KM 1 equipped with key technical components

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AccurioJet KM-1
Accurio Jet KM-1

Konica Minolta has come up with the AccurioJet KM-1 UV inkjet press. Konica Minolta is committed to be amongst the top manufacturers in the commercial and packaging printing arenas, and is investing a substantial amount in R&D. The company is continually investing to bring solutions for their clients with added value to print.

After years of research and development and incorporating some of the key technical components, Konica Minolta has come up with the AccurioJet KM1 printing press.

The company has a deep inkjet history and owns the world’s largest market share of over 40% in piezo inkjet heads. The AccurioJet KM-1 is in a way the result of 20 years of research and development. KM 1 is a combination of researched and improved inkjet head technology, ink development and processing technologies – all put together in a cutting-edge product.

Konica Minolta has developed a new and unique UV-curable inkjet technology for the AccurioJet KM-1, which achieves offset-like high quality image with productivity of up to 3,000 sheets per hour. A number of AccurioJet KM-1 have already run in the production lines of customers, and have gained reputation as ‘Real Digitalization Pioneer’ for the commercial printing industry.

Single-pass inkjet printing technology is still a big challenge for image processing. To avoid the dots coalescing, Konica Minolta has developed a new ink formulation and curing process which can control the ink viscosity precisely in the print head and on the recording media. With improved technology, the gloss level of the image is controlled. Combining them, Konica Minolta has developed a printing system which achieves offset-like high quality image with high productivity.
Konica Minolta has world class Business Intelligence Services and Global Client Services Organizations of engineers backed by a network of 24-hour call centers, supporting hundreds and thousands of customers every day.
The AccurioJet KM-1 allows print service providers to produce fully personalized 1200 x 1200 dpi, 23 x 29.5 inch sheets. The B2+ sheet size enables more pages up on a sheet than any other graphic arts quality digital technology on the market.

The AccurioJet KM-1 Press produces the equivalent of 18,000 full-bleed 8.5 x 11 inch pages an hour. Printers can also learn about the wide array of media types and weights on which they can print without any pre-treatment. The press was commercially launched in drupa 2016. So far, KM has installed the press in around 30 locations worldwide.

2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India

Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.

The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry. While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.

The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.

Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.

Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.

Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.

– Naresh Khanna

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