Konica Minolta is certainly no stranger to the wide-format market. After all, the manufacturer’s Japanese parent sold inkjet print heads to wide-format OEMs in the United States, Europe and Asia for more than 15 years. Konica Minolta has enjoyed a relationship with KIP America for many years, and in 2013, it partnered with EFI to break into the UV wide-format business. In fact, it took less than a year for Konica Minolta to be EFI’s top reseller in the market.
Allegra-St. Paul was the first recipient of the Konica Minolta AccurioWide 160 wide-format press
Indeed, Konica Minolta’s direct channel has also thrived in selling HP’s PageWide and DesignJet wide-format solutions. For all of its expertise with print heads and vast experience with wide-format solutions through reselling other OEM brands, the only thing Konica Minolta lacked was its own branded wide-format machine. And like a producer of automotive engines that longed to release its own line of automobiles, Konica Minolta wanted to put its own nameplate on a wide-format unit.
Mission accomplished.
By the same token, there was no master plan for Advanced Imaging Solutions (AIS) of Minnetonka, MN, to become the first business worldwide to sell the Konica Minolta AccurioWide 160 UV inkjet wide-format printer. In fact, AIS didn’t realize until after Allegra Marketing · Print · Mail – St. Paul had signed off on acquiring the 2,500-pound, 12-foot long machine that it was the first one released worldwide. Since then, Konica Minolta has placed, or is in the process of installing, several more AccurioWide’s through its direct partners.
Dino Pagliarello,
Konica Minolta
The AccurioWide is one leg in the stool of Konica Minolta’s latest line that includes the AccurioLabel for label devices and AccurioPress for toner-based cutsheet units. According to Dino Pagliarello, vice president, Product Management and Planning at Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., the timing was perfect for the OEM to make its foray into wide-format on a solo basis.
“One of things we discovered is that we have the appropriate mix in terms of salespeople, understanding the technology and leads from a customer perspective to really offer our customers and Konica Minolta an opportunity in this space,” he said. “About a year ago, we had our first conversation with our parent company, which makes UV wide-format inkjet print heads, and we discussed the potential of working with an OEM partner to build out this engine into a new platform to have our own branded wide-format products. So it was an evolutionary thing.”
Whenever you bring a new product line to a larger company like Konica Minolta, it’s a pretty big feat to get it off the ground and market it to the world.
Dino Pagliarello, Konica Minolta
Right Place, Right Time
Fate may have played a role in the printing franchise obtaining the first AccurioWide, but AIS Director of Solutions Stephanie Keating Phillips credits the printer’s hunger for technology and innovation, along with the strong relationships between dealer, manufacturer and customer, as being critical to the historic installation.
John Atkinson,
Allegra
John Atkinson, owner of Allegra-St. Paul, had reached out to Phillips for consultation on another machine being offered by a different manufacturer. At the time, Phillips was in California for a Konica Minolta dealer summit, and was well aware of the AccurioWide 160’s pending release. An October conversation turned into a November purchase, resulting in a December installation.
Our new printer from AIS will help us better meet the needs of customers for wide-format products such as banners, decals and posters as well as wall, window and vehicle graphics.
John Atkinson, Allegra
Despite preparing for unknowns and challenges, there were no hiccups.
Stephanie Keating Phillps,
Advanced Imaging Solutions
“It was the strong partnership between the three of us—AIS, Konica Minolta and Allegra—that made everyone feel comfortable with this decision, that it was the right move,” Phillips said. “We knew there would be learning curves and it wouldn’t be a perfect first installation. We thought it would take a week to install, but it took only four days. We thought it would take a week to train, but it only took three and a half days. It’s amazing, considering we had no one to call for advice on this type of installation, since it was the first. It was a case of good timing and a good partnership.”
It was the strong partnership between the three of us—AIS, Konica Minolta and Allegra—that made everyone feel comfortable with this decision, that it was the right move.
Stephanie Keating Phillps, Advanced Imaging Solutions
Pagliarello noted the machine made its debut during PRINT 18 last September, and it became available for purchase during the SGIA show a few weeks later. It was the first time Konica Minolta had set up at SGIA, and despite having a booth in the rear of the facility, the foot traffic was phenomenal.
“We know that it is best-in-class, solid technology, and it’s going to be the best technology out there,” Pagliarello maintained. “We absolutely know it has some of the best image technology in the industry in its category. So we have a lot of confidence in the technology and its capabilities, even in the first (generation). People always say not to buy the first model of a car line. In this case, it’s perfectly safe to do that because of the history behind the technology and the partners that we have.”
High-End Quality and Productivity
The new AccurioWide 160 employs UV (ultraviolet) ink technology enables more color pigment per droplet while reducing ink consumption when compared to other printers, achieving vibrant colors. Combining UV and LED (light-emitting diode) curing lamps, the new printer also speeds ink-drying times to offer print-production savings.
“Our new printer from AIS will help us better meet the needs of customers for wide-format products such as banners, decals and posters as well as wall, window and vehicle graphics,” Atkinson, owner of Allegra–St. Paul, said in a release.
While traditional printers work well on relatively narrow sheets of paper, wide-format units can print in widths up to 100 inches to enable larger applications. In addition, users of the technology can print on fabric, foam board, metal, vinyl, wallpaper and wood, as well as paper and other materials.
Bringing the machine to the client proved a fascinating learning experience for AIS. Typical installations have called for units to arrive in pieces, then be assembled on the customer’s floor. The AccurioWide 160 came as a single unit, prompting AIS to hire a rigging company to deliver, and requiring permits and the temporary closure of local streets.
Under the Hood
The AccurioWide features six different operating modes for speed and resolution (up to 1,440 dpi) that can cater to the needs of the application, which is generally dictated by the viewing distance of the print. There is less ink laydown on faster speeds without sacrificing image quality. That makes it more economical when printing posters or large-format displays. For items being viewed at closer proximity, operators can go with higher resolution to bring out detail.
For ink options, the machine configuration offers either a CMYK plus white or six-color combination with CMYK plus light cyan or light magenta. The print heads have a 12-picoliter drop size for color and a 30-picoliter drop size for white.
The Konica Minolta print-head technology is the secret sauce, particularly its UV wide-format inkjet heads. Pagliarello notes the OEM can incorporate it with all the other technologies Konica Minolta owns, giving its overall portfolio a point of differentiation. The AccurioWide Director’s Software, which comes with the unit, boasts an open-architecture workflow that can plug into the end user’s current workflow.
Unlimited Applications
While AIS has an extensive background in selling floor-model wide-format machines from KIP and EFI, dealing with an industrial machine that has rigid and roll-to-roll capabilities proved a unique experience. However, given the staggering amount of applications this machine can provide—including signage, car wraps and building wraps—the machine can’t really be described as a niche solution.
Phillips notes the AccurioPress can print on wood, vinyl and fabric, and she was amazed at the possibilities when she viewed the sample packet sent by Konica Minolta. As it has roll-to-roll capabilities, it fits in nicely with the commercial printing crowd. And its one-off job potential as a hybrid comes without the associated mess for the prepress crew. During a training session held by Konica Minolta, technicians visited the local Walmart, where they purchased picture frames and removed the glass. The techs then printed photos of their families on the glass and put them back in the frames. The image quality, according to Phillips, was better than a traditional photo.
A user’s imagination, in many aspects, is the only limitation in wide-format output. There are many examples of print providers using ingenuity to land an opportunity. One Midwestern commercial printer hooked up with a small city government that was in the process of doing extensive building renovations, which brought unsightly scaffolding and safety fencing to the landscape. The printer used the works of a local artist to produce prints, so to speak, that completely covered the exterior of the safety fencing. The artwork turned a public blight into a visually appealing landscape.
One question dealers might be pondering is how this type of wide-format production could be factored into an MPS formula. Phillips said that AIS has been contemplating what that might look like, but at this juncture, there isn’t enough data on consumables and thresholds yet to work it into a contractual scenario. AIS will be tracking the information to garner more insight for a possible MPS configuration. At Konica Minolta, the prospects of wide-format being put into an MPS framework is being studied.
Regardless of MPS consideration, Phillips sees wide-format UV inkjet printing as having the potential to be a significant growth catalyst. “We know the production world well,” she said. “This is something different than anything in our market space, so we know we have a couple year’s head start on something new, cool and innovative.
“Our goal is to make technology as simple as we possibly can and grow within the infrastructure of our partners. We’re going to go back to our base and make sure we get as deep and as involved with them as we possibly can. With that 45 percent of our clientele that is in production right now, being able to offer them something of this magnitude will drive more revenue growth in the production side of the business for us.”
Spreading the Word
Konica Minolta is currently in the process of developing a full-blown marketing program (slated for April) to extol the virtues of the AccurioWide. Next month, the OEM will hold an international dealer meeting, where it will bring to light more granular details about the technology, how it can benefit partners by adding another tool to their product arsenal.
“We’re very excited about growing this out,” Pagliarello said. “Whenever you bring a new product line to a larger company like Konica Minolta, it’s a pretty big feat to get it off the ground and market it to the world. We couldn’t be prouder about it.”
As AIS is heavy in production print, which accounts for 45 percent of its client base, Phillips is confident of the dealer’s ability to market the machine to commercial and franchise printers, in-plants, sign shops and other bases.
“Looking at our internal customer portfolio, we have an opportunity for placement in a large percentage of our clientele,” she said. “Plus, looking at the market, we can go after sign shops that maybe we didn’t call on because we lacked the ability to sell into that market space. We have commercial and in-plant customers we call on for workgroup-type devices or light-production devices. Now we ask them about their wide-format needs.
“Most people I’ve spoken with are currently outsourcing their wide-format needs. We’re going provide them with a cost analysis and cut down that outsourcing to bring it in-house, where they can print something on-demand. It’s very exciting for us. We’re doing a full-court press with this offering.”
