Aganang Document and Printing Solutions has bought a Xerox Color 1000 digital production printing press from Bytes Document Solutions, enabling the company to take their colour print offering to a whole new level with the press’s colour printing capabilities.
The Pretoria-based, 100% black-owned business grew out of the printing division of Nissan South Africa when it was acquired by long-time employee Degama Malabi, a print specialist who has been the MD of the company since 2000. The company history dates back to well before 2000, when it merged the traditional offset and laser printing departments into a single, integrated digital system to increase printing efficiency, reduce costs and waste. Aganang prints all of Nissan’s owners’ manuals, warranty information booklets and training manuals, but is also expanding its customer base.
‘We offer a wide range of print-related services to an increasingly diverse number of customers, hence the need to buy the Xerox Color 1000 press,’ said Malabi. ‘Our extensive experience has led us to grow the business substantially, and we are now independent of any specific motor manufacturer. Our experience in this industry has, however, paid off for us as it is characterised by high volumes, precision, quality, diverse needs and sophisticated levels of customer service. We can apply that expertise across the board for all clients. The print-on-demand technology enabled by digital has also been a great boost to our business as we can print small quantities on demand so that our clients do not have to carry the cost of large stocks of outdated material.’
The new digital press replaces Aganang’s Xerox DocuColor 8000, which had been in operation at the company since 2008. The print shop needed a ‘technology refresh’ to be able to offer its clients superior image quality, faster job turnaround, and the capability to add clear toner in one pass to provide either a spot or flood coating effect on various documents – such as service manual covers, brochures and other marketing material.
In addition, the ability to use 350gsm in duplex mode has opened up further opportunities for growing the business. The DocuColor 1000 online finishing feature is also a key enabler to improving productivity and turnaround time as booklet making was previously done offline as a manual time-consuming process.
‘The press’s fifth print station with clear dry ink expands creative capabilities for print shops and was a key factor in Aganang’s decision to upgrade,’ said Michelle Pickard, PSG sales executive at Bytes Document Solutions. ‘The press offers such excellent levels of colour printing that it’s like shifting the business up by three gears.’
Pickard said that Aganang is benefitting from the speed and overall job throughput productivity of the DocuColor 1000. ‘To add to improved turnaround time, which is always critical for customers, the quality of the work produced is also excellent,’ she said.
‘Client satisfaction has increased, and our customers are commenting on the superior quality of their print jobs. The purchase of the press was definitely an investment in the long-term growth of our business,’ said Malabi.
‘Our commitment to Aganang is to ensure that the business’s employees are equipped to maximise the new press, and to obtain more profitable print jobs for their business,’ said Charl Vogel, national sales manager, Xerox production systems group direct, Bytes Document Solutions. ‘We help our customers to grow their revenue streams so that they can sustain the investment made in the new device. This is achieved through ongoing webinars and hands-on training on the products, services and business models that can influence customer perceptions and drive new business opportunities. Part of our strategy is to enable our customers to re-invent and reposition themselves in line with the latest Xerox technology developments. By helping our customers to grow, we grow our own business opportunities – it’s a win-win situation.’
