Konica Minolta gears up for growth in India

The digital press manufacturer – which recently reached the milestone of 250 digital label press sales globally – has had a presence in India for the past seven years, though only began selling its digital label press in the country at the beginning of 2018. 

According to Manish Gupta, deputy general manager, PP & IP Marketing Division, the company has gained a 50 percent share of the digital commercial print market in that time. ‘In the last seven years, we have installed 5,000 systems in India, of which 25-30 percent are dedicated to commercial printing. Fifty percent are systems for photocopying and office-use, and the remainder for the photo market. All this represents US$85 million of sales in these seven years.’

Given the trend of commercial printers moving into label production, as well as increasing interest in digital technology from traditional label converters, Konica Minolta sees great potential for its digital label press in India.

Its first two label press installations in the country have come in the past couple of months, and Kuldeep Malhotra, vice president, sales division, believes that three or four more installations will be concluded by the end of the year. ‘We see a gap in the market which Konica Minolta can serve, as a reliable company with great experience in digital printing.’

These first two installations are AccurioLabel 190 digital presses with in-line Miyakoshi rewinders. Konica Minolta also offers Brotech rewinders in the Indian market.

Labelexpo India 2018

At Labelexpo India 2018, Konica Minolta is showing its AccurioLabel 190 digital label press with an in-line Brotech rewinder. 

The AccurioLabel 190It uses dry toner electrophotography to deliver high-quality images, operating at per-minute speeds of 18.9m, 13.5m, and 9.45m, depending on the paper type. 

The press can handle a wide range of media such as ordinary/matte paper, glossy paper, tack paper, synthetic paper and film, with paper thickness of 60-250 micron and maximum input width of 330mm. The AccurioLabel 190 is equipped with advanced color adjustment software, allowing it to deliver consistent quality output from sample production to actual production.

Exhibiting alongside Konica Minolta at the show is Italian finishing equipment manufacturer DPR. The companies have partnered for the show, and are exploring a longer-term collaboration. 

On display on the Konica Minolta stand is DPR’s Scorpio SCR35PL, an all-in-one system which unwinds, laminates for durability, digitally die-cuts, removes waste, slits and rewinds. It provides an accurate label finishing system using cutter plotter technology, allowing the user to cut different types of material and shapes on the fly, without the added cost of dies. 

The Scorpio system incorporates software working with a camera to form an integrated optical black-mark registration system, which reportedly makes the cutting operation fast and easy.