Long-established printer invests in Konica Minolta’s AccurioJet KM-1 inkjet technology to increase flexibility

| 10 juni 2020

Imprimerie Baron & Fils has defied the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and successfully increased digital printing power and flexibility with an investment in Konica Minolta’s award-winning KM-1 Accurio-Jet technology.


Live printing started in May for the forward-thinking company, which completed 4-5 different jobs during training alone. Luxury brands, financial agencies and companies, trendy customers and the French national library are among clients of Baron & Fils now goes benefiting from the Konica Minolta AccurioJet KM-1 B2+ UV inkjet press that replaced an offset machine.

Crucial was Baron & Fils’ team support from Konica Minolta. The installation was the centrepiece of a major modernisation programme at the site in Clichy, in the suburbs of Paris, France, which had to be halted in mid-March due to the global coronavirus pandemic. It was completed two months later when restrictions were lifted and regulatory approvals obtained including cross-country border access.

Key reasons for investing in the Konica Minolta AccurioJet KM-1 included:

  • Economics. The average run lengths for Baron & Fils are now 500-1500 sheets, with customers increasingly demanding personalization
  • Substrate flexibility. One of the most critical in the printer choice, enabling printing of a very wide range of substrates without precoating and to use same media as offset and even more.
  • New opportunities. One new application involves textured, special material printing, particularly as it is scratch resistance and the ink quality is extremely high. Baron & Fils also wants to develop its own web-to-print business
  • Faster response times. Digital jobs can now be completed within a day, with proofing and printing all done on the AccurioJet KM-1 with less waste, whereas offset work would typically take 3-4 days
  • Frame technology. The AccurioJet KM-1 is simple to use, more productive and provides superior reliablility
  • Quality / gamut. Reproduction of Pantone colors gives perfect matching – on one day alone 10 different substrates were successfully tested.

With the introduction of Konica Minolta’s AccurioJet KM-1, Baron & Fils will increasingly work directly with agencies, luxury brands and fashionable restaurants. Employing 10 people, Baron & Fils was formed in 1924 and has continually evolved to remain at the cutting edge of technological innovation.



About Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe

Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe GmbH, based in Langenhagen, Germany, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Konica Minolta Inc., Tokyo, Japan. Konica Minolta enables its clients to champion the digital era: with its unique imaging expertise and data processing capabilities, Konica Minolta creates relevant solutions for its customers and solves issues faced by society. As a provider of comprehensive IT services, Konica Minolta delivers consultancy and services to optimise business processes with workflow automation. The company further offers its customers solutions and managed services in the field of IT infrastructure and IT security as well as cloud environments. With regard to its office printing solutions, ‘IDC MarketScape: Western Europe Smart Multifunctional Peripheral 2018 Vendor Assessment’ stated that Konica Minolta is ‘recognised globally as a leading smart MFP provider of note’. As a strong partner for the professional printing market, Konica Minolta offers business consulting, state-of-the-art technology and software and has established itself as the production printing market leader for more than a decade in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa (InfoSource). In the healthcare sector, Konica Minolta drives digitalisation of clinical workflows and offers a broad range of next-level diagnostic solutions. Its Business Innovation Centre in London and four R & D laboratories in Europe enable Konica Minolta to bring innovation forward by collaborating with its customers as well as academic, industrial and entrepreneurial partners. For its solutions that combine ‘smart service with smart technology’, Konica Minolta was awarded the prestigious ‘Buyers Lab PaceSetter Award for Outstanding Serviceability 2018/2019’ from Keypoint Intelligence. Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe is represented by subsidiaries and distributors in more than 80 countries in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. With almost 10,300 employees (as of April 2019), Konica Minolta Europe earned net sales of over EUR 2.39 billion in financial year 2018/19.

For more information, please visit http://newsroom.konicaminolta.eu/ and follow Konica Minolta on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter @KonicaMinoltaEU.

Terms and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and are hereby acknowledged.