Konica Minolta Inc. announced an additional investment in France-based MGI Digital Technology (MGI), a manufacturer of digital-based high-value-added printing equipment.
Konica Minolta and MGI formed an equity and business alliance in January 2014. The company now acquired an additional stake in MGI, bringing the stake together with the existing stake to 42.3%. MGI, which has 204 employees, was founded in 1982 and has its headquarters in Fresnes, France. MGI revenues were €68.17 million ($80.09 million) in the full year 2019.
MGI’s digital decoration printing machines use 100% inkjet heads manufactured by Konica Minolta and respond to the need for high-value-added printing that highlights the appeal of products, such as foil stamping and embossing. MGI is also expanding into electronic circuit and other industrial printing.
A statement from Konica Minolta said that, over the past four years, Konica Minolta’s industrial printing business has approximately doubled in size. During the COVID-19 pandemic, demand has temporarily stagnated in some areas of the industrial printing sector. Over the medium to long term, however, the company believes that demand for industrial printing will shift more to on-demand than ever before, and that the shift from analogue to digital printing will increasingly accelerate in order to respond to this change in demand.
The digitisation of post-processing will become increasingly important, according to Konica Minolta. Particularly, it is essential to expand the line-up of digital embellishment machines that make printed materials more appealing, and it is crucial for Konica Minolta to deepen the alliance with MGI, the first company in the world to commercialise digital embellishment printing machines.
Konica Minolta said it will strive to provide increase the value of MGI and establish a strong position in the market by effectively launching ALPHAJET, taking advantage of the customer contact it has accumulated through its global sales network and capabilities.
The statement adds that, in the future, Konica Minolta aims to provide the ultimate digital system that can automatically complete all of the pre-process, printing, and post-process to the final product.
