On 1 December 1999, people around the world acknowledged on an unprecedented international scale that AIDS remains the planet's number one health scourge. Drivers in and around Midrand, Gauteng, could not miss the fact that the first of December was clearly International AIDS Day. The Midrand Town Council had decided to jog people's awareness by posting six large banners around the area. They asked Duplico Design & Print to produce these banners. Each banner was to be 3 x 1 m in size. It was the first time that Duplico Design & Print had used a newly purchased NovaJet PRO 60e.

Production Manager Leon Delport said: "Soon after Midrand Town Council had asked us to produce the banners the printer was delivered. It took only 30 min to set up and production started immediately. Thanks to the PRO 60e's capability of printing on 60"-wide media it took only 20 min to print each banner." Delport says Duplico's outdoor applications business had grown so rapidly, with such fierce competition in the market, that a bigger printer had become a necessity. "The PRO 60e was the perfect choice. It is so easy to use that we did not even test it before printing. The printer makes large-format printed graphics fast and easy to produce. This enables us to generate more work in less time. Encad also has a wide variety of ink and media available for outdoor applications.

"Another advantage is the PRO 60e's full 500 ml reservoirs of cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks, which allow for printing four colour graphics with the minimum effort." First Graphics National Sales Manager Eric Morgan agrees. He says the printer's inking system assures continuous ink flow even during long runs or large multipanelled jobs.

Delport affirms that the convenience of dual ink systems was another deciding factor when a printer had to be chosen. "Changing between diverse ink sets has always been an inconvenient and even messy process. The addition of dual plumbing lines and replacement ink reservoirs allows us to quickly and easily switch between any of Encad's different ink sets. Now we can be busy printing an indoor graphic and within minutes, print an outdoor banner."

Duplico also purchased the Accuprint Rip software package from First Graphics. "This software program is cheaper than other products on the market but does the job just as well."

First Graphics

(011) 799 3800