The unstoppable rise in inkjet production has been spotlighted by Konica Minolta as it continues to help customers on their digital transformation across commercial and industrial printing markets.
Digital technology enables access to many features that customers in the commercial print, packaging and industrial sectors seek for profitable applications.
Within three years, Konica Minolta’s global market share of B2 inkjet system has tripled and now stands at 10%. Numbers are expected to continue upwards as inkjet continues to break new ground as a real growth engine for digital printing. Once reserved mostly for transactional applications, production inkjet has become a viable and advantageous solution for many high-value applications.
Konica Minolta’s award-winning series B2 UV inkjet sheetfed press enables high productivity inkjet printing to address a wider set of application needs, which is why it is referred to as the Swiss army knife of printing because it has so many uses. And it is helping customers to ignite more printing possibilities.
With close to 30 installations in Europe alone, Konica Minolta reports that its own customer base is increasing average page volumes every year significantly. Whether it is book printing, online production, packaging, direct marketing, commercial printing or being used as an offset alternative, the AccurioJET KM-1 series is demonstrating its versatility across multiple product lines. The press has also achieved INGEDE deinking accreditation for both uncoated and coated papers, which includes recycled qualities.
All these positives are reasons why, without exception, customers in Konica Minolta’s growing family of AccurioJET KM-1 series users are reporting significant jumps in average page volumes.
According to research from Keypoint Intelligence, when printers were asked what type of colour digital printing equipment they would be investing in for the future, inkjet was the clear favourite with inkjet cut-sheet systems as second most popular choice with 34% of the respondents.
Megatrends where inkjet will evolve to contribute ever-more sustainable solutions include smart packaging and recyclability on substrates such as metal, glass, flexibles, and rigid plastic. These were among the conclusions from a Smithers report, “The future of Digital Print for Packaging to 2026”. Konica Minolta’s own customers are also rethinking possibilities for the future. “The opportunities for AccurioJET KM-1e lie in the expansion of the packaging assortment, the production of further high-quality packaging as well as the acquisition of further assortments, such as folding boxes for the packaging sector,” said Manuel Elder, Vice President of Packaging at Hama Germany. “The ability to print on many different materials, for example stone paper and plastic, also offers possibilities for the future.”
As a technology leader with global coverage and offering local service, Konica Minolta is committed to working in partnership with customers to help them rethink possibilities to drive digital transformation and bring more print possibilities to life.
“Opportunity is everywhere. Working closely in partnership, we are helping customers to ignite print possibilities in a sustainable way through injecting new-found creativity in their continued digital transformation,” said Hidetoshi Omo, Head of Center of Competence, KM-1 at Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe “Our own customer experience is that inkjet is very much a growth market in which printers want to invest."
“However, for us it is not just about machine sales – we accompany our customers on their digital transformation journey and are always there when they need us. Thinking of service engineers as just one example, we are proud to have 45 dedicated KM-1 and KM-1e service engineers across 17 countries in Europe.”
