Konica Minolta scales up colour production printing range with new bizhub PRO C6501 series and bizhub PRO C5501

2 November 2009

With the introduction of the bizhub PRO C6501 series and the bizhub PRO C5501 digital colour production printing systems, Bidvest company, Konica Minolta South Africa is extending its existing successful production printing systems. The new series provides customers with even finer colour, improved image quality and swifter production speed. High media flexibility and advanced finishing capabilities, especially those of the bizhub PRO C6501/e, further distinguish the new systems.

Common to the four colour production printing systems - which also have received a facelift in their design - is their reliable and flexible productivity. With a print speed of between 55 A4 colour pages per minute for the bizhub PRO C5501 and 65 colour pages for the bizhub PRO C6501 series, they offer a large throughput. All systems offer heavy duty cycles too. To better meet customers’ needs, the bizhub PRO C5501 now also supports three print controllers: the external controllers IC-304 Plus powered by Creo, the IC-305 EFI Fiery and the internal IC-408 EFI Fiery controller.

Furthermore, impressive media flexibility ensures central reprographic departments (CRDs), commercial printers (CP) and high volume offices can meet the most diverse requests in terms of print jobs: All systems can process paper formats from A5 to A3+ (330 x 487 mm) and weights ranging from 64 to 300 g/m2 via the regular paper feeders and the bypass tray.

All four devices come up with advancements in image and colour quality to ensure that colour is precise and consistent in larger print runs: Simitri HD high definition polymerised toner is used with all of the newly launched digital colour printing systems. The environmentally friendly toner ensures fine lines and superb image quality.

Another integral part of all digital colour printing systems is the S.E.A.D. technology, Konica Minolta’s own screen-enhancing active digital processing technology. This proprietary technology does its share to improve image quality, colour consistency and sharpness of text. It was originally developed for the bizhub PRO C6500 series, the predecessor of the new series - and a very successful predecessor it was.

According to a study by InfoSource covering the past year, the bizhub PRO C6500/e was the best selling system in the production printing market in Germany in 2007. It was also the system that has been responsible for Konica Minolta’s 12.3 percent increase in market share in the professional colour market.

Improvements to the systems’ advanced finishing qualities make room for "scaling up" in meeting customers’ demands and, in turn, boost their business opportunities. The new series and the bizhub PRO C5501 can be equipped with finishing features for stapling, punching, folding and booklet making. The bizhub PRO C6501/e specifically offers professional advanced finishing to satisfy the special needs of CRDs, CPs and print for pay (PfP) environments: a wider range of folding options, trimming and perfect binding are added finishing capabilities with this system. With 22 different configurations, the bizhub PRO 6501/e can also be precisely tailored to customers’ needs.

"We are confident that the bizhub PRO C6501 series and the bizhub PRO C5501 will top their predecessors in terms of success," says Leon Minnie, product specialist: production systems at Konica Minolta South Africa. “Not only does the whole series of new bizhub PROs provide our customers with the three essential elements of high quality colour production printing, which are outstanding colour, superior image quality and high production speed. Their sturdy yet compact built and various in-line finishing functions also mean a further ‘scale up’ in benefits for our customers."