Masters (out of 15 in the world), showcasing its dedication to world-class support.
Konica Minolta’s products, for both black and white and colour printing, have won a number of independent awards and have set new benchmarks; but beyond hardware several software products help customers with workflow management, web-2-print, Variable Data Printing (VDP) and colour management.
According to Leon Minnie, these applications help customers to increase profit, and create new ways in which business is done.
‘Looking at the future of digital production printing, we will definitely be continuing our success – growing and adapting with market trends,’ he continues. ‘Digital production printing is quickly entering fields that were once occupied by offset printing. Running costs for digital printing are often lower than offset printing; it’s also more suitable for printing a variety of materials, meeting tight deadlines and demands for short runs. In addition, digital handles tasks that aren’t possible with offset printing, such as VDP, enhanced value-added print media, and a speedy one-stop service.’
Award-winning image quality
In terms of superior colour production, the bizhub PRESS C8000, winner of a coveted Bertl award, is designed for superlative image quality, outstanding image consistency, high productivity and versatile media handling. The bizhub PRESS C6000/C7000 also provides robust colour printing and comprehensive performance, available in 40 different system configurations. Providing up to 7 500 pages input and up to 13 600 pages output capacity, it can process a wide range of substrates, including media stock of coated paper, card or digital offset up to 300g/m2.
To satisfy the diverse requirements of the professional printing environments, the bizhub PRESS C7000/C6000 can be equipped with three different controllers that guarantee fast and smooth colour job processing.
Another Bertl’s Best and EDP Award winner is the bizhub PRO C70hc, which uses revolutionary High Chroma toner for unmatched excellence in colour production printing. It’s the first of its kind in the world, according to Konica Minolta. An unprecedented colour gamut and exceptionally bright colour saturation are just two features offered by the system, making it an ideal solution for photo book applications.
The bizhub range of equipment also offers top quality in black and white production.
The bizhub PRO B1051, with a speed of 105 pages/min and a maximum monthly volume of up to two million prints, and the bizhub PRO B1200, with a maximum monthly volume of up to three million prints, incorporate a wealth of pioneering technologies, such as the LED printer head and 1 200dpi resolution, and are equipped with a new high-performance controller. Both achieve inimitable image quality and impressively underline Konica Minolta’s competence in the high-volume and production printing market.
An effective, robust digital press that can be customised to suit specialist printing requirement is the bizhub PRO 950. Its flexible, modular system is ideal for high volume printing environments, CRDs and digital print services. With the ability to connect in tandem to another B950, it gives a productivity speed of 190 pages/min without any additional cost; a work horse that won’t stop!
Software solutions for production
With its Printgroove POD software suite, Konica Minolta promises a comprehensive yet flexible concept for efficient, controlled print production. The Printgroove POD optimises workflows, streamlines production processes, and increases overall productivity of CRDs, printing services and digital commercial printers.
‘The Printgroove POD protects margins, ensures round-the-clock availability and enables print providers to offer 24/7 web-2-print services that are essential to remain competitive these days,’ explains Leon. For a mid- to high-volume print-on-demand environment, the EFI MicroPress – a raster-based production workflow – brings it all together by optimising the entire print production system, especially when producing complex, short-run, colour and black and white documents. It’s easy to use and automates the entire workflow and comes with an industry-leading architecture and production boosting feature.
Achieving accurate and repeatable colour reproduction, especially across multiple presses, or trying to match offset printing, Konica Minolta has developed Oris Press Matcher/Web, which calibrates digital presses to maintain a consistent print quality across the fleet.
In addition, the PrintShop Mail Suite, a stand-alone easy-to-use VDP composition tool, optimises the production process by minimising set-up time and maximising printing speed. With PrintShop Mail Suite, merging any design with any database and printing on any printer is achieved from anywhere around the world with PrintShop Mail Web as a central production server.
PlanetPress Suite is a professional software solution allowing organisations to maintain and grow a customer base by adding value to business documents and distributing them in formats that best suit recipient preferences. Its ease of use, affordability and open architecture makes it ideal for quick and easy production and distribution of business documents with relevant content.
Lastly, the Fiery Graphic Arts Package gives professional tools for managing colour, proofing and controlling workflow. The integrated solution meets industry standards and gives accurate and repeatable colour every time.
‘Put simply, whatever the production print requirement, Konica Minolta South Africa ís able to assist,’ concludes Leon Minnie.
Konica Minolta South Africa
T +27 011 6619000