Konica Minolta increases stake in MGI Digital Technology
Print Solutions Packaging Solutions
Konica Minolta has announced an additional investment in MGI Digital Technology (MGI). The two companies formed an equity and business alliance in January 2014.
O September 30, 2020, Konica Minolta acquired an additional stake in MGI, bringing the stake together with the existing stake to 42.3%. MGI, which has 204 employees, was founded in 1982 and has its headquarters in Fresnes, France.
MGI’s digital decoration printing machines use 100% inkjet heads manufactured by Konica Minolta and respond to the need for high value added printing that highlights the appeal of products, such as foil stamping and embossing. MGI is also expanding into electronic circuit and other industrial printing.
In 2016, Konica Minolta made a full scale entry into industrial printing field. By maximising printing value through digital printing technology, the company has created markets and expanded the scale and scope of its business.
Label and packaging printing have a great deal of room for digitisation in the post printing processes of varnish coating, laminating, foil stamping, and die cutting. By adding MGI's partial varnishing, foil stamping, and other digital output devices to its product line up, Konica Minolta has increased its presence in the industrial printing market, which it positions as a growth business.
A statement from Konica Minolta said that, over the past four years, its industrial printing business has approximately doubled in size. During the Covid-19 pandemic, demand has temporarily stagnated in some areas of the industrial printing sector. Over the medium to long term, however, the company believes that demand for industrial printing will shift more to on-demand than ever before, and that the shift from analogue to digital printing will increasingly accelerate in order to respond to this change in demand.
The digitisation of post processing will become increasingly important. Particularly, it is essential to expand the line up of digital embellishment machines that make printed materials more appealing, and it is crucial for Konica Minolta to deepen the alliance with MGI.
Konica Minolta is currently marketing the AccurioJet KM-1e, a 29 inch sheetfed UV inkjet printing machine that can also print on cartons for packaging, in the packaging printing market. At drupa in 2016, MGI made a technological showcase of its Alphajet, a system that enables integrated printing, decoration, and post processing that can also be printed on corrugated products.
Konica Minolta will strive to increase the value of MGI and establish a strong position in the market by effectively launching Alphajet, taking advantage of the customer contact it has accumulated through its global sales network and capabilities.
