Konica Minolta will show off new samples from its upcoming KM-1 B2 sheetfed digital printer at a show in London this month, as the commercial launch draws near.
The printer, which was first seen at drupa 2012 in concept, form will be officially launched at Igas in September this year, and will pitch directly against the HP Indigo 10000 and B2 sheetfed presses from Screen and Fujifilm.
Book covers printed on the latest iteration of the machine will be presented at the London Digital Printing Forum on June 25, and the company promises details of the commercial launch, and information on its capabilities and beta testing.
Mark Hinder, the manufacturer’s European head of market development, told ProPrint sister magazine PrintWeek that book printing will be a key market for the KM-1
“We are starting to identify key verticals within the graphic communications print industry as to where that product will sit and one of those will be in the book market for applications such as book jackets, which are more traditionally litho printed,” he says.
“The product is highly stable now, from a technology platform, and we’re working towards launching it into the marketplace.”
[Related: More B2 digital printers]
With a maximum sheet size of 750x585mm, the KM-1 will be able to print three book jackets per sheet. It will also be able to print onto a range of challenging substrates, such as very heavy, textured stock.
Hinder says the machine is designed to make printers money by taking costs out of their business and providing them with a digital platform to accommodate for the shift from mass production to short-run production.
“KM-1 as a platform is going to create a huge amount of opportunity for a lot of people but it’s about understanding what that opportunity is going to mean to them and turning it into physical cash,” he says.
“We want to show people, in an easy four-step approach, how you can take a product, target a key vertical, understand and profile those customers and develop the right application to go and make some cash.”
According to Konica Minolta, output speeds of 3300sph simplex and 1650sph duplex, as well as true 1200dpi resolution, will make the press suitable for high-speed commercial printing and for producing short print runs to tight deadlines and processing variable data.
The forum, organised by market and technology research firm Interquest, will focus on key trends in the book market, the evolution of book manufacturing and the supply chain and the use of digital printing to produce books.
Comment below to have your say on this story.
If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.
Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter