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Mountains Of Japan Spring Opportunity
N.J.-based company Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc. to open a third polymerized toner plant in Japan.
February
2006 Japan may not be the first Asian country most manufacturers select
for new production facilities, but for Ramsey, N.J.-based Konica
Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc., it’s the ideal location to
build a polymerized toner plant.
The company is investing 7.5
billion yen (US$62.6 million) to build its third plant in Japan, this
one located in the mountains of Tatsuno-machi, Kamiina-gun, Nagano, for
the high-end toner used in multifunction peripherals (MFP) and laser
printers. The new plant is in response to increased demand for
polymerized toner, which has nearly tripled for Konica Minolta since
2003, says Indy Nakagawa, senior vice president of marketing and
corporate planning for Konica Minolta Business Solutions.
Construction
of the third plant began in September 2005 and is scheduled for
completion in September 2006, with production at the plant begining in
December. Konica Minolta selected the site because it’s near the
company’s other two toner plants and its research and development
(R&D) base, allowing for the sharing of resources among the plants
and the research department, says company spokesman James Norberto. The
mountainous region, known as the Japanese Alps, also provides ample
access to natural sources of water, which is necessary in the
production of polymerized toner.
And although China and other Asian
countries are known for cheaper labor, Norberto says labor costs don’t
play a major role in the company’s investment. “It’s not going to be a
labor-intensive plant. There will be approximately 20 to 30 people on
staff at this plant, so the investment is going to be on the machine as
opposed to labor costs.”
The new plant will be a production base for
the company’s Simitri Color Polymerized Toner, as well as its black
polymerized toner. It will have an annual production capacity of about
7,000 tons, increasing the company’s annual production of polymerized
toner from 8,000 tons to about 15,000 tons.
For Konica Minolta, the
polymerization process is preferable to more conventional methods
because it produces a higher toner yield and is less costly to
manufacture. The product also is beneficial to the end-user. That’s
because polymerized toner comprises uniformly sized particles that are
more evenly distributed than traditional pulverized toner, resulting in
high-quality images comparable to offset printed images. It’s also
considered more environmentally friendly than conventional toner
production methods.
Ultimately, Konica Minolta hopes that by
expanding its polymerization production, it will become the market
leader in color MFPs. As part of that strategy, most of Konica
Minolta’s new MFPs and laser printers now employ polymerized toner.
“The construction of the third Simitri Polymerized Toner plant is
another step in our strategy to become No. 1 in customer satisfaction
and the overall value leader in the industry,” Shoei Yamana, executive
director of MFP sales and marketing for Konica Minolta Business
Technologies Inc., said when construction began in September. “The new
plant will allow us to continue to meet the market demand and enable
Konica Minolta to become the total cost-of-ownership leader in the
marketplace.”
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