Konica Minolta held an open house at their 18,500 sq.ft. Konica Minolta CEC (Client Engagement Center) located in Ramsey N.J., in the 30-acre Konica Minolta US campus. At this open house they had over 60 attendees of which fewer than 10 were existing customers. People came out to see what Konica Minolta had to offer to support the changing markets.

According to Sam Errigo, President and CEO Konica Minolta Business Solutions USA, “We have somewhere around $8 million in inventory on the floor, plus the building, plus our staff. This place is open seven days a week, if we need it. We do virtual demos here, on-site demos, and it’s packed every day. So that’s a testament to our commitment to the industry but, more importantly, industrial print.”

Historically, KM’s core business has been multifunction printers (MFP), but it’s no secret that the global MFP market will continue to decline, and probably at a CAGR of ~3-5% over the next decade. While MFPs are not going away anytime soon, KM and all of the other companies in that space need to focus on growth areas and strategies. KM has about 17% market share, so the other 83% go to the competitors. In addition to adjusting to that decline, they are doing things differently than some of the competition. They are adjusting their strategy and building direct channels. More than 50% of the revenue on hardware comes from the dealer channel, and roughly 48% comes from the direct channel. However, production and industrial print can be a complex yet lucrative business, so you need to know more than you would to sell an MFP.