From our brand partners · Education
Printing textbooks on demand with Riso ComColor
Getting the right textbooks to the right schools is a perennial challenge in South Africa, especially in rural areas. Riso Africa makes the case for printing them where they are needed.
This summarises a Riso Africa press release about print-on-demand textbooks. It is not an Omni Technologies project; it shows what Riso ComColor printers can do.
The results
- < 6 minFor a 600-page, perfect-bound, full-colour book
- 150 ppmPrint speed of the ComColor model in the story
The challenge
Delivering the right textbooks to every school, on time and in the right numbers, is hard, and hardest for remote rural schools. Printing large books locally used to be too slow and too expensive to be practical.
What was done
- Riso's high-speed ComColor printer produces bound copies within minutes, printing at up to 150 pages a minute.
- A school can act as a print hub for the schools in its area and print exactly the number of books each one needs.
- Copies can be personalised with the learner's name, which helps reduce book theft.
- Print management software can track print jobs to protect publishers' copyright.
What changed
- The ComColor has a small footprint, occupying only around three metres of floor space.
- It is energy efficient and has been run on solar power at a school in Kempton Park.