News Article Business Solutions

Langenhagen, June 2007

Konica Minolta has announced the launch of its new, award-winning print workflow solution, Printgroove.  The software ensures a simple, streamlined process from job submission to billing, which results in a seamless link between Konica Minolta's production printing systems, the bizhub PRO series.

Already recognised with a BERTL's BEST Award for Innovation, Printgroove consists of three modules that integrate and automate production printing environments.  These modules that include POD Queue, POD Serve and POD Guide are designed to cater for the special needs of complex production printing environments such as central reprographic departments (CRDs) or print for pay shops.

The first module available now, POD Queue, eases print order and device management for any kind of job. It recommends the most suitable output device, or can be set to forward automatically if a printer is busy or disabled depending on the colour split, paper type or finishing requirements needed.  Operators can also distribute jobs between several devices with different finishing options, or even run cluster print jobs to maximise throughput speed and cost-efficiency without the need for an on-site IT manager.

POD Serve is the second module included in the Printgroove software.  It is a web service that acts as an online store front.  It allows users to submit jobs, create and customise job ticket settings and provide real-time tracking for proofing and acceptances via the Internet, 24 hours a day - 7 days a week from any location. In addition, it can be set to access past archived job tickets to facilitate smoother re-ordering and re-print jobs.

The final module in the series is the POD Guide, which monitors operational status and job management through to printing and delivery. Resource oversight and operating status reports help to uncover and track problems such as bottlenecks, ensuring maximum efficiency for businesses. By also making use of dynamic databases, administrators can access archived job tickets to eliminate any redundancies as well as manage invoice creation and schedule management. POD Serve and Guide will be available later this year.

To complete the total solution for production print efficiency, a fourth module will be introduced to the Printgroove software next year. The final module, known as POD Ready, will automate the make ready process with an easy-to-use interface for the intuitive control of advanced functions. This means that any operator can take on the production tasks that, in the past, required special training from skilled technicians, saving businesses more time and money. This module is expected to follow at the beginning of 2008.

About Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe
Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe GmbH is a leading provider of image information products with subsidiaries and distributors in more than 50 countries in the EMEA region. The company places major emphasis on the document management and solution business in the office and production environment, especially in the field of colour output as well as related supplies. Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe is a subsidiary of Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. With a total workforce of 19,800 employees world wide, Konica Minolta Business Technologies gained a net sales of over 4.41 billion Euros in fiscal 2006/2007. Building on its strong core of optical technologies developed over many years as a printer and camera manufacturer, Konica Minolta Business Technologies aims to be a corporation offering products and services that are essential to all areas of digital imaging. www.konicaminolta.eu/

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Product images are available at www.konicaminolta-images.com/


Contact

Susanne Doepke
Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe
Phone: +49 (0)511-7404-401
Susanne.Doepke(at)konicaminolta.eu

Konica Minolta team
Firefly Communications
Phone: +44 (0)20 7386 1508
konicaminoltateam(at)fireflycomms.com