Docutech Ghana Limited, has unveiled the Xerox Iridesse Production Press at the West Africa launch of the machine at the Accra Marriott Hotel in Accra today.

The impact of Xerox globally was acknowledged with Docutech singled out as the vision bearer and authorised distributor of Xerox products in Ghana.

The viability of the machinery is expected to give opportunities to customers to have various dimension of print work while giving the owners great return on investment.

Local print company; Infinite Media is the business entity which managed to procure the Xerox Iridesse Production Press and according to Managing Partner of Docutech; Jean-Louis Feghali, the Iridesse enables print outs to stand out opening new markets to those who get their items printed by the machine.

He stated Docutech begun by distributing products and another electronic gadgets but has expanded and has been a Xerox distributor for a decade as well as serving corporate clients like Standard Chartered and Barclays Ghana with their electronic and digital gadget needs.

“The launch of the Iridesse Production Press in the West African sub-region will enable organizations and print providers to deliver an integrated end-to-end experience to their customers by recognizing the importance of greater efficiencies, reduced complexity and faster time-to-market capabilities. The Iridesse eliminates multiple presses and processes usually required for print embellishments, increasing capacity and profits which will greatly impact the market,” Mr. Louis Feghali submitted.

Chris Lynch, Head of Production for Xerox Technology in the Middle East and Africa revealed the powerful the impression the Iridesse Production Press left on clients who got their work printed by the machine noting; “since its roll out in Europe, 50 businesses have been landed.”

He submitted digital online printing is the fastest growing sector in the world up by 29% adding direct mail is the fastest of the digital channels up by 600% while digital business is projected to reach US$160 billion as 2019 concludes.

With machines like the Iridesse Production Press, run lengths come down by 45%, lead time down by 45% while numbers of jobs shoot up by 52%. While it might not look it, Mr. Lynch reckons getting an automated machine improves efficiency, is cost efficient while with increased volumes of production, more hands are hired to handle the numbers.

On strategies of surviving in the business, the Xerox executive observed while some printers can opt to be the cheapest by offering inferior prints, ultimately the business cannot be sustained while another who chooses not to be the cheapest but does something so well will have clients who seek him out for such fine finishing bothering on coatings, texture and metallics.

According to Mr. Chris Lynch, “it’s neither a digital nor analogue world rather a blend with each sitting together complementing each other,” adding “at Xerox we make print and digital come together.”

For Managing Director of the Ghana Publishing Company; Mr. David Asante often praised for his remarkable restructuring of Ghana Publishing Company noted he couldn’t have chalked the many successes if he had not conferred with Docutech’s Jean-Louis Feghali who opened his eyes to the rich possibilities of a well-run publishing/digital printing entity.

He said direct investment was key to the overall industrialisation drive of the Akufo-Addo regime.

Delali Sego, Operations Manager of Infinite Media, the first Ghanaian firm to own the Xerox Iridesse® and second to own it in Africa was optimistic about the huge print volumes the purchase of the modern machine would enable them have however acknowledging the acquisition didn’t come cheap although he wouldn’t reveal how much it cost for the Kokomlele based firm to land the high quality printing machine.

The Iridesse Production Press is the only digital press that can print metallic gold or silver dry ink, CMYK and clear dry ink in a single pass, giving print providers an immediate competitive edge in the growing digital print enhancement market. Also the High Definition Emulsion Aggregate (HD EA) Toner process results in the optimal particle size to deliver lower gloss, smooth tints and fine detail more consistently.

Two Dual Advanced High Capacity Feeders, Bypass and Inserter options allow running of up to eight different stocks in a single job or do production runs with a total of 12,500 sheets.

A variety of finishing options are available including the new Xerox Crease and Two-sided Trimmer, which creates a durable crease fold and gives booklets a premium quality edge when used with the Xerox Production Ready Booklet Maker Finisher and Xerox SquareFold Trimmer Modules.

It allows printing at speeds up to 120 pages per minute, the press can run stocks from 52 -400 gsm.