Konica Minolta Moves In On Digital Print Market

Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) has launched the Bizhub PRO 1050 production print system with a claimed maximum throughput of 6,300 impressions an hour (105 prints per minute).

Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) has launched the Bizhub PRO 1050 production print system with a claimed maximum throughput of 6,300 impressions an hour (105 prints per minute).

With the launch of the Bizhub PRO 1050, Konica Minolta said it is making a firm bid to be a key player in the commercial digital print sector.

It has been designed as a complete document production system with optional on-line print finishing units for six-way folding (half fold, gate fold, tri fold, Z fold, letter and double parallel folds), booklet making and post inserting.

Automatic trimming means that booklets 50 sheets thick are trimmed to size for a flush edge finish said the company.

The post inserter can be used for pre-printed covers or to insert sheets at regular intervals.

The Bizhub PRO 1050 staples and punches at the full rated speed of 6,300 impressions an hour so there is no loss of productivity for producing finished documents as against sheet production.

That allows data to be sent to the system and finished documents collected, with no plate making, no machine preparation and no after print clean up said Konica Minolta.

The system has a steel chassis to keep it stable and it can generate average monthly volumes of 300,000 to 500,000 A4 sheets and up to a maximum of 1.5 million added the company.

Output can be on to stock up to 300 grams for simplex print or 244 grams for perfecting print output.

Maximum paper size is up to A3+, allowing full size A3 documents with trim marks to be printed and A4 booklets to be trimmed to size.

The accuracy of the output can be judged by the 0.5mm registration tolerance for perfecting production.

The system's standard memory is 256Mb, expandable to a maximum capacity of 512Mb, with a 40Gb hard drive as standard.

Scanning resolution is 600 dots per inch (dpi) by 600dpi and printing resolution is 2,400dpi by 600dpi.

The Bizhub PRO 1050 uses Konica Minolta's Simitri polymerised toner.

Polymerised toner particles are claimed to be finer and more uniform in shape than conventional pulverised toner to produce images that are sharper with more definition on text reproduction and finer dot gradations for halftones.

The central production unit is supplied with two 1,500-paper drawers and a paper feed unit providing another three drawers each with a 2,000-sheet capacity.

Air assisted feeding rollers on each paper tray and a double feed detection mechanism ensures paper feed reliability.

Both paper and toner can be replenished 'on the fly' without the need to stop production on the system added the manbufacturer.

Load-balancing software provides print management that can ensure maximum productivity of several systems grouped in a work cluster.

Flexible automatic print job distribution is said to make the best use of all connected systems, so they all operate at optimum capacity with a balanced workload.

The Bizhub PRO 1050 can also be used with Konica Minolta's Total Document Management (TDM) range of software.

Job ticketing also allows print room staff to prioritise work and select the most appropriate machine for the task.

Jtman can automatically generate a job account file for billing and cost centre allocation, for instance.

Konica Minolta said it will negotiate contracts on a customer-by-customer basis, said John Howard, the head of marketing for Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK).

"At this level there is no point in offering a blanket 'one size fits all' approach to service.

Our service and support levels are excellent and we will supply guarantees in regard to up-time and service response based on the individual customer's needs." Howard added that the launch of the bizhub PRO 1050 is just the first in a series of systems aimed at the production print sector, with more launches scheduled during 2005.

"We see commercial print production as a key business sector and we are investing heavily to ensure that we achieve a significant market share.

We expect to be a significant player in the commercial digital print market before the end of the decade.".

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