Castle Graphics beats COVID downturn with Xerox

Tim Castle.

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Family-owned printing company Castle Graphics has reversed the devastating losses of the COVID-19 economic downturn and returned to pre-COVID profitability with the help of a new Xerox Iridesse Production Press from Altron Document Solutions.

That’s according to third-generation family owner Tim Castle, who took over the Cape Town-based business from his father 15 years ago. 

“We’re a small printing business that’s been servicing the local hospitality, corporate and entrepreneurial markets in our area for the better part of 50 years, so when the pandemic hit and our customers were forced to shut their businesses, it threatened to shut ours as well,” says Castle.

“Until then we were using an alternate, well known in the industry, brand of press that we bought around the time I joined the company, but the running, repair and insurance costs were proving too much for our cashflow to sustain during the downturn,” he says.

“Thankfully, we found a solution in the Xerox Iridesse Production Press through Stuart Daniels, Sales Account Manager at Altron Document Solutions, which allowed us to reverse our losses and return to profitability, so much so that we’re more profitable today than we were before the pandemic hit.”

Castle Graphics’ core business is book work, specifically educational market books, with inners printed in monochrome and covers on Iridesse, along with in-house laminating and binding. But the company also prints “anything and everything”, from business cards, posters, brochures, pamphlets and stationery to self-published books, restaurant menus and placemats and marketing department artwork.

“Before COVID, we were doing a large amount of work for restaurants and hospitality chains and that dried up completely,” says Castle. “We also do a lot of work for high-profile corporate clients, so colour accuracy and alignment have to match their specific standards.

“Since the Xerox Iridesse Production Press quality is industry standard, and the software is so user friendly, making adjustments – and training new staff on making adjustments – is now much easier compared to how we had to do it before.”

The Xerox Iridesse Production Press delivers industry-leading CMYK print quality for a full array of digital jobs. It’s best suited to short run, quick turnaround work with technologies that dramatically improve image quality, including Xerox’s market-leading Ultra HD Resolution with a RIP resolution of 1 200 x 1 200 dpi x 10 bit and print resolution of 2 400 x 2 400 dpix 1 bit combined with a new, low-gloss small particle toner formulation and xerographic enhancements.

New High-Definition Emulsion Aggregate (HD EA) toner creates smooth prints with lower gloss and excellent shadow detail, even in challenging images, while internal process controls ensure consistency between pages, compensating for any registration or density issues in real-time and eliminating the potential for colour drift.

Castle says he’s excited at the prospect of exploring some of the Xerox Iridesse Production Press advanced finishing options, like gold and silver, to adding a second Iridesse down the line as volumes grow.

“Right now, we’re just about getting over the hill that COVID and other business roadblocks left us to climb and soon we’ll be ready to take the next important steps in expanding our service offerings even further,” he says.

“The business has always been focused on personal service; with myself as owner and my brother in charge of production, we strive to make our clients feel part of our family. While we are still very small by print business standards, we’re a family business with a big heart and huge aspirations. We’ve been through a lot of challenges in our time; however, we always manage to make it through with hard work and dedication towards our staff and customers alike and we are feeling stronger than ever!”