RSA Litho, a Cape Town based commercial print services business, has enhanced its investment in high-end digital printing technology with the purchase of a Xerox 1000 and Xerox Versant 80 press from Oxbow.
The company, which has a 50-year track record of delivering quality print products for some of South Africa’s largest companies, decided to standardise on Xerox as its digital printer brand, through its exclusive partnership with Oxbow.
RSA Litho owner Ryno Kotze says that what began as an investment in digital technology to growing demand for short-run products has evolved into a full-service digital offering. The Versant 80 doubles-up as a standalone machine and as a backup for its flagship Xerox X1000 Colour Press.
“As with any professional business we’re only as reputable as the reliability and quality of our equipment, so we take the investments we make in quality printers very seriously,” says Kotze.
“We’ve never looked outside the Xerox brand because when it comes to dry toner digital printing, that is the industry standard,” he says. “But more than that, our relationship with Oxbow gives us the confidence that we’re getting the right equipment for the business every time, and the commitment they’ve shown to ensuring we get everything we ask for as a client is almost as important as the reliability of the equipment itself.”
The Xerox Versant 80 Press prints faster and on more media types at a higher level of quality than almost any other digital press in its class. Featuring blistering 80PPM performance with media weights up to 350GSM (with an additional performance package option), 1200 x 1200 x 10-bit RIP rendering and 2400 x 2400 dpi imaging resolution, the Versant 80 turns jobs over faster without sacrificing quality, with less waste and no do-overs.
It also features a compact belt fuser that applies uniform heat and pressure needed to bond Xerox Emulsion Aggregation (EA) dry ink to a wide range of surfaces without slowing production speed, while optimising image quality on solids, tints and halftones. For better colour accuracy the Versant 80 ships with an inline spectrophotometer and Automated Color Quality Suite (ACQS) to confidently and efficiently produce stable and accurate colour on every job.
Oxbow Franchise Director Hannes Kotze says companies like RSA Litho do not take any chances when it comes to getting the job done, no matter how small, which means investing in redundancy is critical to the business.
“When you’re running a high-end print service for demanding customers there’s no hiding behind equipment breakdowns or backlogs,” notes Kotze.
“RSA Litho was already running the X1000 successfully, so we suggested they invest in the Versant 80 not only as a backup but also as a fully independent second digital press for continuity,” Kotze notes.
“It’s important that at any time there’s enough capacity to assign new jobs to either printer and be confident that the quality and colour accuracy is consistent between them. The Versant 80 not only matches the quality of the X1000 but it also exceeds it in some areas as well,” concludes Kotze of Oxbow.
The Versant 80 has fitted in as a high-volume printer from day one, and since earlier this year has been clocking more than 100 000 clicks per month.
RSA Litho expects to significantly grow its digital business in the coming months, in line with increased demand for litho-equivalent short-run quality at digital prices.