Previewed at the Prokom event, the new K-M AccurioPress models aim to de-skill colour management
The Konica Minolta user group staged its first international event in Vienna on 10 and 11 May, hosting 160 attendees from both Eastern and Western Europe as well as from Russia and the USA.
Centred on a full-day conference programme with a broad range of inspirational and practical presentations relating to developing print-based businesses, the “Power of Prokom” event was hailed as a success by Prokom chairman Andy Barber, managing director (digital) at UK Mail: ‘Now we know the appetite for such an event, next year we are looking hard at how we meet expectations going forward. I’m sure we’ll get lots of additional ideas on how we can better work together at this conference and in the future.’
The Prokom board is now considering plans to extend the concept both to Asia and possibly to North America, in light of strong representation from the US and Canada at the Austrian event.
Toshitaka Uemura, general manager, Konica Minolta, commented, ‘Prokom is an essential part of the Konica Minolta strategy, which includes adopting a more ‘customer centric’ sales approach. This is why we are proud to support this user community to help our customers thrive and grow in an ever-changing print communication industry.’
Speaking to Digital Printer after the conference, Toshimitsu (“Tom”) Taiko, general manager at the company’s Professional Print Business headquarters in Tokyo, explained how K-M is moving towards being a service company that sells printers; as an example of this, Mr Taiko described how it has developed technology for automated video analysis to help its customers better understand consumer response to packaging and promotional trials.
The event also included a preview of two new additions to the Accurio range of digital presses. To be formally launched later in the year, the AccurioPress C6100 and C6085 are duplexing toner-based presses that support banner and envelope printing and book production. Continuous colour checking and calibration are performed without compromising output speed in the “Color Care Unit” which includes a scanner and KM-built spectrophotometer which control duplex registration and colour calibration and profiling respectively.
European product manager Karl Friedrich Endenhuizen explained that these features are intended to cut manual adjustment time, de-skill the colour management operation and reduce waste. ‘The overall aim is increased production time,’ he said.
