PRODUCTS AND SOLUTIONS:

  • One bizhub PRESS C8000 Color Digital Press
  • Two bizhub PRESS C7000 Digital Presses
  • EFI External Fiery® Image Controller
  • Fiery Command WorkStation®

Screen Shot 2013-11-26 at 2.09.45 PMBACKGROUND Since 1992, family-owned Minuteman Press in Norwich and New London,
CT, has been providing offset and digital printing, graphic design services as well as mailing services to the surrounding area and communities. In the top 10 percent of all 900 Minuteman Press franchise locations throughout the United States, the Norwich store sells approximately $1.2 million in services per year.

With the franchises growing, the production print systems were too slow and could no longer keep up with customer demand. This resulted in longer job turnaround times and required employees to stay late in order to complete jobs on time. The equipment was harder to maintain and service calls could take up to two days before a technician was available.

The franchise owner needed to invest in state-of-the-art color digital presses that could meet his customers’ high volume needs while providing the highest quality output possible.

Additionally, the owner needed a robust, no hassles service plan that would keep the digital presses running with minimal downtime.

SOLUTION

Screen Shot 2013-11-26 at 2.11.51 PMWorking with a local Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta) representative, the Minuteman Press franchise purchased one bizhub PRESS C8000 and one bizhub PRESS C7000 color digital printer to handle the digital print volume of the Norwich, CT store and one bizhub PRESS C7000 for the smaller, satellite store in New London.

The bizhub PRESS C8000 and bizhub PRESS C7000 provide Minuteman Press with the quality and speeds required to meet its customers’ print demands. Minuteman can now easily print at 1,200 dpi resolution to reproduce the finest detail in both images and text. No matter the job, the printing quality and color on the bizhub PRESSes remains consistent on all print jobs from the first impression to the last. Having the devices allows the company to work more efficiently and quickly to meet delivery deadlines without worrying about color stability.

Screen Shot 2013-11-26 at 2.11.45 PMThe bizhub PRESS C8000 is configured for large capacity storage with a roll-a-way cart and includes a 4,630 sheet capacity vacuum paper feed unit which ensures that all paper moves smoothly through the system for optimal speed and minimal downtime. With an 80 page per minute output, even for heavier stock paper up to 300 gsm, the bizhub PRESS is able to provide the

Minuteman franchise with a throughput that is faster and more efficient than the facility’s previous production presses, which only had an output of 40 pages per minute. The franchise can easily produce dual-side prints and copies at full speed with the bizhub PRESS. This has been ideal for business cards, catalogs, sales materials and color billing inserts. As a result, wait times for print runs have decreased, resulting in less overtime and man power necessary to run the digital presses.

Minuteman opted for the EFI External Fiery® Image Controller, which includes the Fiery Command WorkStation®, for sophisticated color management tools. This job management solution provides one user interface that centralizes the entire print workflow, connecting to all Fiery servers on the Minuteman network. The advanced queue management capabilities have eliminated bottlenecks, minimizing downtime while raising the productivity and profit potential on every job the Minuteman Norwich franchise runs on the bizhub PRESS C8000.

With both store locations using the bizhub PRESS C7000, there is now an added degree of efficiency as the designers and production personnel are using the same production presses.

The bizhub PRESSes are extremely reliable with minimal down time for repairs. Any minor maintenance concerns are fixed onsite within hours of calling Konica Minolta’s support and service team or using the www.MyKMBS.com site.

BUSINESS IMPACT

The franchise evaluated other color digital presses including XEROX and Canon but selected Konica Minolta digital presses for their exceptional color quality, production speed, affordability and reliability. By moving to all Konica Minolta print  production equipment, Minuteman Press in Norwich and New London, CT, can work with
one trusted vendor for all its support, service and supplies needs. This has helped lower
costs and simplified operations considerably.

Click here to download the full Konica Minolta Case Study