Konica Minolta’s new monochrome bizhub i-Series

Black & white – KM launches six new MFPs

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Konica Minolta’s new monochrome bizhub i-Series

Konica Minolta Business Solutions has expanded its bizhub i-Series with the launch of six new black and white A3 multifunctional printers (MFPs). “The new bizhub 750i, 650i, 550i, 450i, 360i, and 300i multifunctional devices offer functionality with beneficial features for workplaces with printing needs ranging from low-volume to high-volume, not requiring color output,” the company said.

The launch expands Konica Minolta’s offering with the addition of the 75ppm 750i, a speed not available in its previous monochrome MFP lineup, the company said. As per the company, the large, floating 10-inch tablet-style touch panel with a 26° to 90° tilt angle provides convenient accessibility and operation for all users with standard customization functionality as well as through the optional MarketPlace UI Builder, Personalize and Personalize’s Follow-You Persona. Easy, touchless accessibility is provided through the bizhub Remote Access app, enabling remote MFP panel operations, data entry and scanned data import from the convenience of a mobile and tablet device.

Security:

As an extension of the bizhub i-Series, the monochrome devices also offer the highest built-in security standards with additional options for a complete security setting. Data is protected and reliably accessible through a layered approach to ensure the ultimate defense against any potential threat.

The Solid-State Drive (SSD) offers greater security than a traditional hard disk drive, using flash memory instead of magnetic storage that may not completely erase deleted data. In addition, all SSL communications are encrypted through a highly secure encryption algorithm, which is based on the US NSA (National Security Agency) standard and available only from Konica Minolta. All i-Series models are compliant with GDPR, and ISO 15408 certified HCD-PP, ensuring that all data privacy standards and endpoint security requirements are met.

As part of Konica Minolta’s  next-generation multifunctional device portfolio designed to empower digital workflows, the new monochrome MFPs are designed to work with sophisticated workflow tools such as Konica Minolta’s Dispatcher Suite, also layered by security options through bizhub SECURE services. This allows for businesses to have effective print management and advanced document workflow while maintaining document security.

“Keeping our customers and end users in mind, as well as the ever-changing ways of work, our bizhub i-Series multifunctional devices offer versatile and tailored solutions for any type of business and organization, ensuring minimal disruption to productivity and efficiency,” said Dino Pagliarello, senior vice president, product management and planning, Konica Minolta. “With the addition of the monochrome models, our i-Series product line is now complete, providing the ease of use we have become known for in the industry with the choice of color or black and white.”

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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