1 of 4

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.

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 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.

next page... |  1 of 4