First the big news. Ashok Sethi, executive general manager-sales, production and industrial print, Konica Minolta, said, “The digital print production in the Indian market is booming. KM predicts the market size to notch up more than 2,500 numbers for the current financial year.”

Manish Gupta, general manager-PP & IP marketing, Konica Minolta India, said, “Last 24 months, KM has witnessed a solid trajectory of growth with digital. Understanding the potential of digital, the industry is witnessing a high demand for short-run and variable data printing jobs.”

At the photo fair, Konica Minolta launched the fifth version of its previous high chroma AccurioPress C73hc: the AccurioPress 84hc/74hc. The new model offers better print quality with a high-resolution printing capability of 2,400 x 3,600-dpi. And, the booth showcased both these digital print presses along with its flagship tool in the labels segment, AccurioPress C12000.

Manish Gupta said, “We are showcasing the AccurioPress 84hc/74hc that can empower photo lab owners and photographers." The new launch enables stability and consistency in print with an extended colour gamut, thanks to high chroma toners which help to achieve bright pink and bright magenta shades. The new launch is priced around Rs 25-lakh, which is economical and easy to use. The company confirmed multiple orders at the time of the interaction. "KM has the largest customer base in India in digital production among the photo labs for photobook printing using electrophotographic process. AccurioPress C84HC/C74HC comes with one of the best TCOs for customers in the photobook printing business and our customers can expect to run a successful and growing business."

The AccurioPress C84hc/74hc supports duplex printing on banners up to 34.02-inches, including thick paper handling weights of up to 360-gsm. The new model comes with 16GB RAM and an additional controller for faster processing of printing jobs. The users can process the jobs much faster.

As per Gupta and Sethi, Konica Minolta’s success has been because of digital printing for short-run jobs, the promotion of growth for small print businesses with entrepreneurial skill sets and accelerating opportunities for print across the country.

Gupta said, “Opportunity is huge in the labels segment. Converters are transitioning to digital for the smaller runs.” When asked if the pace was comparable to developed print economies, Gupta said, “ In India, the digital label revolution is transpiring at a slow pace owing to factors such as cost of conversion and the traditional mindset of a few players to integrate digital into their ops.”

“However, there is a shift in the level of understanding or maturity of business. Some label printers worldwide are expanding marketing services, besides leveraging data management and customisation via online platforms. This growth can be promoted by educating print buyers about how to monetise their labels,” added Gupta.

Promoting Konica Minolta’s 150-year legacy, Gupta highlighted KM’s initiative - Print Xpress. The motto is to meet the unmet needs of the customers customers and showcase new business possibilities in the digital production printing space. The campaign is witnessing growth in tier-three and -four cities. KM reached out to 157 cities last year and expects to cover around 96 cities this year.

Gupta pointed out: At the back end, we have a team which does route mapping of the cities. This involves ground-up information about the printers across various cities via social media, collecting data from them including digital plus traditional print kits that they possess.

When asked what KM will exhibit at Pamex (6 to 9 February), Gupta said, “KM will mark its presence with a digital print application zone to provide an experience of digital printing and digital embellishment equipment. Also, the stall will showcase the latest machine AccurioLabel 400 and AccurioShine 3600 plus print samples including embellishment products."

"We shall also have leading products in the digital production printing AccurioPress range of products for colour and mono. In addition, KM will demonstrate workflow and automation solutions like AccurioPro Flux, Accurio Pro Color Manager and IQ-501 to customers to automate and improve productivity in their print environment.,” added Gupta.