New National Sales Director, David Procter, unleashes his top runners one month early as part of a strategy to contest every post in the digital print market derby.
Upwards of 26 Konica Minolta sales agents from around the country thronged the company's North Ryde offices this week for the 'soft' release of the flagship presses. With two versions of the completely new engine, one at 85 ppm and the other at 100 ppm, they are the vanguard of a determined assault on the toner-based printing market from the Number 2 supplier.
Newly appointed National Sales Director, Procter, admitted the market had moved faster than expected, prompting a revision of his original plans to launch the new engines, bizhubPRESS C1100 & bizhubPRESS C1085, in September. Advancing the availability of the top of the range engines means Konica Minolta has now launched four new presses this year – the earlier C1070 and C1060 came out in May. Expect a blitz of persuasion and great deals as it piles into an already crowded market with its best shot.
"These presses are a totally new design, built from the ground up and address an emerging market that will become more important," said Procter, identifying the production values of the presses. "They are the ideal machines for printers currently doing up around one hundred thousand SRA3 impressions a month. They allow them to do more with one shift operation.”
The two new engines incorporate all the best features of current technology; a lower fusing temperature that allows them to run even lighter stocks as well as plastics; rated speed is maintained on all weights up to 350gsm, simplex and duplex; an air-suction enabled paper handling system, similar to offset presses, means more reliability. With the addition of an optional inter-cooler curl eliminator printed sheets can be guaranteed completely flat in the delivery.
The top of the range bizhubPRESS boasts a duty cycle of 200k per month, but Procter is confident it can go well beyond if necessary. He believes printers are getting better value now in the market than ever before.
“Look, the prices now are very realistic, printers are getting good value, especially compared to five or more years ago. We’re enjoying talking to our customers about the benefits of our products and the opportunities they open up,” he said. Ahead of the official launch in August and initial delivery in September, Procter and his team are busily taking orders for what he is confident will be a best selling season for the new machines.
Mind you, he is likely to be even busier as he expands his responsibilities to include all of Konica Minolta’s sales functions. The new appointment as national sales director by Dr David Cooke, managing director Australia, recognises David Procter’s success in creating and building the company’s production printing business from scratch.
“We have appointed David specifically for the strong leadership and energy he can bring to the sales function. He has an excellent grasp of the benefits our customers seek from print and workflow solutions, a skill that will be critical to the way we move forward,” said Cooke.