One of the elements of the Konica Minolta dealer conference, held in Newport Beach, CA, from March 4-6, was the solid array of products manufactured by the OEM and some offerings displayed in tandem with technology partners. We’ve selected a half-dozen points throughout the expo to provide our readers with a general overview of the wares that nearly 700 attendees had the opportunity to browse.
iSeries of MFPs
The C4000i and C4050i MFPs
The new line of iSeries A3 and A4 Bizhub units are in the process of being rolled out later this year. These replace the C258, C308 and C368. According to Cody Watson, sales consultant, the new line’s strength is its increased processing speed and the availability of MarketPlace on all the new units. Users can access MarketPlace to browse, purchase and download apps for the MFP.
“MarketPlace allows (the iSeries) to tie into an ecosystem that powers everything from the Workplace Hub over to any one of our iSeries devices, whether A3 or A4 product,” Watson said. “MarketPlace will allow us to do fleet management, asset management and give us an e-commerce site to then distribute applications to the end user through a dealer channel.
“We’re looking forward as to what the Workplace Hub can be in the overall environment. That has to do with increasing processing, simplifying the display, and tying that to the MarketPlace ecosystem hub, to where everything can be managed from one central location.”
AccurioWide 160 UV Wide-Format
Our January issue detailed the lightning-quick yet successful journey that saw Advanced Imaging Solutions of Minnetonka, MN, complete the first sale of the Konica Minolta AccurioWide 160 UV wide-format printer to Allegra Marketing · Print · Mail – St. Paul. Certainly, production print is not on every dealer’s radar, but Todd Smith—manager, product marketing for Specialty & Wide Format Products—is thrilled to have the Konica Minolta nameplate on the unit after years of supplying print heads to other manufacturers.
“The opening for dealers is to find new market opportunities where they weren’t going before, whether it’s a sign display house or a franchise printer that’s wanting to build up their production and move to a flatbed platform,” Smith said. “The market forecasting trends indicate this particular category of product is growing, and that’s because of the technology and what you’re able to do with it.”
Konica Minolta’s Dino Pagliarello details the AccurioWide 160 UV wide-format printer
The hybrid machine opens the doors to a wide array of substrates beyond coated and uncoated papers, such as foam core, glass and even wood. Floor mats, doors…if it can fit on the printer, the AccurioWide can make it happen.
“You’ve got to understand ink and how it adheres to substrates, so naturally there’s a learning curve,” Smith added. “Our dealer partners would get technical training on the product and the analysts would get training on our workflow software. From a sales support structure, we have our wholesale support team, our dealer support staff that’s helping our dealers with wide-format opportunities. The corporate office is helping them by producing print samples. Once we get our customer engagement center online (in Ramsey, NJ), we’ll have a full demo facility that can bring our dealer partners in, along with their customers if they want to get a full demo at our corporate facility.”
AccurioLabel 190
Aimed at brand owners who want to bring labeling in-house, the 190 offers best-in-class quality at mid-level speeds. This next generation of the C71cf provides ease of use and color consistency, along with a low-duty cycle. Other benefits include lower obsolescence, improved inventory control and the ease to change for multiple SKUs. As Matthew Gindele observed, the 190 is “cheaper than your average bear and provides an absolutely better return on investment.”
PKG-675i
This inkjet corrugated box printer is an island unto itself, notes Ed Bokuniewicz, product marketing manager, as it really lacks a competitive model in its space. The PKG-675i can print up to 3/8” thickness and 47” in width, with virtually no restrictions on length. This sheetfed machine features 78,000 printhead nozzles, with 1600×1600 dpi resolution. Users have the ability to run pre-diecut material, both coated and uncoated, and is ideal for package printing providers who want to specialize in short-run, boutique-type work.
“You can personalize these boxes any way you want, so it really does have a strong value-add to bring that capability to the market space,” he said.
OneRate Program
Wes McArtor, BEI Services
Wes McArtor, president of BEI Services, has been working on a subscription-based imaging-device-as-a-service (iDaaS) model for nearly a year. He believes a flat-rate model like the OneRate program allows dealers to insulate themselves from declining print, improves the customer experience and enables dealers to make more money, particularly in the early stages.
“As the rate starts to the bottom and everybody’s doing it, it’s inevitable that (meter-less billing) will happen, but the early adopters will make a lot more money under the OneRate-style program of no-meter billing,” McArtor said. “Plus, it reduces the cost of doing business. I can reduce my headcount in accounting, I don’t need to do all the meter-acquisition reconciliation—rebilling, re-invoicing. All of those things can start to go away as a function of no-meter billing.”
So what is the pushback McArtor is hearing from dealers? It’s the notion that clients who are not being billed per click will either increase their toner usage or their print volume. But with volumes decreasing virtually across the board (with the exception of production printing), combined with rules-based printing and other document management solutions tools designed to drive down printing, McArtor believes the fears are unfounded.
“It seems ludicrous to me that we’re in a situation where we bill per click and that’s our primary revenue profit source, then we teach them how to print less,” McArtor said. “It should be the other way around. We should put them on a flat-rate program, teach them how to print less, and then we increase our profit margin. But the biggest fear is that customer volumes will go crazy. In reality, we can audit that and show (dealers) that it’s not the case.”
With Konica Minolta getting behind the movement, McArtor is optimistic that flat-rate billing will soon garner greater acceptance. “Dealers are dabbling in it, but nobody’s got a full-blown marketing program that goes out and sells it the way Konica Minolta is doing with OneRate,” he added. “We’re hoping to see that pick up momentum, and as dealers have to compete with each other in that program, we can grow our business that way.”
Intelligent Access
Facial recognition for Access Control
This facial recognition facility access tool ties into the WorkPlace Hub but can also be used with other servers and different camera systems. Applications are the beauty of this platform. Cat Abad, project and product manager, notes that it comes in handy for “elopement control” at assisted living facilities, to help corral residents with happy feet to ensure they are not walking outside of designated zones by not allowing door access. Casinos also find it handy for tracking down players who have been blacklisted but may have slipped into the building.
Konica Minolta uses Intelligent Access at its Foster City, CA, offices. The system has a badge option and can work with key cards in addition to facial recognition.
