Altron Document Solutions (ADS), the world’s largest Xerox distributor and Africa’s leading technology and services company, has installed a Xerox Iridesse five colour press at Elegant Foil in Johannesburg, as well as a Xerox PrimeLink C9070 light production colour machine at SOHO in Cape Town. ADS’ channel partner / sales arm, Digilogix, facilitated the sale.
Xerox® Iridesse®: Transcend CMYK To Differentiate And Drive Growth
The Xerox® Iridesse® Production Press with Xerox® Color FLX Technology prints up to 120 pages per minute and delivers by using up to six inline print stations that print in a single pass, at rated speed, with spot on colour-to-colour registration. Inline speciality embellishment options add profit-driving ‘wow’. Additionally, features include optional white, clear, silver, gold, and gamut extension Fluorescent Pink Speciality Dry Inks for enhancements and brand colour matching, plus Media Expansion Low Gloss Clear.
Xerox® PrimeLink® C9070: Delivers The Most Adaptable Capabilities On The Market
A colour MFP with support for 330 x 660mm banner printing, the Xerox® PrimeLink® C9070 Colour Printer prints up to 70 pages per minute and features unmatched application flexibility, unsurpassed image quality, professional-grade finishing, enhanced reliability and security, plus advanced tools and automation. Swap out toners for the Xerox® Vivid Specialty Toner set to run exciting new applications with shimmering metallics, white, and clear. Or swap for the Xerox® Fluorescent Specialty Toner set to create eye-stoppingly colourful prints that glow under UV light.
Fast Speeds And On-Demand Printing
Johannesburg based Elegant Foil started off as a trade finishing business, before moving into the digital print / small run market, and offering smaller packaging companies and other smaller entrepreneurial businesses the opportunity to produce boxes as good as the big players at a reasonable price.
The SOHO business in Cape Town is a frontend on-demand print shop, but it also deals backend with various clients in the packaging sector, as well as in the entertainment and retail sector.
Brad Frew, who manages both Elegant Foil and SOHO, explained that they originally had a Xerox Versant 3100 before deciding to upgrade to the Iridesse. ‘The decision we made was based on where we want to place ourselves in the market and what kind of product we could produce.’
The press’ ability to process 400gsm art board, as well as its overall flexibility in comparison to the previous 3100 model, not to mention the options to print in white, gold or silver, influenced the purchase of the Iridesse. He added that the speed is very fast, allowing the company to finish work relatively quickly, with little waste produced.
Regarding the 9070 model, Frew said, ‘It was installed without any finishing capability, so we don’t have any stapling, folding, scoring etc. but it acts as a buffer to on-demand print where people walk in and want a quality product. We find that it delivers every time on the colour option on the CMYK, as well as being able to print on both sides of the paper and hold register within 0.2 of a millimetre.’
‘If we’re backing up a business card, or backing up menus, we find that it runs nicely and the colour that we’re getting out of it is pretty good. Obviously our bigger work still runs in Johannesburg on the Iridesse, but the 9070 gave us the space to do on-demand printing within the shop for client walk-ins.’
Another benefit Frew mentioned is the fact that SOHO can process board up 350gsm, enabling the production of business cards, menus, tags and birthday cards within the store.
Taking On New Markets To Stay Competitive
‘The Iridesse has opened the market to the small shopping or packaging business. A lot of the printers that are on the market at the moment battle handling 400gsm board weight, which is crucial to make sure that your packaging is bulky enough and can go to market without being flimsy,’ said Frew.
Besides the Iridesse, Elegant Foil has also added digital die-cutting, digital foiling, and digital laminating. ‘We’ve built the business around a digital space where we’re not competing with our clients in the trade finishing services, but we’re creating a niche business to assist and help them with smaller client bases that come about,’ he said.
‘The C9070 really opens up the menu and smaller retail market – we can do both business to business, when you’re dealing with restaurants, shops, coffee shops, etc. Or you can go C2B, where the customer walks in and wants a catalogue or wants their board papers printed, whereas they used to have to go to our competitors. We believe we’ve taken on that market to be more competitive, to be more on-demand, and give them the service they want.’
Decades Of Trust And Partnership
Frew’s relationship with Xerox goes back nearly 20 years. ‘We have been with ADS for a number of years and they are a trusted source to us. We have built a very good business relationship, where we have continued to purchase from them.’
‘There’s obviously competitor machines out there that we’ve looked at, but we have a very good standing with ADS. If we need something, they are there to assist us, and we found that the service has been really good – their pricing as well. They always come to the party to assist us.’
In terms of service, Frew explained that there is no team member from ADS on whom they can’t rely, from sales right to the top end, ‘We find that the doors are always open, and that there’s always a possibility to set up meetings. There’s no hiding,’ added Frew.
Unique Offerings And Valued Client Relationship
Barry Hasleham, key account manager at ADS, explained that the Iridesse runs six colours, ‘It has six stations and it runs six colours in one pass, at the rated speed of the machine (120 pages per minute), so the user can run gold, silver and CMYK in one pass at rated speeds, which is very unique – there’s no presses out there that can do that. It doesn’t slow down.’
‘Elegant Foil opted for five colours, so their press is running 5 colours at rated speed. They run metallic silver as the fifth colour, and they also do a white ink,’ said Hasleham. ‘The benefits for Elegant Foil are that they do bespoke packaging work, which requires metallics and whites on coloured paper. The work they do is amazing. The company does short run packaging, like perfume boxes etc. for customers that are starting out, that want to really make an impact on their packaging. The CMYK quality alone is amazing, and then adding the fifth colour just takes it to the next level. Adding embellishments takes the product from an average package to above-average. Elegant Foil don’t just do packaging board, they also do a lot of bespoke foiling and labelling, and they use the Iridesse for that.’
Hasleham explained that the C9070 runs at a resolution of 2400dpi. ‘This is the same resolution as all our presses, but it’s a smaller entry level production machine that runs at very high definition printing. It can handle a 350gsm board, like a business card thickness. It allows SOHO to not just cater for someone coming in to do copies. They can also do menus, business cards and folders. The machine can also do annual reports. It’s a highly flexible entry level production machine, and it’s been very successful.’
‘It runs at 70 pages per minute – a CMYK press only. It can go from a very lightweight 60gsm paper to 350gsm. It runs at a high resolution of 2400 dpi, which not a lot of opposition presses can do, but it has a 32 beam laser, which allows us to get that high definition, with very fast turnaround times.’
Hasleham values ADS’ partnership with Frew: ‘I would like to thank Elegant Foil and SOHO for the ongoing business and support. We value them as a customer, and we hope we’ll have continued success together as a partnership in the future.’
ALTRON DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS
+27 11 928 9111
hotline@altron.com
www.altron.com
https://www.bdsol.co.za
ELEGANT FOIL
+27 11 613 8145/39
sales@elegantfoil.co.za
https://www.elegantfoil.co.za
SOHO
+27 82 655 4245
info@smartofficehomeoffice.co.za
https://www.smartofficehomeoffice.co.za
