Konica Minolta targets print industry challenges with 15 intelligent Assistance Systems

Print Solutions

Following the launch of the AccurioPress C8100 Series – the Intelligent Press – Konica Minolta has introduced a new, portfolio wide Assistance Systems framework that brings together 15 intelligent features across the AccurioPress range.

Print companies are facing mounting challenges because the operators running their presses are increasingly hard to find. Job complexity and quality expectations continue to rise while experienced operators leave the industry. The company’s answer is to move that experience out of the operator’s head and into the press.

‘Every print business is being asked to do more with fewer skilled hands, and the usual response – work harder, check more, overproduce as a safety net – is what erodes margin,’ said Olaf Lorenz, head of global marketing. ‘The 15 Assistance Systems are how we help customers unlock and reach the full potential of their Konica Minolta systems. They put the expertise where the work happens, so a business can take on more ambitious work with the team it already has.’

The portfolio is organised into four clusters, each answering a distinct commercial pressure. Control systems hold colour and registration accuracy automatically, cutting waste and any reprinting that erode margin on every job. Competence systems compress the learning curve that decides whether a print business can hire at all – such as an optimal colour profile in five minutes rather than 30, and correct settings applied to each substrate without a paper specialist on shift. Comfort systems protect throughput and make unattended production viable: every sheet is inspected, and faulty output is removed in-line, and duplicate sheets are ejected without stopping the press, so long runs and overnight shifts no longer need someone standing at the machine. Convenience systems widen the services a print business can offer – with verified variable data for vouchers, tickets and mailings, and finished, shipment ready product coming off the press.

The commercial case rests on costs that rarely appear on a print quote. Waste, reprints, set up time and the labour spent checking work are absorbed by the business rather than billed to the customer, and they scale with every job. By automating the routine business decisions that consume those hours, the Assistance Systems act as a direct lever on operating costs.

Konica Minolta Assistance Systems represent the technical proof of intelligence behind The Intelligent Press. It is a press that senses conditions, decides on the appropriate response and adapts in real time – every sheet, every job, every shift. Where an automated press follows predefined instructions, an intelligent press corrects course before defects become visible.

‘Customers do not buy AI. They buy uptime, consistency and productivity,’ added Olaf. ‘That is the measure for every one of these systems – and it is why we have built something broader than the individual features the market has seen so far. The 15 Intelligent Systems working together across the AccurioPress portfolio, built in or available as an upgrade, sense, decide and adapt – enabling autonomous printing with less operator intervention. Among them are the smartphone guided Virtual Service and the widest in line finishing range in the market.’

The systems are available as options within the AccurioPress range.