Harish Mehta, group MD of Uniprint, explained the process of getting the monster from its German home to South Africa. “The machine was built to our custom specifications by MAN Roland and took a year to construct. It is so heavy that we had to lay additional foundations at our Durban factory to manage the weight. The printer arrived with a team of technicians from Germany who spent four months assembling and testing all of the equipment.”
The printer is computer0controlled and has a room-sized console to manage every aspect of the print process. Being heat-set, the printer produces a crisper, higher resolution print quality, even on porous material such as newsprint. “One of our biggest customers is Telkom Directory Services which produces the Yellow Pages,” says Mehta.
“They were looking for a cost effective method to improve print quality while utilising the same print material. This is a perfect application for the new printer as it will manage the enormous quantities required and heat set the ink for better clarity of print.”
The new machine will also be used to print the MetroBeat magazine that is distributed to households in the Durban Metro area.
The monster will run alongside the high volume, cold-set printer and will offer Uniprint customers more choice in their print options.
“Most print companies run either cold-set or heat-set printers,” continues Mehta. “Uniprint is one of the few companies to offer both. This means that our customers are not restricted in their choices and can opt for the most effective solution to all of their printing requirements. In addition, the speed at which we can print large quantities will shorten the lead time for print deadlines - this is an important consideration for publications that rely on advertising for their revenue.”
