Wizardz Design and Print, one of Cape Town’s busiest print houses, has more than doubled its production volume since investing in the city’s first Xerox Colour 1000 digital colour press from Oxbow and Bytes Document Solutions.
“We’ve never shied away from investing in the latest digital printing technology because the results were always immediate,” says Wizardz owner Andrew Pittaway. “Since installing the Xerox Colour 1000 we’ve run more than 100,000 A4 clicks per month, which more than doubles our output volume from the previous-generation Xerox printer.”
With its Xerox Dry Ink technology, 2 400 x 2 400 dpi engine, and A3-plus media support up to 350gsm in twin 2 000-capacity trays, the Xerox Colour 1000 redefines what’s possible from a digital colour press.
Primarily a feet-through-the-door retail business, with branches in Gardens, the V&A Waterfront and Tyger Valley, Wizardz caters for an increasingly demanding corporate clientele accustomed to the fast turnaround times and vastly improved quality of today’s digital printers.
Pittaway says with the Xerox 1000 the quality has improved to the point where Wizardz is getting business from blue-chip clients that previously used offset printers exclusively for their high-quality, high-impact products like annual reports and corporate brochures.
“Our customers can’t believe they are getting this level of quality from a digital printer,” he says. “The early machines, while competent, were relatively slow, limited in their media capacity and range, and the quality was compromised – at least compared to offset printing. With the Xerox Colour 1000 that’s no longer the case.”
Brett Furlong, managing director at Oxbow, believes Wizardz’ experience shows that digital printing is fast maturing and can only get better.
“In many ways South Africa in general – and Cape Town in particular – is a microcosm of the global industry,” says Furlong. We’re a much smaller market, so the challenge for the local industry is balancing its level of investment with the potential returns.”
Pittaway says that despite its success, technology can only take you so far. “It’s people and the service they provide that get you over the line. We know that if things go wrong we’ll have a Xerox support team onsite quickly. Downtime is not an option in our business.
“Our clients don’t come to us for printing; they come to us for solutions. Cape Town is generally laid-back, but when it comes to the crunch and deadlines have to be met, “tell me the price” quickly becomes “how soon can you get it done”. That’s where digital printing comes in and our investment in the Xerox Colour 1000 is making a real difference to our business.”
Paul Haglich, the product marketing manager for Production Systems at Bytes Document Solutions, says the Xerox 1000 is designed to meet the challenges that are typical of this industry where short turnarounds, tight deadlines and print quality cannot be compromised.
“With their knowledgeable and experienced staff, Andrew and his team have demonstrated that they are more than capable of getting the very best return on the technology and delighting their customers in the process.”