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Setting our sights on colour machines with the same productivity as B&W |
 In developing MFPs, we are always driven by the fundamental desire to add to our customers' business through the device. We want to solve various management issues for our customers, such as operational efficiency and TCO reduction, and help enhance competitiveness and increase company value. Our mission is to give form to the kind of MFPs that tie directly into these solutions, leveraging cutting-edge technologies unique to Konica Minolta in order to turn an idea into a product. The creation of colour MFP “bizhub C353,” in which I served as development leader, was also driven by this philosophy. Throughout its development, one thing we refused to compromise on from the solution standpoint was “downtime reduction,” aimed at improving the actual productivity of our customers, the users. When MFPs take too long to process printing, faxing and scanning during everyday office work, it bogs down the entire workflow. Minimizing such losses originating from MFPs is essential to achieving the goal of operational efficiency for our customers. This is why we chose downtime reduction as our main development topic. We paid special attention to the reduction of downtime associated with colour. Colour machines require a 4-colours CMYK processing, resulting in 4 times the processing of B&W machines. Also, there is the timing adjustment for the processing of each of the 4 colours, making colour machines that much slower. The adoption of colour MFPs is accelerating worldwide at the moment. If we were to leave this gap unaddressed, customers who upgrade from B&W to colour would be saddled with a source of increasing stress. We worked towards a colour machine that could provide the same level of operational smoothness as B&W, in an uncompromising pursuit of downtime reduction.
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Optimized the timing and frequency of image stabilization control |
In concretizing shorter downtime, we started by determining the nature of actual productivity. Traditionally, an index called “PPM (print per minute)” is used to gauge the productivity of MFPs. However, PPM is only the print engine speed, and just one of the elements that governs productivity. Actual productivity of the print function alone is determined by a number of diverse factors including first-print time, stability during consecutive printing and recovery time from standby mode in addition to engine speed. We therefore supposed a number of office-use situations, considered all factors including printing and data processing, and created a unique Konica Minolta index called “PPH (print per hour),” which quantitatively evaluates actual productivity. We then measured the PPH of existing models and identified potential for improvement to decide on the development approach. In order to reduce downtime and increase actual productivity based on PPH, we achieved a number of technological innovations. The first among these is the optimization of image stabilization control during colour printing. During colour printing, MFPs need image stabilization control unique to colour printers, such as colour registration and saturation adjustments, in order to consistently produce high-quality prints. In situations where a large amount of colour printing is being done continuously, printing operations need to be paused to control image stabilization to maintain the quality of colour images. The resulting downtime can only be a wasted and it is a stressful time for customers using the MFP. In order to maximize the comfort of our MFP users during printing, we started an all-out effort to reduce the stressful downtime. A double-pronged approach of optimizing the timing of image stabilization control and minimizing the time required for each stabilization implementation was selected as the solution. By enhancing the stability of the print engine capable of processing as large a volume as possible without adjustments and engineering controls that perform the necessary adjustments appropriately, we managed to significantly reduce both the frequency and duration of image stabilization during color printing. The result is an actual productivity of 99.8% according to the PPH index. Due to these improvements to actual productivity, we can now give powerful assistance to our customers’ office operations. One example would be a common occurrence such as needing to print out large amounts of colour material on short notice for unexpected meetings. With our technology, customers can speedily make colour prints with high image quality. Through these improvements in actual colour printing productivity, it is possible for us to offer solutions for greater operational efficiency to customers at a higher level than ever before.
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Improving actual productivity in the total package, including scanners and other features |
 The colour MFP “bizhub C353” was developed to achieve better actual printing productivity from a number of perspectives, not just image stabilization optimization. One example is double-sided colour printing. Generally speaking, double-sided printing in colour involves more processing steps than B&W, holding back actual productivity. Through the optimization of a unique paper feeding path called “Paper Crossing System” and the use of feeding path switching guides, we managed to attain an impressive speed of 35 pages per minute even for double-sided colour printing of A4 crosswise, or a productivity of 100% (See image 2). A 100% productivity, the norm for one-sided B&W printing, is now possible for double-sided colour processing. Our pursuit of improved actual productivity is not limited to the print function. For example, the scanner module is the same as the one included in models of a more high-end class. The result is a scanning speed that is the best in class, and a significant actual productivity improvement in the process of digitizing paper documents. In addition, we incorporated a number of innovations and unassuming refinements not included in the spec charts, all in order to reduce downtime and improve actual productivity. Customers who choose this model are gaining a solutions package that includes greater efficiency in all colour MFP operations, from printing to scanning to faxing. The actual productivity improvement that we undertook proved to be a quantum leap, well ahead of the competition. It was a tough challenge to hit every single performance goal value while driving cost reduction, but the development team pulled together to achieve this objective. We hope to pass this result on to future products, and continue enhancing the value of the solutions we offer to our customers.
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