Digital document duplicators are ideal for religious institutions, nonprofit organizations, and other groups facing the challenge of creating tens of thousands of documents on a regular basis. Durable and reliable, document duplicators make copies faster and, at high volumes, cheaper than photocopiers. Since entering the American market about 20 years ago, the popularity of duplicators has surged. It is now estimated that up to 40 percent of all churches and nonprofits use this technology.

For associations producing a high volume of documents, duplicators provide several advantages over photocopiers. First, the cost per copy is substantially less than with the standard photocopier. Second, duplicators have fewer moving parts and do not use heat, meaning fewer breakdowns and lower repair costs. Finally, duplicators allow many churches to tackle large printing projects in-house, saving money and time. Freed from the cumbersome task of preparing material and detailed instructions for printing and dropping them off at a print shop, office administrators can tackle other priorities while their duplicators work.

The two major document duplicator manufacturers, RISO and Duplo, have recently unveiled new developments in their product lines that make the purchase of a new duplicator or an upgraded model something that many churches should consider.

Customer-Driven Improvements
Naoji Igarashi, director of RISO's Duplicate and Assessment Business Unit, says customer input is greatly valued when a new duplicator is being designed. For example, when constructing the new RZ Series, RISO's research and development team asked end-users what potential new benefits and features they would most enjoy. In addition to higher printing speeds and simple operating instructions, customers also requested a redesign of the keyboard. As a result, the keyboard layout for the new product series is based on the user's needs rather than a standard design.

Igarashi says that each new product is geared towards making duplicators more user friendly while continuing to emphasize the machine's core concepts of versatility, productivity, and cost-efficiency.

Si Nguyen, Duplo's product marketing manager, says new product development takes about two years from start to product launch. The process begins with development, and is followed by the prototype stage, test stage, quality control stage, and finally production. Customer feedback is vital for Duplo. "We listen to our end users," says Nguyen. "Their input helps us design the new generation of products."

Whether used to duplicate sermon notes, bulletins, song sheets, or mass mailings, the new breed of duplicators from RISO and Duplo are built to make church administrator's lives easier.

RISO's New RZ Series
RISO's new product series, the RZ390, RZ310, and RZ220, provide several new technological breakthroughs. One of the innovations is the i Quality System™. This application provides automatic two-way communication between the duplicators and their supplies—inks and masters—via tiny tags that are embedded in the ink bottle and master roll. By alerting users before any shortages in ink and masters occur, less operator intervention is required. The system also prevents supplies from being loaded improperly.

The RZ390 and RZ310 feature 600e dpi imaging (dpi refers to the actual number of perforations in the master that a duplicator produces from a scan). This technique provides improved output over standard 300 x 600 dpi without the costs associated with a true 600 dpi model. Images are scanned at 300 x 600 dpi. Software within the thermal imaging system then automatically determines how the perforations in the master will be calculated, which results in an improved image.

The RZ390 prints ledger-sized images in color and is ideal for newsletters, bulletins, calendars, and posters. It can duplicate paper sizes ranging from 3.5" x 5.5" to 11" x 17". The RZ310 prints on a variety of paper stocks ranging from 13-pound carbonless to 110-pound card stock. This model has a palette of colors and is ideal to print flyers, multi-part forms, letterheads, business cards, and envelopes.

The RZ220 provides an economical choice with low operating costs and spot color options. This duplicator accommodates a variety of paper stocks and prints an image area of up to 8.5" x 14". All three of the duplicators in the RZ series print 130 pages per minute, up from 120 pages for previous models.

In addition to the new quality system and faster printing speeds, all three models have a new operator layout that makes the duplicators easy to use. The suggested retail prices are $9,995 for the RZ390, $7,995 for the RZ310 and $5,995 for the RZ220.

RISO MZ790: Two Colors in One Pass
RISO has also introduced the MZ790, which gives users the option to print in two colors in a single pass through the compact machine. The MZ790 saves time in more ways than one. Not only does the new process print 150 pages per minute, but it also eliminates the need to prepare separate originals for each color.

"Duplicators usually only have one color cylinder, but this new one has two cylinders," explains Igarashi. "For example, you can print black and red simultaneously without having to change the cylinders."

The MZ790 duplicator is equipped with a variety of other innovative functions. The RISO Editor allows users to specify areas of the original document that should be in two colors, and enables operators to move individual blocks of text, photos, and illustrations. The Combination Print feature lets users split the print run with one area in a single color and the other in two colors. The MZ790 also offers 600 dpi scanning and a 600e dpi resolution to ensure that even minute details are transmitted to the master maker. This assures smoother lines, finer gradations for photos, and clear legibility for even the smallest of typefaces.

Duplo DP-460H: Air Feed Reduces Marking
Duplo has launched the first air-fed duplicator, the DP-460H. The vacuum feed system of this duplicator reduces markings that can be caused by conventional feed rollers. "The top sheet virtually floats on a bed of air so there's no friction," explains Nguyen. "There's no scuffing, so not only does it run cleaner but you are able to feed thicker stock."

The DP-460H has a feed and stack capacity of 3,000 sheets and can handle a variety of paper stocks and sizes. The offset stacking function allows jobs to automatically offset at the completion of a print run. This means materials can be separated without the use of a tape inserter kit. Each job set has a 15-millimeter gap between jobs, keeping copies tidy and organized.

The DP-460H offers an alternative solution to short-run offset printing and provides single and spot color at 600 x 600 dpi resolution. Desktop printing is also accessible with this model. An integrated computer interface is standard on the DP-460H, allowing users to send jobs directly from the computer. In addition, this duplicating system is capable of employing digital flash memory cards using Duplo's memory card kit.

Customer feedback directly resulted in some of the features available on the DP-460H, which has a suggested retail price of $19,995. A capacity of 3,000 sheets, a touch screen control panel, and an improved computer interface are all features incorporated into this model from user suggestions.

Duplo Finishing Equipment
In a busy environment, some of Duplo's standalone products can free up the duplicator for other pressing jobs. For example, Duplo's EX-2000 Express Sealer handles 7,500 sheets per hour, making it a cost-efficient and timesaving mail processing device. The EX-2000 requires no manual adjustments for its most popular applications. Paychecks, invoices, notices, statements, and many other popular mailing functions can be easily accomplished with the touch of a button.

Duplo's System 5000 collator and booklet-maker is fully automated and user-friendly. Featuring a redesigned fold unit that provides a flatter, crisper fold, this machine creates booklets that are easier to manage when being fed into envelope inserting machines for direct mail projects. Duplo has other automated finishing machines including binding machines and folders/inserters.

Both RISO and Duplo continue to improve upon their product lines, presenting even greater benefits to churches. If you haven't yet considered a duplicator, or if you haven't thought about upgrading your older model, now is a great time to do so.

Chelan David (chdavid10@msn.com) is a freelance writer living in Seattle.