Milton Keynes UK, 18 April 2008
Konica Minolta will be premiering a new series of monochrome production printing systems at drupa - the world's leading trade fair for the print media industry - in Düsseldorf in Germany. Its bizhub PRO 1600P, 2000P and 2500P models are fully consistent with the company's motto for this year's exhibition: 'scale up'. These high-performance printing systems produce up to 125 sheets in face and reverse printing mode per minute, helping to raise the productivity of professional print service providers and companies in the graphic arts industry. Visitors to drupa will have the chance to see for themselves the outstanding printing performance and quality of this and other equipment at Konica Minolta's exhibition stand, covering an area of some 1,000 square metres in hall 9, from 29 May to 11 June 2008.

"Our new bizhub PRO series enables us to extend our product portfolio into the mid-production range", stressed Jos Kelly, Director of Business Development, Production and Solutions at Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK). "We can now respond even more effectively to major print service providers' specific need to produce very large output volumes of excellent quality within a short space of time. Our new digital printing systems can thus be used as an attractive addition - or even an alternative - to offset printing."

The unique selling point of the latest generation of Konica Minolta's bizhub PRO printing systems is their outstanding output speed and durability: the bizhub PRO 1600P, 2000P and 2500P models use single-pass technology to print between 160 and 250 images per minute, which means they can handle huge output volumes of between 150,000 and 3.75 million sheets per month. This makes Konica Minolta's bizhub PRO 2500P the world's fastest single-pass printing system.

All three of these new printing systems for the professional mid-production market are easy to operate and can be flexibly employed to meet diverse customer requirements. Konica Minolta's bizhub PRO 1600P, 2000P and 2500P models will be available in various configurations from September of this year. They are equipped with four paper trays and a stacking capacity of 6,000 sheets as standard. These features are supplemented by further paper trays, high capacity stackers and finishers for creative finishing of printed material such as brochures. The production printing systems can handle a wide variety of paper media and sizes, including weights of up to 300 g/m2 and sheets larger than A3 format (up to 32cm by 48.8cm).

"With their outstanding output performance and flexibility, our new production printing systems fit perfectly with our motto for this year's drupa exhibition", explained Heike Börsch, "because the term 'scale up' underlines both the extent to which Konica Minolta has grown in the field of production printing and the ways in which companies can benefit from our new machines in terms of productivity and efficiency - especially in conjunction with the right workflow solutions."

Apart from demonstrating the new monochrome models of its bizhub PRO series at the drupa exhibition, Konica Minolta will also be revealing more of its latest products and presenting applications that have been customised to individual types of hardware. Experts from Konica Minolta will be demonstrating the company's equipment and applications at its exhibition stand A26 in hall 9 of Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre from 29 May to 11 June 2008 and will be available to answer any questions.

About Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) Ltd

Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) Ltd markets business machines manufactured by Konica Minolta Business Technologies Inc, in the United Kingdom through a direct sales force and a network of independent dealerships. Konica Minolta digital imaging systems are manufactured in Japan and China. All are ISO9002 accredited for quality procedures. 

UK turnover for Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) Ltd is in excess of £150 million, placing the company fifth in the digital copier market with a 6.8 per cent share of the black and white market and a dominant 30.5 per cent share of the colour market (not including colour capable systems) according to InfoSource.

In Europe overall, Konica Minolta occupies the number 1 market position in true colour.

With a total workforce of 19,800 employees world wide, Konica Minolta Business Technologies generated net sales of over £3.15 billion in fiscal 2005/2006. Globally Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc. has a turnover £5.07 billion. Building on its strong core of optical technologies developed over many years, Konica Minolta Business Technologies aims to be a corporation offering products and services that are essential to all areas of digital imaging.

Suggested picture caption: Konica Minolta will be premiering a new series of monochrome production printing systems at drupa with bizhub PRO 1600P, 2000P and 2500P models.

For further information contact:    
John Howard
Head of Marketing
Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) Ltd  
Tel: 01908 200400
Fax: 08701 321751
E-mail: John.Howardkonicaminolta.co.uk
Web: www.konicaminolta.co.uk

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Glyn Pritchard
Vox Communications
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