Kester Imaging installs first Konica Minolta JETvarnish 3D One

Kester Imaging has been already using MGI JETvarnish 3DS digital press purchased in September 2017. At the time, the company had seven Konica Minolta digital presses in house producing the vast majority of its print output.

‘The kind of relationship we have built with Konica Minolta is integral to our success because they are interested in our growth, not just in selling us a machine,’ said Richard Kester, owner of Kester Imaging. ‘We like having their technicians in the shop because they are supportive, easy to deal with and informative when we ask a question. We can have frank conversations about what we like and don’t like – and what we need. It’s a corporate attitude we find with the Konica Minolta support team. You don’t get to have that kind of candor with most vendors.’

Since the purchase of its MGI JETvarnish 3DS digital press two and a half years ago, the creative design and decorative print enhancement outsourcing services KI has been able to offer as a trade printing business partner have benefited both their peers in the graphic arts industry and the corporate brands that those printers serve. Although KI commercially prints its own work, more and more printers are outsourcing projects to them, and Kester realized the business required a second embellishment press.

The new Spot UV finishing device includes key components of MGI JETvarnish technology – including the intelligent, adaptive AIS (Artificial Intelligence SmartScanner) registration system, and is a compact, cost-effective, entry-level option. The small footprint offers a full production and prototyping print embellishment system without screens or plates. The universal patented varnish formula allows flat 2D Spot UV highlighting and sculptured 3D raised special effects on a wide range of substrates.

‘The thing that sold us was the way the print output looked and the emotion it generated. It changed the way we do business, and because it worked so well, we had to have another one. We embellished a 12x18 sheet covered with a single sheet of foil and you couldn’t see a dimple in the whole sheet. Nobody else can get close to that. It’s different than all the competition,’ added Kester.

‘Kester Imaging is one of the very few customers with two MGI 3D embellishment presses, and Konica Minolta is thrilled to be a part of its success,’ said Paul Furse, national director of MGI Business Development. ‘It is extremely rewarding to see customers not only transform and evolve, but significantly grow their business by adding new, profitable revenue streams to their printing operations and ultimately, their customer applications.’