The buzz_Dec 2019 Print

Debtors Collection GO BOKKE!
First Quarter
Graaff-Reinet
Pretoria
by Marinda Gous

Pretoria branch achieved ninety-nine percent
of their target for the first quarter of 2019.
This is an exceptional result, given the fact
that the collection target has been increased to
eighty percent. In the current economic climate
this was not an easy task as collections are
getting more difficult by the day.

Well done to the debtors ladies for their hard
work and perseverance! I am proud to work
with this winning team!

back l-r: Eugene du Plessis, Grantham Adams, Andries Sondagh
& James Chapman
middle l-r: Angeline Bantom, Talana Chapman & Patricia Jacobs
front: Etienne Fourie

Pretoria Supervisors get stuck in cleaning up the 'Gogga' store

Pretoria

l-r: Hendrik Mare, Johan Pheiffer & Willem Smith
theBUZZ | issue #7 | December 2019 51

Labelexpo Europe 2019
Head Office

by Manny Da Silva The main focus on the Konica Minolta We doubled the number of leads we
stand were the two versions of its achieved in 2017 and announced eleven
Labelexpo Europe is the largest new AccurioLabel 230. One of these more customer sales at the show. It’s
international show in the label versions was displayed with a flexo been an extremely rewarding journey
industry and this year it closed on station for printing white inline for since we shipped our first machine in
a high note. the first time supplied by Danish 2016. We have grown to become no. 2
company Grafisk Maskinfabrik (GM), in the market, according to InfoSource
A total of 693 exhibitors took part Konica Minolta’s development and figures, and our accelerated growth
in the event, which ran from 24-27 manufacturing partner in Europe. shows no sign of slowing.
September at the Brussels Expo Centre
in Belgium. These latest sales are yet again
prime examples of how companies
Konica Minolta’s stand at Labelexpo “The AccurioLabel 230 is an are increasingly turning to our world-
became a magnet for visitors to extremely important addition to our class technology for label printing,"
the show where eleven sales were business to further increase quality said Edoardo Cotichini, team manager
concluded making it a 450th landmark as well as save time. It’s important industrial printing at Konica Minolta
installation. because our vineyard customers, as an Business Solutions Europe.
example, often work in ‘just in time’
Quality leads more than doubled mode and they often place an order
compared to the last European show for labels that needs to be delivered
two years ago. The ‘incredible interest’ the very next day.
shown in Konica Minolta’s AccurioPress
technology was also underpinned by Labelexpo was an outstanding success
customer feedback, that will help shape and we had incredible interest from
developments to provide even better visitors to our stand.
products and solutions in the future.

52 theBUZZ | issue #7 | December 2019

Trees planted in the North West

Konica Minolta North West

Trees sustain all beings on earth. They are the largest
plants on the planet, and by far the most efficient, cost-
effective way of tackling the climate crisis – absorbing
and storing the carbon-dioxide emissions that drive global
warming.

With this top of mind and as part of an ongoing partnership
between Konica Minolta South Africa and NPO Food &
Trees for Africa, Konica Minolta North West, an authorised
dealer of Konica Minolta South Africa, joined the tree
planting initiative and strengthened its commitment to
environmental sustainability.

Konica Minolta North West has donated a total of 1,000
trees to the Klerksdorp area in the North West province,
offsetting an estimated 369 tons of carbon dioxide
equivalent (aCtO2Kea)n. aAnatrPereim-palarnytiSncghocoelr,emwohneyre was held
in October students
enthusiastically came together to plant 30 trees. The
initiative served to educate the pupils on the importance of
protecting the environment and the benefits of minimising
their carbon footprint.

Jaco Mienie, MD of Konica Minolta North West said that
trees are invaluable to the environment - they give plants
and animals life by providing oxygen. He also said that trees
provide food and shelter, ultimately making a positive
impact on communities.

A teacher at Kanana Primary School and organiser of the Pupils from Kanana Primary School
event, Johan Ackerman, said the school really appreciated enthusiastically planting trees
the generous donation and that it would make their school
more environmentally friendly and educate the learners
about the importance of living clean and living green.

The tree planting team Jeminah Mkhize, Senior Facilitator (Food & Trees
for Africa) & Jaco Mienie (MD Konica Minolta
North West), planting the first Konica Minolta
tree at Kanana Primary School
theBUZZ | issue #7 | December 2019 53

Konica Minolta Welkom lends a Helping Hand

Konica Minolta Welkom
by Christa Wessels

During the week-end of 26 July, Jim Fouche Park in Welkom had no
access to running water and unfortunately the local municipality
did not have the necessary equipment to fix the water problem.
Two old-age homes in the area, Huis Oranje and Nyala House had
no running water which was a huge concern for the community.
They urgently needed water not only for cooking for the elderly, but
drinking water as well as water for bathing and also water to flush the
toilets.

Konica Minolta Welkom immediately stepped in and sponsored
bottles of drinking water. But for them, this wasn’t enough, they
wanted to help even more. Staff at the dealership got together and
filled bottles with water from the swimming pool, which allowed the
aged home to flush the toilets that week-end.

When it comes to the community, Konica Minolta Welkom is there to
assist. In particular they try and help out at the old-age homes in any
way they can, from raising funds to donating second hand printers.
Konica Minolta Welkom believes in giving back to the community for
all the support they have received from so many community members
over the years.

Clifton Invitational Water Polo Tournament

Durban

Durban branch sponsored Konica Minolta lanyards and Water Polo teams from Clifton School & Westville Boys High
match schedules for all competing boys and their
coaches at the recent Clifton Invitational Water Polo
Tournament.

The two teams that contested the final were Clifton School
and Westville Boys High School, both longstanding customers
of Durban branch.

The team from Clifton School were the deserved winners.
Well done to both schools on an excellent tournament.

54 theBUZZ | issue #7 | December 2019

Understanding the future of work

Head Office

As technology evolves across the With the office now a thriving What the modern office expects from
personal, social and business information-generation hub, the challenges its MFP media hub would also include
space, life becomes more of managing all the info being created PDF processing, optical character
connected and convenient, but our becomes urgent. As office documents recognition, barcode printing, Unicode
very understanding of our lives also are digitised, cloud use rises and the support, serverless printing and
has to change. 'The Connected Office' volume of data increases, centralised antivirus protection.
is no different – work will never be the management and better access to
same. documents is vital. At the same time, With the recent release of the bizhub
security is increasingly critical. i-Series, part of 'The Connected Office'
The fundamental change is that for transition, we have also noticed that
many of us, there will probably still Staff should be able to complete our society has become far more
be a building that serves as the real- tasks efficiently and effectively from environmentally engaged, and MFPs
world base of our operations, but anywhere, using integrated cloud are now expected to be sustainably
today 'the office' is really a hub, where services and convenient workflow produced and to make efficient use of
information is produced, disseminated, technology; they must also be sure consumables and energy. Devices are
shared and exchanged. their information is kept securely, even designed to minimise particle
despite being accessible all over the emissions for optimal air quality,
Information is shared within that world. keeping staff safe and productive.
physical space, but in fact, the digital
space that your office occupies The modern office hub uses intuitive Devices are also produced with voice
stretches across the planet. The most smartphone-style user interfaces and operability and to be accessible for
important role it serves is as a nerve powerful processors allowing quick office workers with particular mobility
centre that enables connections – response and high performance, as well requirements.
between co-workers, suppliers and as an evolved level of physical printing
partners; within and across industries; services. High-speed, one-pass double- The latest office-technology innova-
and between producers and consumers feed, digital skew correction, print tions are focused on optimising
of content. management and advanced digital connectivity, allowing businesses to
document workflow management are perform at their best, wherever their
The most important office transform- functions to look out for. teams are located, while providing
ation that has taken place is around peace of mind so staff can focus on
the integration of hardware, software Because document management important matters.
and people, into a seamless network is now a digital function, part of the
that can be accessed from almost connected office solution is creating Rethinking
anywhere. Any office without this a digital ecosystem where users can today,
functionality is not doing what we operate intuitively, using an interface
expect in the workplace in 2020. they’re comfortable with. to redefine
tomorrow
What was previously thought of as Functions can be added as necessary,
a printer is now a smart-technology by downloading the relevant apps
hub, a multifunctional printer (MFP), from within the ecosystem. Some
the better exponents of which offer MFPs even collect data on their
Internet of Things (IoT) functionality, own performance, allowing for self-
sustainability benefits, and a significant diagnosis and predictive maintenance.
profitability boost for customers.

theBUZZ | issue #7 | December 2019 55

Africa Print 2019: Print is alive and evolving
Head Office

by Edmund Jacobs What a show!!! From build-
up to the clients who
visited the exhibition.
It was encouraging to see the
enthusiasm of the visitors to the
show and the passion they have
for this industry, despite the tough
economic landscape South Africans
are facing.

Potential clients showed a definite
interest in the Konica Minolta
brand, asking relevant questions
about how Konica Minolta can
improve their business through the
solutions we offer.

What really made me happy was
the number of people on our stand
who have bought Konica Minolta kit
and who are now enjoying excellent
service and total reliability from
their equipment.

We are ready - the result of teamwork and effort

Digital multifunctional device & software launch

Mthatha

In September, Mthatha branch hosted a launch showcasing multi-
functional devices as well as software at the well-known Umtata
Country Club.
Commercial, government and potential clients were invited to view
a range of machines and software products. While demonstrating the
equipment, sales staff explained how Konica Minolta could improve
their current working environment.

The launch was well attended with much interest shown from clients
in and around Mthatha.

back l-r: Damian Bezuidenhout, Adam Fraser,
Gary Eves, Stefan Vermeulen
& Sibusiso Mangtanga
front: Dyomfana Tandiswa & Lusanda Mkona

56 theBUZZ | issue #7 | December 2019

Busi – my learnership story

Head Office

Iby Busisiwe Mhlongo
t all started in 2016 when I received
a call that I had been selected for
the IT Technical Support Learnership.
My heart was full of joy! There were
three of us who were selected for
the learnership. It was not expected,
bearing in mind that we were in a male
dominated department. We started on
1 July 2015.

The learnership went well and we
had a wonderful opportunity in being
able to further our knowledge at Bytes
in Midrand. I must say, the learnership
didn’t seem like one because we
enjoyed every single moment of it. We
had challenges in the workplace, but
Bytes helped us get through, we just
had to persevere.

RESPECT is ‘key’,
followed by

COMMUNICATION

Before the end of the learnership, I
made a small mistake and that made
me doubt whether I had proven myself
worthy of being chosen to stay on. And
then I got the good news....I had been
selected to stay on at head office as a
workshop technician. I had achieved all
of this because of my hard work, focus
and determination.

I was a workshop technician for a “Do not live to please, live to succeed, because
year and a half and it was interesting if you live to please, you will not succeed.”
because I had the opportunity to
try and fix machines on my own. The first six months were not easy I conclude with the following:
Another interesting experience was at all but again with hard work and All I can say to the new learners is,
guiding other learners through the determination, I succeeded. I thought make the most of this learnership
learnerships that followed after me it was the end but it was just the because if you don’t, you will not get
– this was challenging but something beginning. We all have people who to have the experience of being in a
that I managed to do. mentor or guide us and I would like workplace that pushes you to move
to make mention of the one man who and grow yourself further. Take note of
At the end of the period of being a motivated me and believed in me, each and everything and cherish the
workshop technician, I was selected to Edmund Jacobs, and for this, I thank memories and experiences because
join the training division as they had you. one grows from these experiences.
seen potential in me. I was sent on Bear in mind that, respect is ‘key’,
SAP training at Johannesburg branch, Not forgetting Craig Williams, who has followed by communication.
where I used the technical knowledge such incredible technical knowledge, a
I had gained. I would also like to big thank you to you for all you taught
thank the ladies in the call-centre for us and for enabling us to complete the
their training. Last year in June, I was learnership.
officially promoted to the position of
national training administrator. It was
a huge step going from a technical
background to an office environment.

theBUZZ | issue #7 | December 2019 57

Rugby 'BRAAI & SCRUM' BEFORE THE WORLD CUP
World Cup back l-r: Christiaan Fourie, James Stadler, Niel van der Walt & Morne Sampson
Final - braai front l-r: Joseph Roelfse, Remaldo Bewee, Johann Rabe, Johannes Selisa

George & Noel Corneluis (hidden)

The branch had a braai
and ‘scrum’ on Friday 1
November 2019 to

'Vang ��es
for the
�nal'

We all enjoyed the braai
and left for the week-end
ready for the big game.

Amazing race On June 01 we participated in an ‘Amazing Race’ charity event for
child welfare.
Nelspruit It was great fun and everyone enjoyed themselves!
by Gerhard van Tonder

l-r: Tyrone Nezar, Gerhard van Tonder, Zelda Venter
& Dirk Myburgh

58 theBUZZ | issue #7 | December 2019

Branch Manager's Conference Branch
of the
Head Office Year
by Deidre Szemerei Award

The annual Branch Manager’s conference was held at the end BRANCH OF THE YEAR 2018/2019
of July 2019 in Johannesburg at the OR Tambo Southern Sun East London - Gary Eves
Hotel.
This is a great time for branch managers and head office We would like to congratulate the following
management to strategise and share their thoughts and views on branches on a great achievement:
the future of our industry and the direction that Konica Minolta BRANCH OF THE YEAR
South Africa will be focusing on in the future. I am sure this is a time East London - Gary Eves
when the outlying branch managers experience and get comfort in SALES PERFORMANCE AWARDS
the bigger Konica Minolta family as I am sure they often feel like an Mpumalanga - Gerhard van Tonder
island. East London - Gary Eves
Kimberley / Upington - Gerhard Krüger
This year we were privileged to receive an inspiring and thought SERVICE PERFORMANCE AWARDS
provoking presentation from LMRG. This was the opening for an East London / Mthatha - Gary Eves
introspection on our commercial business and possible short Kimberley / Upington - Gerhard Krüger
comings. Subsequent consultation with our Exco resulted in a Paarl - Sharon Roux
new countrywide project by LMRG to assist us in our approach to Port Elizabeth - Warren Diakos
commercial business. Mmabatho / Rustenburg - Mandi Anderson
Nelspruit - Gerhard van Tonder
Every year we all wait with bated breath to celebrate the year’s Graaff-Reinet - Pierre Kruse
achievers. The format and number of awards was reduced from
previous years. theBUZZ | issue #7 | December 2019 59

This year we focused on three main areas, namely: Sales
Performance Award for branches who achieved the branch turnover
target, Branch Service Award for branches who achieved the branch
service turnover target and Branch of the Year for the best all-round
performance in sales, service, debtors collections and branch profit.

It was a challenging year with the ending of the RT3-2015 tender
where we enjoyed being the exclusive supplier on most of the
product categories and the slow and challenging start to a drastically
changed RT3-2018 tender.

EXCO AND BRANCH SALES PERFORMANCE WINNERS
l-r: Marc Pillay, Laetitia Coetzer, Gerhard van Tonder, Gary Eves, Gerhard Krüger,

Porky Barbosa & Hussein Mangera

Heritage Day Pietersburg High
School Golf Day
Head Office
Polokwane

Polokwane entered a four ball at the recent Pietersburg
High School Golf Day.

Rebecca Mngoma & Joyce Nkuna dressed to impress on THE KONICA MINOLTA FOUR-BALL
Heritage Day Enjoying a well deserved drink!

2019 Rugby World Cup l-r: Attie Buitendag, Theo Allison, Wimpie Knoesen
& Morne Etchell
East London

East London branch were very excited during the 2019
Rugby World Cup. The staff kept a record of all the
games, which they took very seriously. On ‘Bok Fridays’
staff showed their support for the Springboks by wearing
their ‘Bok’ shirts to work.

l-r: Gary Eves, Nomawethu Myoli, Rapheal Flynn l-r: Gary Eves, Lailah Obaray, Tammy Van Der Merwe
& Damian Bezuidenhout & Nomawethu Myoli

We thank the Springboks for making South Africa proud!

60 theBUZZ | issue #7 | December 2019

Konica Minolta i-Series Launch

Pretoria

In October, Pretoria introduced the new and exciting
i-Series to their clients. Together with the new
equipment, software including Ysoft SafeQ 6, Google
Cloud Print and Google Drive Connector from the
Konica Minolta Market Place, LK-110 and Document
Navigator were all demonstrated at the event.

Clients submitted a checklist of hardware/software
interests, this was then put into a lucky draw and with
the OMR feature from Document Navigator these check-
lists were scanned and a brochure was automatically
generated.

The clients enjoyed the warm
hospitality shown by the staff of
Pretoria branch.

theBUZZ | issue #7 | December 2019 61

Top Debtors Performance Pierre Kruse & Dorelle Smith
of the Year

George
by Pierre Kruse

It is with great pride that we once again awarded the Top
Debtors Award of the Year to Dorelle Smith from George
branch. Dorelle has won this award every year since 2015
when she took up the position as credit controller for George
and Graaf-Reinet.

Dorelle originally started at the branch as a temp in 2008 and
was employed as sales secretary in 2011. Later in 2015 she was
appointed branch credit controller.

Dorelle advised that the reason for her success is that she
communicates with her customers constantly and is supported
by management.

Congratulation Dorelle well done you deserve this award and
we are looking at winning many more in the future!

Happy New Year in July

Polokwane
by Morne Etchell

With the 2018 financial year ‘done and dusted’, it was Celebrating the new financial year
time to forget ‘yesterday’ and to rather look forward
to ‘tomorrow’ and to find out what the 2019 financial Since we were all geared to get the new financial year off
year has in store for us. to a great start, we kept the drinks ‘light’ and made a toast
to the new year while sipping our non-alcoholic bubbly!

62 theBUZZ | issue #7 | December 2019

We would like to take this
opportunity to thank you for your
hard work and dedication this year!
Wishing you all a joyous festive season
and a healthy and prosperous 2020.

Bidvest Ladies Tea 2019 l-r: Rita Meyer, Natalie Knight & Nikki Swaphi
theBUZZ | issue #7 | December 2019 63
TPort Elizabeth
he theme for the annual Bidvest Ladies Tea this year
was ‘What mask do you wear and what mask do
people see when they look at you?’
This prestigious event is hosted every year by Bidvest
companies in Port Elizabeth.

All funds raised go to select charities, which change every
year, giving various charities the opportunity of receiving
much needed donations.

This year the funds raised went to the Port Elizabeth Rape
Crisis Centre.

Each guest was asked to bring one or more of the following
items; soap, washcloths, toothpaste, toothbrushes, tissues
and feminine hygiene products.

A cheque to the value of R10,000 together with all items
donated was handed over to the local Rape Crisis Centre.

During this time, the branch ran an ‘absolute pure
indulgence pamper raffle’ and raised a whopping R1,170.00
for which the crisis centre were most grateful.

Various talks were given at the event which included
self-defence as well as a presentation from a motivational
speaker.

It was a great day enjoyed by all.

Bidvest King Pie Golf Day Bidvest Protea Coin four-ball

Pretoria

Konica Minolta Pretoria branch
sponsored a four-ball and water
hole at the King Pie Annual
Charity Golf Day in September at the
Irene Country Club.

This event was hosted by King Pie
in conjunction with the Dennis Van
Olst Trust as well as The Eye Institute
to assist underprivileged children
with eye problems and who need
corrective eye surgery and/or glasses.

The event was a huge success and
everyone who attended thoroughly
enjoyed themselves. Being part of
Bidvest made our involvement at the
golf day even more of an honour and
we look forward to supporting the
King Pie Group with this most worthy
charity at their next golf day.

KONICA MINOLTA FOUR-BALL
l-r: Jaco Moller, Clinton Walles, André Kellerman,
Koen Dekker with An-Lisa Potgieter in the middle

64 theBUZZ | issue #7 | December 2019

--- Aleshia Hart --- --- Dirk Verwey --- --- Shaheed Davids --- --- Avuyile Ntlekiso --- --- Shayne Minnie ---
service controller service technician service technician technician sales consultant
CAPE TOWN PORT ELIZABETH
CAPE TOWN CAPE TOWN EAST LONDON

--- Chantelle Smith --- --- Keenan Cupido --- --- Lawrence Modika --- --- Tebanelo Tjabadi --- --- Grantham Adams ---
administrator on-site technician on-site technician stock controller technician
NELSPRUIT JOHANNESBURG JOHANNESBURG RUSTENBURG
GRAAFF-REINET

PEOPLE
on the move...

--- Zelda Venter --- --- Janine Jekwa --- --- Thembela Malawana ---
sales executive logistics supervisor technician
NELSPRUIT
EAST LONDON EAST LONDON

--- Ashwin Ramlall --- --- Charmaine Moodley --- --- Willem Terblanche --- --- Hannes Swart ---
branch manager debtors supervisor service manager corporate account manager
DURBAN DURBAN DURBAN
JOHANNESBURG

theBUZZ | issue #7 | December 2019 65

sXhaonwtheer’s bridal

Head Office
by Ivone Domingues

It was 18 August and head office was still feeling the
pressures of financial year-end, but that didn’t stop us
from taking a quick breather to celebrate Xanthe’s bridal
shower. With a few good laughs at naughty remarks the
short break was welcome.

Melanie Gerber (sales secretary)
& Kurt Schüler
CAPE TOWN

---- Aimee Jae Haylett ---- --- Alshane Malique Thompson --- ---- Karley Kruger ---- ---- D’aiden Myburgh ----
Byron & Pamela Ann Haylett Janiera & Renaan Thompson Natascha & Martin Kruger Dirk & Dawn Myburgh
JOHANNESBURG
JOHANNESBURG 6 June 2019 HEAD OFFICE NELSPRUIT
28 August 2019 30 June 2019 24 July 2019

66 theBUZZ | issue #7 | December 2019

Weddings

Keith & Leisha Labeeuw
08 December 2018
NELSPRUIT

Christiaan & Ilse Steenkamp Eugene & Yolene du Plessis
23 March 2019 01 November 2019
HEAD OFFICE GRAAFF-REINET

Mario & Angela De Carvalho Wade & Xanthe Tandy Neville & Zanelle Phillips
30 March 2019 30 August 2019 14 September 2019
HEAD OFFICE HEAD OFFICE PORT ELIZABETH

theBUZZ | issue #7 | December 2019 67

KONICA MINOLTA
TREE PLANTING IMPACT 2008-2019