Konica Minolta's Third Toner Production Plant

In response to the increased demand for Simitri polymerised toner, Konica Minolta has announced the construction of a third polymerised toner production plant. The new plant will be built in Japan.

In response to the increased demand for Simitri polymerised toner, Konica Minolta has announced the construction of a third polymerised toner production plant.

The new plant will be built in Japan.

Its construction was due to start last month, with completion scheduled for September 2006.

Production of toner at the plant will commence in December 2006.

The factory will occupy a site of 45,500 square meters and represents an investment of about 7.5 billion Yen (including land, building and equipment).

An annual production capacity of about 7,000 tons will be generated from the new plant, increasing Konica Minolta's annual production of polymerised toner from 8,000 tons (combined production capacities of the first and second plants planned for 2005) to about 15,000 tons.

The new third plant will be a production base for Simitri colour polymerised toner to meet the demands of the fast-growing colour printing market, as well as for black Simitri.

"The construction of the third Simitri polymerised toner plant is another step in our strategy to become the number one in colour, number one in customer satisfaction and the overall value leader in the industry.

The new plant will allow us to continue to meet the market demand and enable Konica Minolta to become the total cost of ownership leader in the marketplace, bringing great value to our end customers and strategic partners," said Shoei Yamana, executive director and general manager of MFP sales and marketing worldwide for Konica Minolta.

John Howard, head of marketing for Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK), added: "Our award-winning Bizhub and Bizhub Pro products utilise Simitri polymerised toner, providing us with an advantage over competiting products that use conventional pulverised toner.

With our continuing emphasis on the development of new colour Bizhub and Bizhub Pro products, such as the Bizhub C450 and the Bizhub Pro C500 and the need to meet the demands of the growing colour printer and MFP market, a further increase in the production of polymerised toner is required.

Accordingly, we have announced the opening of a third plant to meet this urgent need to expand production capacity." Konica Minolta's Simitri polymerised toner is a high-end product manufactured using the company's patented proprietary method and incorporates four of Konica Minolta's core technologies - imaging, optical and material technologies, as well as nano-fabrication.

Simitri polymerised toner is characterised by fine, uniformly sized particles produced using a different method than conventional pulverized toner said Konica Minolta.

the black Simitri toner is suitable for its monochrome and colour MFPs due to its image density, which has a higher level of resin particles.

Compared to conventional toner, Simitri is claimed by the company to provide an improvement in image quality, a higher toner yield and a cost reduction at the production level.

Konica Minolta employs its own method to produce Simitri.

Resin particles of 100 nanometres (1/10,000 of a millimetre) are synthesised through the emulsion polymerisation method and then the particles are chemically, finely and slowly coagulated and fused with a colouring agent.

Characteristically, the method allows for the production of small toner particles of three to seven microns and of uniform size and shape, unlike the suspension polymerisation and rapid coagulation polymerisation methods used by competitors, said the company.

The particles formed by Konica Minolta's polymerisation method are also said to excel in colourant and wax dispersion and can produce high quality images comparable to offset-printed images.

In addition, Simitri, with its low fusing temperature, is claimed to be very environmentally friendly, delivering high energy-saving and emission-reducing effects.

During the Simitri production process, the emission of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and sulphur oxide is reduced by approximately 40 per cent compared to the production of conventional pulverised toner, added Konica Minolta.

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