Konica Minolta has announced several new electrophotographic (toner) production printers at drupa, and also demonstrated a B2 sheet-fed inkjet, developed in conjunction with offset press maker Komori.
It said its prime targets at drupa were a combination of ‘digitally inexperienced commercial printers,’ who are interested in digital but lack the know-how, plus ‘digitally experienced’ printers who already have some sort of digital kit but so far have been unable to utilise it effectively
The inkjet, called KM-1 (pictured above), is officially billed as a ‘technology exhibit,’ but seems to be pretty close to a production device. It’s a joint development between Konica Minolta and Komori, runing at up to 3300 sheets per hour, or about half that for duplex, with 1200 dpi resolution. It uses UV cured inks, initially in CMYK for the demo press but with five and six colours planned in future. Curing is apparently by a cool UV array. Using UV-cured inks means that virtually any paper can be used, drying is instant and the print is very consistent between jobs and substrates, the company said. However, UV-cured inks inevitably cost more than the water-based inks favoured by most inkjet production printers to date. KM says it makes the inks too and has plans for white, clear and maybe metallic as well as process colours.
There are demonstrations throughout the show, four times per day, usually running two different jobs in quick succession without stopping between them.
Akiyoshi Ohno, the company’s president of inkjet systems, points out that Konica Minolta already makes its own print heads, which so far have primarily gone to third party manufacturers and integrators in large format and industrial applications. The new KM-1 sheetfed press, and Komori’s web fed inkjet at drupa, both use KM’s own heads. ‘My mission is not just selling key parts to printer manufacturers. I want to cause a revolution,’ says Mr Ohno. ‘Inkjet is really causing revolutions in every area where printing is used – industrial, commercial, textiles. Our inkjet head isn’t bought in, we make it. In my opinion it’s the best head in the world!’
Konica Minolta and Komori announced a partnership earlier this year. On Komori’s own stand is a prototype web fed press that uses Konica Minolta heads. Komori will also sell KM bizhub Press production toner printers as part of its own range.
A new flagship in the bizhub Press toner production press series was previewed on Konica Minolta’s stand, though it won’t reach users until next year. The bizhub PRO C1100 will fit above the current top C8000, offering faster speeds up to 100 A4 pages per minute on papers up to 350 g/m2. A third paper feed lets it hold up to 13,000 sheets at 90 g/m2. It features a digital workflow intended to accommodate last-minute changes, web to print job ordering, variable data and inline finishing. According to the company it doesn’t need extensive operator training to use.
Also announced are the bizhub Press 1052/1250 black and white production presses, aimed at commercial printers moving into high throughput digital work. Deliveries are due to start during July. The 2250P is a new high speed mono press for transactional output and data centres.
The company is aiming to move more into services in future. An early example is the announcement of its Digital 1234 business building programme. It’s also upgrading its software, with the Printgroove JT Web Suite 5. This comprises the JT Web 5 web to print system and JT Man 5 for print management. There’s also a new hosted web to print service, JT Web 5 GO, intended for small printers.
Contact: www.konicaminolta.co.uk
