Ramsey, NJ – Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta), a leading provider of advanced imaging and networking technologies for the desktop to the print shop, today announced that Farmington, MN Area Public Schools (Farmington) has increased overall print efficiency throughout their eight schools with Konica Minolta bizhub PRO production print systems and bizhub multifunctional products (MFPs – print, copy, fax and scan all in one system).  Supporting 6500 students and 750 employees, Farmington's document center has streamlined digital imaging across the school district with the help of Konica Minolta hardware including one bizhub PRO C5501 Color Digital Press, two bizhub PRO 1050 Monochrome Digital Presses and 18 bizhub 421 Monochrome MFPs, to increase overall impressions from eight million to 15 million annually.

In 2006, the Farmington, MN-based school district opened a centralized production print document center with a Web-to-print solution from Rochester Software Associates, Inc. (RSA) to help better manage printing in the high school, two middle schools, five elementary schools and two office buildings that comprise the district. The document center quickly outgrew its initial implementation as electronic document management was adopted by employees and teachers.

Nuance's eCopy software on the bizhub 421 MFPs has further enabled easier transmission of documents to the document center and minimized the time teachers spend at the printers and copiers. The higher quality output of the Konica Minolta digital presses has also helped eliminate Farmington's reliance on external vendors for professional quality print needs, saving them in excess of $50,000 annually. Additionally, the support and maintenance provided by Advanced Imaging Solutions (AIS), an authorized Konica Minolta dealer partner, has decreased the overall down time of the technology and ensures that the document center continues to perform at maximum capacity.

Looking to address the issue of capacity with equipment rather than additional employees, AIS helped Farmington replace its existing print fleet with a combination of Konica Minolta production print systems in the document center and bizhub MFPs throughout the ten buildings.  Since implementing the Konica Minolta products and solutions, Farmington has increased output volume, reduced hundreds of hours of overtime for document center staff, established same-day turnaround for incoming print requests, and eliminated wasted time spent by teachers on printing and preparing documents for the classroom.

"We have been extremely impressed with the speed and performance of the Konica Minolta solution, particularly the duplexing and wide range of finishing options offered on the digital presses which allow us to easily and quickly create high-quality, classroom-ready documents in record time," said Peggy Johnson, Print Center Manager at Farmington Area Public Schools.  "We can now deliver print jobs submitted by midnight to the teacher prior to class the next morning with ease, and the teachers can spend more time in the classroom with the students."

"The Farmington School District serves as an example of how school systems and other educational institutions can leverage Konica Minolta's digital printing technology and the support of our local dealer partners – like AIS – to reduce costs, increase output and better meet the needs of teachers, administrators and students," said Kevin Kern, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc.  "Our educational customers can count on Konica Minolta to provide innovative and cost effective digital imaging solutions that meet their needs today and can grow with them as their needs evolve over time."