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Printing SA and Konica Minolta’s skills development initiative

South Africa’s printing industry and Konica Minolta together brings skill development intiatives. Konica Minolta’s partnership with Printing SA began in 2014, when they both created and facilitated a comprehensive training programme for 20 female business owners. Showing their contribution to the industry, Konica Minolta recently employed Brian Chauke, one of the graduates from the Printing SA Commercial Digital Printing programme.
South Africa’s printing industry is working hard to help develop

Lexmark’s print programme

Lexmark International’s print cartridge recycling programme ‘The Lexmark Cartridge Collection Programme (LCCP)’ has picked up speed in South Africa where over 60,000 cartridges have been collected and recycled over the past year. The programme is voluntary and enables Lexmark customers to contribute to an environmentally friendly initiative where all types of Lexmark print and toner cartridges are collected by the company for free for total recycling.
“The programme has been running for the past

HP Inc. outlines plans to disrupt African markets

In 2015 HP’s separation into two entities, HP Inc. and HP Enterprise, heralded a new chapter in the company’s development. HP Inc. has used an 18-month reassessment period to define a marketing strategy for Africa that it believes will entrench its position and disrupt markets
According to the HP Inc. Q2 2017 earnings announcement, the company reported net revenue of US$12.4 billion, up 7% from the prior-year period, with the EMEA region contributing 34% of net revenue.
HP Inc. has offices in

Colourtech becomes the first in Africa to get Screen Jet520 HD

Bapsfontein-based Colourtech Design & Print is the first company in Africa to purchase the latest technology in inkjet web printing with the installation of the Screen Jet520 HD. The company uses the press in combination with an Ibis book-on-demand machine and Hunkeler cut-sheet line, all purchased from Ipex Machinery, to process a range of educational and publishing materials.
Sonja Groenewald, Colourtech CEO, first saw the Screen Jet520 HD at drupa in 2016, and made a site visit to

Xerox opened branch in Zambia

DIGIprint, the exclusive Xerox distributor in Zambia, has opened the first Xerox Showroom and Service Centre in Zambia. The initiative is supported by Bytes Document Solutions (BDS), the authorised Xerox   distributor in 26 sub-Saharan      countries and apart of the Telecommunications, Multi-Media and Information Technology (TMT) organisation of Altron, the parent holding company. The new centre, officially presented by Yese Bwalya, director of communications, further positions Xerox as the

SE Litho expands digital service with Xerox Versant 2100

SE Litho has expanded its digital printing services with the purchase of a new Xerox Versant 2100 digital press from Digilogix and Bytes Document Solutions.
 SE Litho’s Andrew Armstrong says the printing market has evolved to the point where designers are no longer interested in the limitations of litho printing and expect equal or better printed products from their digital suppliers.
 “When we first entered the digital printing market a few years ago – also with a Xerox machine – litho printing

Organisers join hands in Iran

Organiser of leading international trade fairs for the printing and packaging industries,  Messe Düsseldorf  will extend its portfolio to include a promising event in the Middle East: IPAP Tehran powered by drupa will be held for the first time from 12-15th October 2017 at Iran Shahr-e-Aftab (Exhibiran International).
Staged in cooperation with the Iranian organiser BRP, the trade fair targets all suppliers along the entire value chain for printing technologies from the segments of

Konica Minolta SA moves into label and packaging market

Konica Minolta South Africa, a division of Bidvest Office, has announced that it is breaking into the local label and packaging industry.
“The world of labels is one of the most rapidly growing and fastest changing sectors in the entire printing industry, returning above GDP growth year-on-year for at least the past 30 years,” states Leon Minnie, manager: production print solutions at Konica Minolta South Africa.
“We’ve found that most of this growth has come from self-adhesive (or

Asset Print with Xerox

Asset Print, one of Cape Town’s established full-service print shops, has opened the doors of its second premises in the city’s southern suburb of Rondebosch. Built around the quality and volume capabilities of the company’s all-new Xerox Versant 80 Press, Asset Print Rondebosch has taken the same blueprint that made its original CBD store so successful and reproduced it on a smaller but equally effective scale in the heart of the city’s university district.  
Asset Print founder, director and

Konica Minolta exhibits versatile printing at Expo

Africa Print expo platinum sponsor, Konica Minolta South Africa, exhibited its production range at the East London expo, which took place on 15th February at the East London ICC.
    The bizhub Pro & Press C1060/C1070 are aimed at print providers in a light- to-medium-level production environment, as each provides an easy transition into the digital print field, offering in-line finishing, precise colour consistency and image quality, alongside high media flexibility. The bizhub Press C1100

Canon launches campaign

Canon has announced that it has launched a ‘Celebrate Africa’ campaign through an online competition where Canon is encouraging people from across the continent to submit images captured by them under any of the three categories: People of Africa, Africa’s Citylife or Africa’s Landscape and Wildlife.
More details can be found at www.Picfair.com/CelebrateAfrica.  The competition will run from February 7, 2017 till April 15, 2017 and has a range of prizes to be won by those who send the most

Canon ‘Room to Read’ books reach African schoolchildren

The first books printed by Canon as part of the Room to Read literacy programme have reached school children in South Africa. 3,300 books have been delivered to 176 schools across South Africa as part of the Room to Read literacy programme, in partnership with Canon.
Canon began working with Room to Read and German-based publisher Goloseo, who initiaited the scheme at Drupa, in a bid to eliminate waste from print samples at trade shows. Canon sustainability director Stuart Poore said: “We are

Academy Press invests $ 636000 in 6-colour Concepta from MM

Lagos based Academy Press has invested N 2b (approx. USD 636,000) in upgrading and modernising its press. The 51-year old print shop purchased a  a six colour press, Concepta from Muller Martini,  with output of 40,000 impressions per hour, and the Dimuken hologram applicator machine for applying hologram seal and hot foil stamping for security print and other sensitive documents, reported The Nation.
The Minister of Infor-mation and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed commissioned the state-of-the-art

FESPA Africa, Sign Africa report good attendance

The FESPA Africa and Sign Africa Expo  reported satisfactory visitor turnout with 5592 unique visitors from South Africa and international countries, 941 return visitors and 6533 total visits to the expo. Eighty-two percent of visitors were owners or senior management and 79% are involved in decision making  claimed the organisers.
 The top 10 countries from Africa, outside of South Africa included: Botswana, Zambia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Kenya and Nigeria

Digital Packaging buys digital press from HP

Kenya-based packaging provider, Digital Packaging Innovations Ltd (DPI), has purchased an HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press, marking the first purchase of this press in the African continent.
The installation is set to be completed in late 2016, and as the company’s first digital press, will allow DPI to enter entirely new markets.
“As leaders in the field, HP became the obvious partner for us to promote digital growth and disrupt the African print market,” commented Kunal Chandaria, sales

Smithers Pira and Africa Print to survey trends

Smithers Pira is teaming up with Africa Print to survey current trends in printing markets in Southern and Sub-Saharan Africa.  The closing date for the  online survey was 30th September 2016.
The online survey is designed to assess current trends in print markets in the region, covering key print product areas and printing technologies, and also examines the extent to which digital print is making inroads into sectors dominated by offset and other traditional print processes.
The typical

BDS to demonstrate Xerox’s new and future technologies

With Africa’s largest dedicated print and signage exhibition, FESPA Africa is due to take place between 7 and 9 September at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand. Co-located with Sign Africa and Africa Print, the expo is considered to be the printing industry’s showcase annual event for the African continent. FESPA Africa witnesses over 6000 industry professionals coming together to demonstrate and view the latest developments in technology, equipment, solutions and software.

Jenny

Zero Plus launches first EFI LED printer, H1625 in South Africa

Communications company, Zero Plus has unveiled the first EFI H1625 LED printer in South Africa, acquired from EFI’s sub-Saharan partner Bytes Document Solutions and its business partner Ivyline Technologies.

Francois Coertze, production manager at Pretoria-based Zero Plus, identified the EFI printer as the ‘ideal catalyst for launching a range of new services for its discerning clients’, particularly those looking for new ways of presenting display graphics.

“Compared to traditional

Sign Istanbul returns again

The 18th International advertising industry and digital printing technologies trade fair, SIGN Istanbul will take place from Sept. 29-Oct. 2. The event will be attended by 450 companies from 32 countries who will demonstrate their latest innovations.

İFO Fuarcılık managing director, Zekeriya Aytemur, organizer of SIGN Istanbul 2016, is confident that the show will continue to pave the way for growth in the region’s advertising and digital printing sectors in Turkey and which supports the

Xerox’s direct to object printer prototype sold

Xerox has sold the prototype of the new Direct to Object Inkjet Printer that it showed at Drupa.

The machine, which enables personalised printing on three-dimensional objects, supports a wide variety of substrates including plastic, metals, ceramics, paper and cloth and object volumes of up to one cubic foot can be handled.

Xerox mechanical designer Michael Leo said: “The prototype unit was designed for a customer that wanted it inside their store so wanted it to have a very small

Ricoh’s Leapfrog 3D printers

Ricoh SA is making the Leapfrog Creatr HS 3D printer available in South Africa and providing full consumable materials, maintenance and support locally for the product.

The company expects initial uptake in South Africa to be strong in the education and architecture verticals with significant interest from smaller engineering firms.

“Students and professionals who need to prototype products and components can make immediate commercial use of the 3D printer which has one of the largest bay

The Star of Kenya buys Kodak printer, plates

The Star of Kenya was getting ready for a big change through their investment in Kodak. Working with their longtime print supplier, Typotech, William and his team evaluated to invest in the Kodak Trendsetter Q400 Platesetter and Sonora Xp Process Free Plates for their benefits.

William Pike, MD of the Star’s, commented about the investment, “This decision was an integral part of our whole redesign process, and we did not want to be let down by poor plate output. The Kodak CTP machine was

Workshop held in Kenya

Canon hosted a series of professional photography and videography workshops in Nairobi, Kenya, in partnership with Office Technologies, the local distributor of Canon in Kenya, and House of Fotography, between May 9th-20th. The educational sessions are intended to provide emerging young artistes the skills and training needed to gain more knowledge in their field, whilst harnessing new talent and giving Kenya’s youth hands-on access to Canon’s cameras.

The manufacturer recently established

Al Kheshi Advertising invests in hybrid printer, cutting table

Damam, Saudi Arabia based  Al-Kheshi Advertising has invested in the first ever  Durst P10-160 UV inkjet hybrid printer and Aristo GL2032 cutting table in Damam, purchased from Giffin Graphics. The company selected the ‘Durst for quality, speed and relaibility and the Aristo for accuracy and reliability’.

Explaining their reason for this investment,  Magdi Al Kheshi, owner of Al Kheshi said: “Taking the decision of purchasing a flatbed printer with a cutter was felt due to our requirement

Bobst’s Egyptian agent hosts road show

Bobst and industry partners Apex International, Atlas Converting, COIM, DEC Impianti, Kodak, Reifenhäuser and Rossini, convened in Cairo, Egypt, to meet representatives of the Egyptian flexible packaging and label converting industries who attended the roadshow at the Fairmont Heliopolis & Towers hotel.

Co-hosted by the Bobst’s agent in Egypt, Sidhom Co., the event gathered around 100 participants, who braved a day of inclement weather to be present, as did representatives of local

Green duty: get rid of e-waste

A recycling programme has been running successfully at Albertyn Primary for several years and is one of the 180 schools in Nelson Mandela Bay that are part of a school recycling programme.

“This is possible through the involvement of enthusiastic teachers and learners who all take pride in being part of the recycling program. In turn this contributes towards a cleaner environment, conserving natural resources for future generations and assisting the school in raising funds,” said PM of Waste

Harel Mallac makes Xerox MPS in Mauritius

A long-term Xerox partner and Mauritian print solutions provider Harel Mallac Burea-utique (HMB) has further enhanced its value proposition by investing in the necessary skills to achieve Xerox Managed Print Services accreditation. The certification is provided by Bytes Document Solutions (BDS), the largest Xerox distributor globally which operates in 26 African countries.

BDS regional manager Olivier Merven says the Xerox MPS accreditation process is strictly controlled to ensure that

Canon ME participates in SIAGRA Africa 2015 in Morocco

Canon Middle East participated in a four day exposition dedicated to the graphic      arts and packaging   industries in Morocco - SIAGRA Africa 2015.

The Canon stand at SIAGRA was divided into four sections - Professional Print, Signage, Photo & Fine Art and Computer-Aided Design & Geographic Information System (CAD/GIS), with each section showcasing a different printing solution.

Hendrik Verbrugghe, marketing director, Canon Middle East, said: “Africa is a key market for Canon

Konica Minolta’s JT Suite 6 to print automation

Konica Minolta South Africa, a division of Bidvest Office, has announced the local availability of the new JT Suite 6, a more flexible, modular version of the successful JT software suite. As a powerful but easy-to-use solution for in-house print facilities and smaller commercial printers, the JT Suite 6 provides essential functionality, minimising costs and maximising return on investment.

When it comes to print production, today’s customers expect faster turnaround times and same-day

Saga made Graffiti to be the first to have Vutek GS5250LXr

Graffiti has purchased an EFI VUTEk GS5250LXr from distributor Saga Digital, whose South African division will work closely with Graffiti to ensure a seamless installation. The relationship between Saga Digital UAE principals and Graffiti goes back many years, as they were the original suppliers of the Jeti Solvent Printers that Graffiti is still using. With the new SAGA Digital SA office now up and running, the transition to EFI, and more so the new VUTEk GS5250LXr, will be a comfortable