belfast , replacing existing competitor printers .
These have also saved Martin ’ s Funerals Randburg time and money , but Herbst said that the Xerox Versant 180 has made the biggest impact on the business . ‘ Downtime with our previous printers was always an issue and caused us to outsource some of our work , costing us more money .
We wanted to do everything in-house and automate the process as much as possible to save time and reduce costs . With the Xerox Versant 180 , our printing cost is minimal , and the efficiency , fl exibility , scalability and cost-effectiveness it offers have resulted in savings across the board with 99 % up time .'
‘ The Xerox Versant 180 was built with dependable high-speed printing in mind , providing an average of up to 80,000 prints per month . It delivers a unique suite of automated workflows , runtime features and production support tools , making it an ideal choice for Martin ’ s Funerals Randburg ,’ Adams explained .
The printer ’ s automated image-to-media alignment ensures each page is perfectly registered and aligned , saving time and eliminating waste , and its automated image transfer adjustment ensures excellent print quality on every stock — smooth , textured or unique — by optimising toner coverage based on media type .
www . bytesdocumentsolutions . co . za
Novus Holdings Combats Food Scarcity
Through donations , Future Foundations , a corporate social investment division of Novus Holdings , is ensuring that food security in the more vulnerable areas of the Western Cape is made possible .
A donation of R360,000 earlier in 2017 by the organisation to Call 2 Care ’ s iGardi Project is helping three schools to grow and cultivate their own water-wise fruit and vegetable gardens . This year alone 36 garden boxes have been installed , with a further 55 earmarked over the next two years . Since the donation , approximately 900 children have been fed by the project per day . The schools are : William Lloyd Primary School in Paarl , The Du Noon Recreational Hub ( the primary beneficiary of which is Zusakhe Early Childhood Development Centre ) and Marconi Beam Primary School in Joe Slovo . The iGardi Project regularly visits these schools to check on the projects and provide mentorship .
Studies have proven that children cannot learn at school if they are hungry and in South Africa over nine million underprivileged children rely on school feeding programmes for their daily meal .
‘ Food gardens at schools are a manner of alleviating the hunger of communities and their children and reducing their dependence on feeding schemes by allowing them to become self-reliant . It is closely aligned to the Future Foundation ’ s mission of transforming communities by making a sustainable difference ,’ said Peter Metcalfe , group executive of sales and marketing at Novus Holdings .
Besides feeding school children , teachers are also using the gardens as educational tools for science and biology lessons .
Metcalfe said that the current devastating drought across the Western Cape has negatively impacted upon food security in the region , and vulnerable areas need to be protected .
‘ The iGardi Project ’ s water-wise vegetable garden boxes are a unique and effective means of growing vegetables . They are self-contained raised beds with built-in reservoirs that supply water from the bottom up , ensuring minimal maintenance by only requiring watering every two to three weeks and achieving a massive water saving of up to 70 % annually ,’ said Steven dos Ramos , managing director at Call 2 Care .
He added that drought resistant food gardens are particularly important in South Africa where water resources are limited .
To further limit the impact of the drought on the communities at which the iGardi project is based , the organisation has started the process of installing rainwater tanks on each site . Novus Holdings has already donated a tank to Marconi Beam Primary School to reduce the school ’ s reliance on municipal water .
‘ We also host a number of educational programmes within communities to ensure that anyone is able to build these gardens cost effectively to grow their own nutritious food sustainably . We regularly visit each site and host workshops with classroom monitors who have the role of monitoring the gardens ’ progress ,’ concluded dos Ramos .
www . novus . holdings
www . AfricaPrint . com AFRICA PRINT JOURNAL JANUARY 2018 PG 19