Above: Owners of BPI Media Group with their newly installed Konica Minolta AccurioJet KM-1e LED UV Inkjet Press. Left to right, Steve Davis, vice president, and Alan Davis, president.
Konica Minolta announced the installation of its AccurioJet KM-1e LED UV Inkjet Press at BPI Media Group (BPI). The family-run commercial printer out of Boaz, Alabama utilizes wide format, digital, offset and digital roll capabilities to provide POP signage, mailing services, online storefronts, design services, and more.
A new customer to Konica Minolta, BPI was seeking a B2 sheet size device with UV ink capabilities to run plastic substrates, and automatic duplexing was a must. The company knew it was time to go inkjet as their cost analysis found it would reduce costs, and it needed a good source for their run lengths coming down off its conventional offset presses.
After researching inkjet printers for two years, the BPI team finally narrowed it down to Konica Minolta’s AccurioJet KM-1e LED UV Inkjet digital press, in large part due to its B2 format. BPI stated it was extremely impressed during the product demonstration. It liked the way the KM-1e press was built, the UV ink and the ability to pull jobs off its offset as well as wide format devices. This could not be accomplished with others machines the company evaluated.
Another large part of BPI’s business is offering online portals that reduce costs and help control all aspects of marketing materials, so the company needed something that could align with all the required automations. The imposition and finishing automation software offered by Konica Minolta put it even further ahead in the running. BPI’s automation team felt very confident about the solution’s ability to support its need to feed really fast.
“Not pulling plates saves us so much time. Our storefront normally has a 72-hour turnaround, but eliminating the front end with automation significantly speeds that time up,” said Alan Davis, president, BPI Media Group. “Having a fast set-up and keeping the machine fed with quick-turn work is crucial – the front end system is even more important than the actual device – and the automation offered by the AccurioJet KM-1e fits in with our business perfectly. We are also very pleased with the color prints we are getting off the machine, and feel the quality is comparable if not better in some cases to offset.”
Additionally, BPI can now take on work that calls for the use of variable data, and recently picked up a new customer after installing the AccurioJet KM-1e. The project required eight different 19”x25” posters that needed to be collated into 500 sets. With the KM-1e’s ability to run collated sets, once a job is printed it only needs separated, something that would have been very difficult to accomplish with offset.
“Our industry is changing, particularly with digital inkjet,” added Davis, who was born and raised in the offset printing business. “These are extremely exciting times with technology, and if you embrace it there is so much you can do. With the AccurioJet KM-1e we already have a brand new account so soon after installation, which indicates the great potential we have to grow our clientele and revenue.”
“We are very excited to partner with the leadership team of BPI Media Group. Using our technology to help bring in new business for clients is always an amazing feeling, and we are pleased to be able to provide printers with the expanded substrate flexibility, outstanding image quality and fast turnaround they need to be competitive,” said Bill Troxil, president, Industrial Print and Production Print Business, Konica Minolta. “The opportunities the AccurioJet KM-1e high-speed press opens up for businesses like BPI Media Group are boundless. The sky is truly the limit for gaining new clients, producing new projects and increasing revenue.”
About Konica Minolta
Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc.’s (Konica Minolta) journey started 150 years ago, with a vision to see and do things differently. The company innovates for the good of society and the world. The same purpose that kept it moving then, keeps it moving now. Konica Minolta aims to partner with clients to Give Shape to Ideas by supporting their digital transformation through its expansive Intelligent Connected Workplace portfolio. Its business technology offerings include IT Services, intelligent information management, video security solutions and managed print services, as well as office technology and industrial and commercial print solutions. Through its ongoing work, the company is fortunate to be continuously recognized for its products and services. This includes, but is not limited to being included on CRN’s MSP 500 list numerous times; named a finalist in the IT Software Category by The World Technology Awards; recognized as the #1 Brand for Customer Loyalty in the MFP Office Copier Market by Brand Keys and presented with Keypoint Intelligence’s BLI 2021 A3 Line of The Year and BLI 2021-2023 Most Color Consistent A3 Brand Awards for its bizhub i-Series.
