Balancing
celebration
and charity
I
t is easy to forget about those in need at a time where
abundant celebration is top of mind. Poor food distribu-
tion is one of the key causes of global hunger, accord-
ing to experts, who also blame high food prices and the
unequal distribution of resources. According to the CSIR,
globally between 30-50 percent of food produced is wast-
ed before it reaches consumers.
‘This also results in environmental impacts throughout
the supply chain, aswell as thewaste of resources used in
food production and distribution,’ said Claire Bloom, ex US
Navy officer, and founder and executive director of End 68
Hours of Hunger, a US-based non-profit organisation that
fights childhood hunger. Bloom will present a workshop
on Ending Childhood Hunger at the SAPICS 2015* confer-
ence, taking place from 31May - 2 June at Sun City.
It is estimated that South Africa generates over 9 mil-
lion tonnes of food waste per year, a sobering thought
when one considers that roughly 14 percent of children in
SA suffer from hunger.
‘19 percent of South African children have no break-
fast, and 51 percent have no lunch. 800 000 of these chil-
dren are under five, and the malnutrition they experience
has a profound impact on their future. When children are
hungry, they cannot learn, and if they cannot learn, they
cannot master the information and skills they are taught in
school,’ said Bloom.
According to Bloom, several organisations are mak-
ing progress in combating childhood hunger, however,
much more is needed. “The ‘much-more’ relates in great
part to communities and companies partnering to assess
the scale of the problem in their area and then working
together to see it solved. It’s possible – and we can do it!”
she says.
After retiring in 1998 from the United States Navy fol-
lowing a very successful tour as the first woman to be the
Second In Command of USS Constitution, Bloom estab-
lished a feeding programme in New Hampshire (USA) in
2011. The programme puts nourishing food in the hands of
primaryschoolchildrentocarrythemthroughtheweekend
– 68 hours of hunger that some children experience be-
tween the free lunch they receive in school on Friday and
the breakfast they receive in school onMonday morning.
Volunteers at Bloom’s organisation buy the food, pack
the bags and deliver them to the offices of the selected
primary schools. From there, a school employee delivers
the food to the classrooms of the individual participating
students. The students take the food home on Friday af-
ternoon and the cycle begins again the following week.
Each bag of food provides two breakfasts, two lunches
and three dinners for a child, with some left over to share.
‘In South Africa in particular, childhood hunger – or
food insecurity – is a national problem. After a while,
children who receive insufficient food on a regular basis
or miss entire meals, experience “fear of hunger”, which
affects their behaviour as much as physical hunger affects
their bodies,’ she said.
Bloom’s organisation currently feeds around 1000 chil-
dren weekly in 34 towns. ‘We have a model that works
well and there’s no reason that some of the key principles
cannot be adopted and applied to the South African con-
text to great effect,’ she added.
Bloom’s presentation at SAPICS 2015 will focus on
the impact of the food insecurity problem in South Africa,
what is currently being done, as well as what conference
attendees themselves can do to help.
’
T
he management and employee representatives of
Heidelberg have reached agreement on reorganising
the company pension scheme. In the future, the final
salary pension will be replaced by a contribution-based
capital commitment.
The associated effect allows a balance-sheet relief of
some €100 million. This step is also a response to stead-
ily falling interest rates due to the continuing low-interest
policy in the eurozone, which could lead to further in-
creases in provisions for pension obligations in the future.
It has already been necessary to significantly increase the
reservesforguaranteedpensionpaymentsinrecentyears
and no reversal of this trend is expected in the near future.
The basic principle behind the newly agreed contri-
bution-based scheme has applied to the company’s man-
agement staff and new employees since 2006 and will
now be extended to all Heidelberg pension beneficiaries.
‘It was vital to adapt pension provision at Heidelberg
to demographic developments and low interest rates in
order to make it sustainable. This is an important step
in strengthening the company’s balance sheet and con-
tinuing to provide the workforce with a company pension
based on a newmodel,’ said CFO Dirk Kaliebe.
In addition to relieving the balance sheet, reorganis-
ing the company pension scheme will have a non-recur-
ring positive effect on the operating result for the current
financial year 2014/2015. Also because of this, EBITDA
will be around €50 million higher than previously expect-
ed. The pension scheme figures calculated at the end of
the financial year on 31 March 2015 when preparing the
annual accounts will clarify the precise impact of the re-
organisation.
‘Our efficiency program Focus, the realignment of our
portfolio, and the re-organisation of our pension scheme
provide three key building blocks for the future of the com-
pany,’ said CEO Gerold Linzbach.
B
usch Vacuum pumps, a German company estab-
lished over 50 years ago is today one of the world’s
largest suppliers of vacuum pumps, liquid ring vacu-
um pumps and blowers. Its African head office is based
in Johannesburg and supported by sales and service
branches in Cape Town and Durban. It is also represented
in Port Elizabeth with a sales office.
Busch Africa is able to supply many pumps and spare
part kits ex stock and we are also fully set up to repair
pumps in our workshop or to carry out service work and
commissioning at your site. The company prides itself on
being able to offer service repairs on its own pumps as
well as any opposition products.
It has engineers in-house in SA that can assist with
projects involving vacuumpumps and centralised vacuum
systems and it is supported by Busch centres of excel-
lence in England and the Netherlands for detailed system
design and construction. All designs, drawings and docu-
mentation are completed to the highest standards.
The Busch Africa office is a 100 percent owned sub-
sidiaryofBuschInternationalmakingittheonlysuchcom-
pany in SA as all its competitors are running agencies.
The benefit for customers is that customers work directly
with the pump manufacturer and get flexibility, expert
technical advice and very competitive pricing.
For more information contact Sean Pieterse MD Sub
Saharan Africa on
082 499 2989
or via e-mail at
Q
uarkXPress 2015, expected to be released at the
end of March, will allow better, faster, cutting-edge
PDF output with the help of Callas Software. This
is because this professional-grade software for layout
and graphic design now supports document output in
PDF/X-4 format, verified by Callas pdfToolbox. Thismeans
that PDF/X-4 files exported from QuarkXPress 2015 will
be certified with the same technology used in Adobe
Acrobat.
‘This is exactly the kind of solution we were looking
for: something to check and certify that the files we pro-
ducemeet ISO standard 15930-7,’ saidMatthias Günther,
globaldirectoroftheDesktopBusinessUnitatQuarkSoft-
ware Inc. This is where the company’s years of collabora-
tion with Callas Software paid off. ‘QuarkXPress has long
been able to export PDF files, including options to export
using the PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-3 standards. We already
use Callas Software’s technology to do so,’ explained
Günther. Due to the company’s trust in Callas Software,
and Callas’ expertise in the field of PDF technology, it
quickly became clear that the Berlin-based company was
the right partner for adding PDF/X-4 export functionality.
Callas offers pdfToolbox as a software development
kit (SDK) which Quark integrated into its software, allow-
ing it to run in the background. When the user chooses
to export a file in PDF/X format, QuarkXPress allows
them to select from PDF/X-1a, PDF/X-3 and PDF/X-4. If
they choose PDF/X-4, pdfToolbox then checks to ensure
the new PDF/X-4 file really does meet the ISO standard.
If it fails the test, perhaps because of specific elements
within the file, the user will receive a notification to this
effect. Otherwise, the result is a valid PDF/X-4 file, with
alltheadvantagesforfurtherprocessingwhichtheformat
brings.
In addition to all the properties of PDF/X-3, PDF/X-4
offers features such as unflattened transparency, media-
independent colours, and layering. This means it is no
longer necessary to reduce transparent sections as early
on in the process as the point of PDF creation. Instead,
they can be processed in the printing house itself once the
final printing colour space is known. Media-independent
colours are preserved. ‘This makes QuarkXPress perfect
for integrated media-independent workflows,’ explained
Günther. Users benefit from fast PDF export, smaller files,
and higher quality when printing.
Heidelberg strengthens balance sheet by
re-organising company pension scheme
Busch – global with a strong team
near you
Quark improves PDF output with
technology from Callas
Vol 5 Issue 1 • THE GAPP TIMES
88
I
The GAPP
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www.
thegapp
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