FormsXpress opened its doors for business in 1992, shortly before South Africa's new democracy was born. Since those early days, the company has grown from a staff complement of three to some 130 people occupying 4 000m^2 premises in Steenberg, Cape Town.
Founding member John Donaldson explains: “While our initial intention was to address the short-run computer forms market, it quickly became apparent that clients required a full range of printing services.”
To this end, a graphic design and reproduction section was added during the first year of operation, followed by a sheet-fed printing division in the second. As the corporation grew, two web presses were added, as well as a bindery line that included thread sewing and casing-in equipment, gang stitching and perfect binding. Today, the organisation has over 15 printing presses as well as digital printers and can produce almost any printed product from a business card to a cased-in hardcover book on the premises.
Another key aspect of the company's offering is forms design. A seldom-considered fact is that the cost of using a form usually represents 90% of the total cost while the cost of the actual form is only 10%. By improving efficiencies in the way a form is used, savings can be achieved well in excess of the cost of the form. Put simply, efficient forms pay for themselves. Not only does Donaldson have a passion for forms design, he has also won the Sappi Form of the Year competition and has also won an international gold award for his designs.
FormsXpress was the first business in Cape Town to introduce an Oc'e VarioStream 7300 high-speed reel-to-reel laser printer. In 2004, the company introduced one of the first cold-fusion laser printers in South Africa. This printer is used with the Oc'e Variostream 7300 to cater for large print runs for the corporate and direct mail markets. This is in turn augmented with three sheet-fed lasers, giving FormsXpress the ability to address almost any variable data printing requirement.
FormsXpress also offers its customers a stock management and warehousing service, whereby it prints and warehouses customers' forms and delivers them monthly or on demand. Usage is carefully monitored and replenishment orders are scheduled to run in off-peak periods, saving costs and allowing the company to achieve optimum utilisation of equipment with benefits to both customers and the company. With rentals as high as they are and space at a premium, savings are also made in storage costs and, as goods are only billed as drawn, there are cash flow benefits as well.
More recently, FormsXpress has acquired an Oc'e VarioStream 7400 continuous form machine to compliment its existing Oc'e printing systems - the previously mentioned VarioStream 7300 and an older PageStream 88. The web-fed VarioStream 7400 prints at an impressive 350 A4 images per minute and can print black and white, custom tone or even MICR. Donaldson says: “The three Oc'e systems are being utilised for variable data printing and mail order production. We particularly like the fact that the VarioStream 7400 is a continuous feed printer that can be linked to similar printers for duplex printing. Designed for commercial use, the VarioStream 7400 has a 24-hour duty cycle, which is very important in our line of business where we sometimes print through the night to meet customer demand. It also features 600dpi resolution, so our customers know that their prints will come out crisp and clear every time.”
Oc'e South Africa's Carl Metelerkamp adds: “The Oc'e VarioStream 7400 integrates perfectly into existing workflow solutions using process control with UP^3I, a multivendor, open standard for smart communication between the devices of the production line. This flexible and adaptable family of web-fed printing systems offers a broad array of input and output options that enables the production of the widest variety of applications. In short, the Oc'e VarioStream 7400 is a printing system that can grow with FormsXpress' business and respond flexibly to the challenges of new applications.”
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