Konica Minolta Announces Entrance into New Markets by Portfolio Expansion at Ipex

LONDON—March 25, 2014—Konica Minolta has announced at Ipex 2014 its further reach into new markets by portfolio expansion, as it continues to build business opportunities for the commercial printing sector.

At Ipex in London’s ExCel from March 24-29, Konica Minolta is showing how it is exploiting digital short-run packaging markets with demonstrations of its KM-1 B2+ UV inkjet color press for digital short-run production. It will enable commercial printers to expand their print applications with larger sheet sizes for three-panel and four-panel brochures, pocket folders, posters, point-of-purchase graphics, dust jackets, wrap-around book covers and even light packaging applications at the speed of up to 3,300 sheets per hour. The KM-1 is the ideal solution for fast turnaround, high quality and reliable color printing.

Konica Minolta continues to strengthen its position in Production Printing as number one in the mid-production color print systems. At its press conference at Ipex 2014 the company stated that it also wants to become the number one in that segment in terms of print volume. At the show, Konica Minolta gives insights regarding its strategy to move forward. Current infoSource figures for fiscal year 2013 show that Konica Minolta has further strengthened its number one position in the European Production Printing market. In Western Europe the company has achieved a market share of 54 percent (MIF) and its position in the Eastern European market is even more impressive: With a market share of 65 percent (MIF), Konica Minolta is the obvious market leader.

In another technology showcase, the company is demonstrating roll-to-roll label printing at up to 18m/min with its Konica Minolta bizhub PRESS C70RLC.

Building on the cooperation after acquiring a 10 percent stake in MGI Digital Graphic Technology (MGI), Konica Minolta is running on its stand an MGI product to provide value-added jet varnishing. The special product—adding 3-D or traditional flat spot UV coating using inkjet heads—can be used for offset or digital printed material on traditional paper and even on broader substrates such as plastics, banners and envelopes.

On Konica Minolta’s stand (N1 C130) will be software covering workflow connectivity and automation, Web-to-print, color management, as well as 12 running systems. These will include for the first time at Ipex the bizhub PRESS C1100, the new color flagship with a speed of 100 pages-per-minute targeting the commercial print, print-for-pay and central CRD markets, and due for launch later in 2014.

Throughout Ipex, Konica Minolta has industry experts on its stand as part of its commitment to show visitors how they can have clear growth path using value-added services and digital solutions via a multitude of workflows, applications, and products.

At the press conference, Olaf Lorenz, general manager, International Marketing Division, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe GmbH, said: “The “classical” digital business from commercial and industrial printers is moving from analogue to digital—with numerous opportunities from which additional business can be generated. While the offset market still covers 107 billion Euro of revenue, digital only covers 7.7 billion Euro. Digital color print is set to experience a compound annual growth rate of about four per cent until 2017. With this knowledge, Konica Minolta decided to expand its reach into new markets and increase its product portfolio, as we are committed to the printing industry and convinced it has a bright future.”

About Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe
Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe GmbH, based in Langenhagen, Germany, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Konica Minolta, Tokyo, Japan, forming part of its Business Technologies business area. The company delivers services and distributes systems and solutions that fulfill all the requirements of the entire document life cycle for clients in the office and production printing area. Konica´s Optimized Print Services (OPS) concept combines consultancy, hardware, software implementation, and service operation in order to enhance business process efficiency and cost effectiveness. Its product range extends from color and monochrome multifunctional and production printing systems, to laser printers and all-in-ones, and to management software that integrates devices seamlessly into work processes and IT environments. To support customers optimally with powerful and sustainable solutions, technology leader Konica Minolta continuously invests in research and development work and regularly sets new standards.

Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe is represented by subsidiaries and distributors in more than 50 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). With over 30,600 employees around the world (as of June 2012), Konica Minolta Business Technologies earned net sales of over EUR 5.0 billion in financial year 2011/12.

Source: Konica Minolta.