Based on process data at the time of occurrence, Konica Minolta identified that the fire was caused by static electricity within the production equipment.
The company announced that around 6pm on 6 July a fire broke out at its Supplies Manufacturing Co., Ltd’s Tatsuno factory. The factory is located in Tatsuno, Nagano Prefecture and produces toner for multi-functional peripherals (MFPs) and other equipment. It started operating in 2007 and employs 44 people.
Having obtained the opinions of third-party organisation specialising in occupational safety, on 28 July, regarding the method of identifying the cause, countermeasures and safety, Konica Minolta announced it has conducted final verification as Konica Minolta Group and confirmed the validity and safety of the countermeasures.
Konica Minolta added that the countermeasures have been applied to all production equipment of the same type as the one in which fire broke out.
With the completion of the countermeasures, the factory resumed operation on 7 August. Konica Minolta said: “At the re-start of the production, the safety measures were confirmed to work appropriately, and employees went through in-house training so that the safety is sufficiently ensured.”
“The Konica Minolta Group sincerely addresses the incident and works on securing safety in the area and preventing the recurrence. We would like to give our sincerest apologies and appreciate the understanding and support in resuming production,” the company added.
