With more than 3,000 parishioners and two locations, Bethany Lutheran Church in Overland Park, Kansas, depends on a variety of publications to communicate with its large congregation.

All of the church's publications-from the weekly bulletins to preschool brochures-must look neat, be accurate, and, most of all, be ready on time. The church is using RISO's digital printing technology to ensure that these criteria are met while producing materials as cost-effectively as possible.

According to Kristie Hadenfeld, Bethany 's executive secretary, the church learned about the advantages of digital printing when a representative told a colleague about a technology--the RISO Printer-Duplicator--that could make her work much easier and increase productivity.

"We invited him to come to our monthly luncheon for a demonstration, and he brought RISO's machine to the church that day," says Hadenfeld. "RISO's system may have looked like a copier, but it's a very different technology. It offered superior speed and dependability, as well as significant savings in printing costs."

RISO's Printer-Duplicators employ the latest on-demand digital printing technology. The machines are extremely fast, printing up to 130 pages per minute. That feature alone saves the church time printing the weekly bulletin. In addition, the system can print spot color on a wide variety of stocks from 4" x 6" to 11" x 17".

"With the RISO Digital Printing System, the job that used to take two full days now takes less than half the time," says Hadenfeld. "With our old equipment, we could only run 200 copies at a time. We'd fill the trays, flip the copies over, and start again. It was a chore."

Church staff members also find the RISO system to be very reliable, offering a significant advantage over their copiers, which often overheated and shut down, causing delays and frustration, especially when deadlines were tight.

Hadenfeld says, "Maintenance is not an issue. The RISO system just doesn't break down."

Ease of use is another distinguishing feature.

"The story goes that the sales representative offered to leave the system at Bethany for a test run over the Thanksgiving holidays. With no more training than the demonstration at the luncheon, staff members were able to put the system to the test," Hadenfeld says. "We also have one volunteer who comes in every week to print bulletins, and we have found the machine to be very people-friendly."

The church was also very impressed with the system's environmentally friendly features. RISO's digital printing technology uses 98% less energy than a photocopier, with no ozone emissions and no toxic chemicals.

Since Bethany Lutheran Church purchased its current RISO Printer-Duplicator, the cost savings have been significant. Bethany 's cost per copy with the system is estimated at less than ¾ cent per page, compared to nearly two cents per page for the copier. Since installing the system, the church has produced more than 3.8 million pages. When the savings per copy is multiplied by the number of pages printed, the result is a significant savings of more than $46,000.

RISO's technology continues to advance. Multi-Function Printers offer faxing and scanning, and low-volume, full-color capabilities that are useful for church offices. Software that automatically routes print jobs to the most appropriate device generates additional savings in cost and time. Networkability means that documents can be produced directly from the computer screen to the printer. Accessories such as envelope/card feeders, collators and sorters offer added flexibility and more printing options.

Larger churches, in particular, are benefiting from RISO's latest technology, the V8000 Digital Press, a high-speed, fully automatic printing system that enables the imaging and printing of two colors in a single pass-up to 7,200 prints per hour.

Bethany is considering expanding its system with some of these options--"depending on our budget," according to Hadenfeld--but the present installation-"a real workhorse"-continues to deliver key benefits of speed, reliability and cost-effectiveness that have served the church well.