Inkjet Wholesale News aims to provide updates on the latest significant occurrences in the field of printing. Whether it’s the launch of a new technology or volatility of market prices, we’ll be here to give you the lowdown on what happened, when it happened, and what it means!
Konica Minolta and Clover Form Partnership Where the Latter Is the Former’s Strategic Toner Supplier
Recently Konica Minolta announced that it will be expanding its business relations with Clover with the latter taking on an even more important role than before. As per the announcement, Clover will be becoming the strategic toner supplier of Konica Minolta.
Konica Minolta revealed that the reason this decision was taken was that they wanted to ‘deliver greater value and service to Konica Minolta customers’. According to the Senior Vice President of Business Intelligence Services of Konica Minolta, Sam Errigo, Clover’s operational capabilities are ‘a perfect complement’ to Konica Minolta’s ‘current offerings’.
The new strategic partnership between the two giants of their respective industries is expected to be especially beneficial to the customers of Konica Minolta. The partnership will expand the collection of premium quality products that Konica Minolta provides to its customers. Customer are also expected to benefit from the increased availability and reach of Clover.
Also, while talking about Clover’s operational capabilities, Konica Minolta chose to specifically highlight the coverage the global remanufacturing leader has in the USA. Supposedly, through its six distribution centres, Clover has the capacity to cover about 95 percent of the country through ground shipping alone.
Konica Minolta, in case you didn’t know, is a Japanese technology firm that has a presence in more than 40 countries. The primary business of Konica Minolta is the manufacture and marketing of industrial and business level imaging products such as digital print systems, multifunction peripherals, laser printers, and copiers. The company was formed when Konica and Minolta, two separate firms, merged together.
Clover, on the other hand, is considered to be the leading remanufacturer of cartridges in the world. This achievement of Clover’s is based on the fact that it is also the leader in the world when it comes to collecting empty cartridges. The company operates through 60 different locations in the world and has annual revenue of about 1.2 billion.
About a month ago, Clover chose to spin off its marketing arm to form Clover Imaging Group. The Clover Imaging Group is a form of rebranding from Clover since it will be taking over other brands like OPRA, West Point Products, and MSE amongst others. The idea was to simply bring all its imaging solutions under one marketing umbrella which is the primary role of the Clover Imaging Group.
Clover has, over the years, been acquiring various companies all over the world involved in all aspects of the industry such as manufacturing, collection, components, and even solutions. Clover Imaging Group has received all the brands that these acquisitions created so as to be able to leverage them in conjunction better.
With the announcement of the Clover Imaging Group, it was also revealed that the new group will open with ‘a suite of marketing solutions that will create a new benchmark for value added programs’.
Moreover, it was specifically stated that industry watchers should keep an eye on the Clover Imaging Group because more announcements may be forthcoming in the near future.
Dual Ink Inkjet Printer Added To CraftPix Series of MicroCraft
MicroCraft, a leader in the production of PCB printing machines, have decided to expand its collection of inkjet printers. The new additions are made in the company’s much lauded CraftPix Series of machines. The new machines come in the form of the CPT 6151 and the CPT 7861 with the only difference between the two being the maximum printing area.
The biggest feature of the CPT 6151 is that the machine can print with two different types of inks. Essentially, the CPT 6151 has two separate printing systems inside it with their respective features.
The dual ink system is highlighted by the rapid head array which is one of the better achievements of MicroCraft simply because it is used in its fastest and standard speed machines i.e. the CPi 6151 and CPJ 6151 respectively.
Since the CPT 6151 is designed to handle two different ink types, it is blessed with two independent systems. Each of these printing systems has its own rapid head array, a UV lamp, and of course the ink tank.
Furthermore, one of the main reasons why CraftPix series is preferred in the industry also exists in the case of CPT 6151. This is the much celebrated ink recycling system that the CraftPix series is loved for.
The ink recycling system works to reduce ink wastage to the almost negligible level of one percent. It does so by making sure that the ink used for clearing up the nozzle and printing heads is sent back to the tank through an elaborate system. This ink recycling system singlehandedly makes MicroCraft’s machines capable saving a lot of money and very beneficial for the environment.
There are other features that the CPT 6151 is also blessed with. One of these is the ultraviolet curing lamp which is strategically mounted on the quickly moving printing head. This ultraviolet curing lamp makes offline ultraviolet curing systems redundant.
The CPT 6151 can also print uneven surfaces through its drop on demand inkjet printing system. This feature boasts of a difference of around 200+ microns.
The CPT 6151 prints over a smaller area than the CPT 7861. The printing area of the CPT 6151 is 24 inches by 20 inches which converts to 610 mm by 510 mm. The CPT 7861, on the other hand, has a greater printing area at 30.7 inches by 24 inches or 780 mm by 610 mm.
The PCB boards that need to be printed can be kept in place on the CPT 6151 through a wide variety of methods. These methods include the conventional manual clamps and the modern vacuum plates along with a four side edge clamp which is completely automated.
The new entry to the CraftPix service by MicroCraft will make life significantly easier for PCB board manufacturers as it can handle two of the most key elements of the manufacturing process i.e. the printing of the legend and the solder resist.
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