Konica Minolta has sold three units of its newest technology to customers in Sydney and Melbourne, the first Australian sale of each machine, and celebrated over two days of announcements at PacPrint.
From Melbourne, Jossimo Print purchased Konica Minolta's centrepiece KM-1 digital press while trade printer Whirlwind, also Melbourne-based bought the MGI JETvarnish 3D Evolution digital embellishing unit. Sydney's digital label printer, Foxcil, picked up the bizHUB C71cf digital label printer.
Anthony Lewis, general manager for specialised print at Konica Minolta, was delighted to have sold to two companies in his home town of Melbourne. "I'm exceptionally excited about the opportunity we've got, and the fact that we've been able to do it at PacPrint. I'm very excited to have sold to Melbourne printers, because I'm from Victoria. Obviously being in a national role, I'm happy to have it anywhere, but being born and bred in Melbourne, I'm very pleased that it's here in my home state.
"We're very proud of Konica Minolta globally for taking this step. We think it's a great opportunity globally for us, and really giving back to our industry," Lewis said.
Andrew Cester, managing director Whirlwind Print, said the JETvarnish 3D Evolution would help him bring more work in-house, and he's eager to see the machine installed. "It's been quite a journey over the past six months. I went to Japan and saw it in operation - now I can't wait to get it in and running," he said.
Cester said a big factor in his decision was the machine's improved registration - 175 points across the sheet, scanned by a camera, to help ensure consistency in output.
Jossimo Print director Simon Crabtree said the KM-1 would help realise Jossimo's ambition of having a centralised printing 'hub' for its three franchised stores. "There were lots of benefits to the KM-1 - sheet size, speed, thickness of media, but for us, the biggest driver was quality. There's a lot of companies out there that demand very, very high quality, offset quality, and we felt we would be able to provide that with this machine.
"We're hoping that this machine will open doors for us in terms of new customers, new markets, and help us to grow our business," Crabtree said. The KM-1 will be installed on June 28.
The first bizHUB C71cf toner-based digital label press in Australia was sold to Sydney-based Foxcil Print Group. Roger Kirwan, managing director said he chose the C71cf because he didn't want to 'go backwards in quality'. "I have a Xeikon machine already, and I needed extra capacity. I was really impressed with the small footprint of the C71cf, and I think the quality is as good as my existing machine," he said.