BUYERS LAB

BUYERS LAB

Winter 2012 Pick Award

Konica Minolta Business

Technologies
2012 A3 MFP Line of the Year

2012
BUYERS LAB

KONICA MINOLTA BUSINESS

TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
1-6-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 100-0005
Japan

For the second consecutive year, Konica Minolta Business Solutions, Inc. has won
Buyers Laboratory LLCs (BLIs) most coveted awardA3 MFP Line of the Year.
Once each year, Buyers Lab, the leading global provider of information and testing
services to the digital imaging industry, acknowledges the vendors whose product
lines are determined to be the best overall in their respective categories based on
the cumulative results of models tested in BLIs rigorous two-month laboratory
evaluation. By assessing reliability, image quality, ease of use, productivity and
a range of other criteria, the tests reveal the products that deliver customers the
best value and most trouble-free performance. Also considered are the breadth of
the vendors line and the vendors ability to provide quality products suitable to a
broad spectrum of customer needs, from low-volume to high-volume.
The Konica Minolta line continues to impress, currently including 14 A3 Pick
winnersmore than any other MFP vendor, said George Mikolay, senior product
editor, A3/Copier MFPs. Moreover, reliabilitybuyers number one concernis a
differentiator for Konica Minoltas A3 product line across the board, both colour
and black. Its a remarkable achievement that among all 14 Pick winners, not a
single malfunction occurred, said BLI Managing Editor Daria Hoffman, pointing
out that the only service required was for routine scheduled preventive maintenance. When all currently tested A3 models are considered, Konica Minolta has
the best reliability record of all eligible vendors, proving that it offers the quality
buyers consider more important than any other.

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Winter 2012 Pick Award

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Colour Conquest
Konica Minolta currently has six individual Picks for its business colour products, ranging in speed
from 22 to 65 ppm. Unlike the majority of business colour models we test, Konica Minoltas products maintain very good and consistent output from start to finish over the course of our high-volume tests, said BLI Manager of Laboratory Testing Pete Emory. In addition, all of Konica Minoltas
colour Pick winners received high marks for both business graphics and photographic images
something that cant be said of most competitors. All the devices produce bright, saturated colour
and smooth output, and I was equally impressed with background reproduction and separation
between halftone levels, said Emory. For even more exacting colour needs, an EFI Fiery controller
is also available for all the models from 28 ppm and above.
All six models also offer strong productivity in key test areas, with above average performances
when running BLIs colour job stream test, which simulates real-world usage. That means there
wont be unproductive wait times in environments in which multiple users send jobs to the device at
once during busy times of the day.
Monochrome Mojo
Equally strong on the monochrome side, Konica Minoltas line currently has eight monochrome
Pick winners ranging in speed from 22 ppm to 75 ppm. Common to the majority of these Pick
winners are fast scan speeds and exceptional paper-handling capabilities, including modular finishing options that allow users to upgrade easily as their needs evolve, and above average performances in BLIs real-world job stream test.
Common Strengths in Both Colour and Monochrome
With similar capabilities, features and functionality across the board, users can easily transition
from using one Konica Minolta device to another without a learning curve. In addition to outstanding reliability, Konica Minolta is a leader among document imaging companies in offering a bevy of
standard security measures. In fact, it was among the first vendors to offer hard drive overwrite as
a standard capability rather than an option. A biometric access control option recognizes vein patterns in users fingertips to enable quick, hassle-free authentication.
For simplified ease of use and customization, the companys print drivers feature the award-winning
My Tab, which allows the first tab of Konica Minoltas print drivers to be customized for each user to
best suit their needs and requirements. An alternative Quick Copy control panel screen allows users
to program most of the commonly-used copy features, including paper size, reduction/enlargement
and simplex/duplex, from one screen without having to access any sub-menus, and can be set as
the default. And the My Panel component enables users to individually customize the contents and
settings of the operation panel. In addition to creating custom shortcuts and custom menus, users
can create a private address book to follow them to any compatible device they want to operate.
Further enhancing the value of this outstanding line is bizhub Extended Solution Technology (bEST),
which enables integration of Konica Minolta devices with a range of applications to help automate and streamline workflow. These self-developed and third-party offerings can help to control
costs, heighten security and ease burdens associated with document capture, routing and management. A big bonus for Konica Minolta MFP buyers is that between the companys self-developed

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is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted. 2012 Buyers Laboratory LLC. To purchase reprints, contact BLI at info@buyerslab.com.

BUYERS LAB

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Winter 2012 Pick Award

solutions and offerings from third parties evaluated by Buyers Lab, Konica Minolta sells the best,
most well-rounded offering of document imaging solutions of any other hardware vendor in the
document imaging industry, winning it BLIs inaugural award for Document Imaging Solutions Line
of the Year.
All the colour models as well as the monochrome 652, 552, 423, 363, 283 and 223 offer scanning in
full colour, auto colour, black and grayscale. Scan to/print from USB is standard, and users can scan
to multiple types of destinations in a single session. Both searchable and encrypted PDF are supported, and colour and black scan speeds are for the most part faster than average. Comparably
equipped, most of the models typically offer strong features sets, making them exceptional values
for buyers, said Mikolay.
Konica Minoltas currently available A3 business colour Pick winners include the bizhub C220;
bizhub C280; bizhub C360; bizhub C452; bizhub C552; and bizhub C652/C652DS. Its currently
available A3 monochrome Pick winners include the bizhub 652; bizhub 552; bizhub 423; bizhub
363; bizhub 283; bizhub 223; bizhub 601; and bizhub 751.
We are very happy and honoured to receive this award presented by BLI, a respected and highly
credible independent authority in the imaging industry that provides competitive analysis and
reviews based on impartial tests, said Daisuke Mori, sales and marketing director for Konica Minolta
Business Solutions Singapore. Our philosophy is to create new value for our customers, and this
award is testament that we have achieved our vision to provide our customers with the best reliability, consistency in output quality and best offering in document imaging solutions.
BLI congratulates Konica Minolta on once again winning MFP Line of the Year for 2012.

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Reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory LLC. Any duplication of this report without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory,
is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted. 2012 Buyers Laboratory LLC. To purchase reprints, contact BLI at info@buyerslab.com.

Winter 2012 Pick Award

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BUYERS LAB

About BLI Pick Awards

Twice a year with its Pick awards, BLI gives special recognition in each category to those products
that provided the most outstanding performances in BLIs exhaustive lab tests, and once each year,
it acknowledges the vendors whose overall product lines are judged to be the best in their respective categories by virtue of their cumulative test results. In order for a vendor to be considered for
Line of the Year, products in each market segment must have been tested by BLI. In addition, the
breadth of the vendors product line is considered.
BLIs awards stand alone in that they are based on a rigorous battery of lab tests that takes approximately two months to complete. The evaluation includes an extensive durability test, during a portion of which each unit is run at the manufacturers maximum duty cycle. BLIs durability test is
unique among office product evaluations and uniquely qualifies BLI to assess reliability, a critical
factor for buyers and IT directors.
Other performance attributes evaluated include ease of use, media handling, productivity and value,
among others. Each product that successfully passes BLIs lab test earns BLIs Recommended
or Highly Recommended seal and a BLI Certificate of Reliability and qualifies as a Pick award
contender. Consequently, a BLI Pick is a hard-earned award that buyers and IT directors can trust
to better guide them in their acquisition decisions.

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CEO

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Managing DirectorInternational

Buyers Laboratory LLC

info@buyerslab.com

Mark Lerch
COO

Pete Emory
Manager of Laboratory Testing

BLI International (UK) Ltd.

bliEurope@buyerslab.com

David Sweetnam
Head of Research and Lab Services,
BLIs UK Lab

BLI International Ltd.

bliAsia@buyerslab.com

Anthony F. Polifrone
Managing Director
Daria M. Hoffman
Managing Editor

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Reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory LLC. Any duplication of this report without the written permission of Buyers Laboratory,
is unlawful and violators will be prosecuted. 2012 Buyers Laboratory LLC. To purchase reprints, contact BLI at info@buyerslab.com.