Konica Minolta’s AccurioPress C14000 series launched globally

KM enters high-volume toner print market with new press

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KM launched AccurioPress C14000 globally
KM launched AccurioPress C14000 globally

Konica Minolta, a leader in industrial and commercial printing solutions, has announced the global launch of its new AccurioPress C14000 series – its first foray into the high-volume toner printing segment – in a live broadcast to a worldwide audience from Printing United in Dallas, Texas USA.

The AccurioPress C14000 prints at 140 pages per minute (ppm) in A4 and is 40% faster than any other toner-based device from Konica Minolta. A second model in the series, the AccurioPress C12000, provides the same print quality and a similarly fast speed of 120 ppm.

The launch demonstrates Konica Minolta’s mission to support the transformation of its clients’ companies by sector and industry, predicting potential challenges and creating solutions together. The presses will help customers that want to expand and streamline their businesses through advanced automation, fewer human touchpoints and higher productivity with tangible effects leading to increased, high-quality output with less waste.

This new flagship cut-sheet product will maximize customer value based on opportunities for business expansion, accelerated operational efficiency and improved total cost of ownership (TCO) with faster investment return.

Until now, Konica Minolta has not produced a toner-based high production print (HPP) product. Since 2015, its AccurioJet KM-1 inkjet press has been its flagship production model with a speed of 3,000 sheets per hour, designed more for high-quality applications, similar to offset printing. The AccurioPress C6100s series for mid production print (MPP), on the other hand, are designed to support a highly responsive print room environment. The AccurioPress C14000 covers the gap between these two products in the HPP segment, offering a higher print volume and longer duty cycle to reach new commercial print customers within the HPP segment requiring high productivity, efficiency of operations and quality for direct mail, brochures and catalogues.

“This is an extremely important global initiative for Konica Minolta, especially significant because we are not currently known for toner-based high-production print equipment,” says Olaf Lorenz, general manager DX Branding Division bei Konica Minolta. “We are entering the HPP segment with a really high-quality press. The similarities in quality between traditional offset and what we can do with toner is astonishing, and we have worked very hard to get here.”

Koji Sugie, executive officer at Konica Minolta, Division president of Professional Print Business says, “By increasing the efficiency of customer workflow from beginning to end, we aim to achieve the number one position in the high-production print market.”

Konica Minolta’s IQ-501 Intelligent Quality Care enhanced auto inspection options offer expanded inspection performance, verifying print quality and now detecting streaks and spots as well as blemishes. The high-quality prints mean maximum stability even during long run jobs, while better registration and quality increases total print volume. The new presses offer a highly reliable duty cycle of 2.5 million, with double the toner capacity of earlier models.

“The IQ-501 is a differentiator for us,” adds Lorenz. “While other manufacturers have similar technology, we believe our unique, inline auto inspection unit will separate us from the pack of comparable devices.”

Konica Minolta recognizes the launch of the AccurioPress C14000 and C12000 as a major opportunity to enter into the high-production print equipment segment. Both the AccurioPress series of printers and the IQ-501 Intelligent Quality Care are designed and offered to the market exclusively by Konica Minolta.

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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