Konica Minolta launched its strongly anticipated B2 inkjet sheetfed press at PacPrint, with Minuteman Press franchisees Simon Crabtreee and Melinda Shilland stepping up to sign for the first one in Australia for their Jossimo company.
Crabtree and Shilland own three Minuteman stores in Melbourne, and say they will use the AccurioJet KM-1 as the core production unit at a new central print hub they are creating to serve the stores.
Crabtree says, “The quality is at an offset level, it prints on offset stocks with no pre-coat or post-coat, and has robust engineering. Our clients are demanding this level of quality, this enables us to meet that requirement, but without having to use offset presses.
“The speed and productivity of the KM-1 are impressive but it is the quality that we went for, it is at another level and will be warmly welcomed by our growing client base.”
[Related: Minuteman tops B2B franchises list]
The KM-1 Accuriojet uses Komori feed, paper transport and delivery, with Konica Minolta inkjet print heads. It prints on offset stocks at 1200x1200dpi in single sided or perfecting mode at 2700sph. There are no plates, no makeready, and it can print variable data.
Mark Brown, newly installed as product marketing manager says, “It will be an offset replacement machine. Run lengths are coming down all the time, most work is now short run, and all work is wanted virtually immediately, the KM-1 delivers on all these points. No plates and no makeready make life easy for printers.
Crabtree and Shilland will create a central production hub with most printing equipment for their three stores in the new hub. The KM-1 is due to go into the hub at the end of next month.
Crabtree says, “We got the idea of a central hub for a Minuteman franchisee in the US who has six stores, all served by one hub he has created. It is efficient and will work for us, and will mean we can service our clients to a level that exceeds their expectations.
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