Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (KMBS) continues to make moves in confirming its interest in becoming a major supplier for industrial/production print. Their first step was to renovate the Client Engagement Center (CEC) in Ramsey, New Jersey, and load it up with $8 million worth of related equipment.
The Konica Minolta Industrial/Production Print (IPP) Group hosted a meeting last week that included industry press, dealers, and existing customers. Sam Errigo, CEO of KMBS, welcomed attendees and set the tone by emphasizing the importance of the CEC VIP demo event. His comments made it clear that KM has made a substantial commitment to this space, and the agenda that followed was ample evidence to support his statement.
The program was led off by Frank Mallozzi, IPP president. They picked by far one of the best executives to form a team and lead them to enormous success in this especially important growth opportunity that this area represents.
Two Franks: Cannata and Mallozzi
The investments made to improve the CEC to accommodate all that Konica Minolta has coming were already a good example of where the future lies for dealers in the near future. At least for those who have embraced production print.
Mallozzi has spent two years building an organization that understands this part of the print world. In our conversation, he has stated the importance of engaging a staff of subject matter experts (SMEs) who know the world of industrial production printers.
He is repeating what he learned two decades ago as vice president of global sales for EFI’s VUTEk line, which was inkjet large format (able to print on anything up to two inches thick).
Mallozzi introduced Marco Boer, president of IT Strategies, for a primer on industrial production printing. We know Boers, and he was a particularly excellent choice to begin educating us on the most important facets of the business.
This was followed by a panel discussion of two phenomenally successful commercial printers, who gave us a particularly good understanding of the business environment for those who are currently selling industrial production printers.
Marco Boer of I.T. Strategies (at left) talks with commercial print firm owners Greg Fox, Fox Press (Louisiana), and Natalie Neyenesch, Neyenesch Printers (San Diego).
The formal program lasted for about 90 minutes. Aside from lunch, we were given four product demonstrations that explained the capabilities of the devices, led by those for labeling applications. It was a six-hour learning experience on topics about which we did not possess deep knowledge.
In a private discussion with Mallozzi, he made it clear that building a well-educated team of experts in industrial production printing was essential to achieving the degree of success that KM was anticipating. After two years, he said, they are ready to go.
Jason Dizzine (from left), Frank Mallozzi, CJ Cannata, and Sam Errigo at Konica Minolta’s CEC in New Jersey.
On a personal note, we knew Mallozzi when he was selling the first Canon color copier, the CPC-1, to dealers at the end of the 20th Century. He then went on to work for Ricoh and, from there, went to EFI where he enjoyed great success. He knows dealers!
He knows how important it is to have SMEs demonstrate the equipment. You can bet the ranch that Konica Minolta is going to succeed at selling these industrial printers. They are leading with a label printer application, and I hope that the dealers who are currently selling production printing latch on to these new products. Those who do will not regret it.
AccurioJet 30000 Press: Konica Minolta’s high-speed UV InkJet in B+ Format (29″)
We were given demonstrations on four assorted products. For our purposes, we believe we are featuring the most impressive of the four here. Why?
The AccurioJet 30000 model (pictured at top) caught our attention as it represents all that we were shown. KM has positioned it as “The latest, most innovative digital UV inkjet press. It offers a highly stable, color-accurate digital printing platform with a more advanced inkjet printing head design featuring Dot Freeze Technology.”
It is said to offer leading-edge versatility in processing offset substrates that transforms inkjet production and makes inkjet sheetfed printing a reality, and I believe many of us know what that means.
Embellished print: In addition to the AccurioJet 30000, we saw the MGI-inspired JETvarnish 3D Web 400 in action at the CEC. The versatile machine can die-cut, coat, varnish, and foil, all in one pass!
The presentation we witnessed was a revelation. Bear in mind that Konica Minolta has been in the textile printing business for a dozen years. We were convinced that textile was the vehicle to open their industrial printing effort in the United States.
Textile printing is coming to the U.S.
In October 2014, Konica Minolta acquired Verga IT, an Italian inkjet textile printer sales company based in Como, to accelerate its global industrial inkjet business. The acquisition established Konica Minolta IJ Textile in Italy to enhance sales and service for digital textile printing in Europe.
You can rest assured you will be seeing textile printers from KM in 2027. I was wrong about it being the “first,” but I am confident we finally got it right for next year.
What this meeting offered was a window on the future of print for dealers. Those of you who are already well into production print are equipped with sufficient awareness of Industrial printing and understand where we are going with this.
This is the ultimate in diversification for dealers in the world of print. We will follow this carefully and share with you the first time that a dealer places the Accuriojet 30000.
Production printing showcase: Konica Minolta Business Solutions, U.S.A.’s 18,500-square-foot Client Engagement Center features $8 million worth of equipment inventory.
