DOING WHAT’S RIGHT Founded 65 years ago in April, Kyocera’s history began as the Kyoto Ceramic Co., Ltd. (now Kyocera Corporation) in Kyoto, Japan. The company was founded by Dr Kazuo Inamori as a company specialising in fine ceramics. Today, Kyocera manufactures and develops a large portfolio of eco-conscious and secure printing hardware and inkjet production print technology and is a global company comprising 298 group companies and 81,209 employees worldwide. Starting out with a single product, the U-shaped Kelcima, an insulating component used in the cathode-ray tubes of early TV sets, meant that Kyocera was well placed to go on to offer high-performance inkjet heads using its in-house piezo actuator. 20 Years of Inkjet As a result, Kyocera has been in the inkjet business for over two decades and many OEM systems can be found to include its inkjet printheads. The KJ4B inkjet head series has been specifically designed for high-speed printing of water-based inks which is ideal for transaction, document, and textile printing. On the TASKalfa Pro devices, the large printheads enable fast, single-pass printing up to SRA3 whilst working with Kyocera’s water pigment inks to ensure consistent output density. The inks also reduce emissions from volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ultrafine particles (UFPs) which contributes to improved workplace emissions in commercial printing environments. For the year ending March 2023, Kyocera Corporation achieved a consolidated revenue of over $15.114m (£12.12m) with the document solutions business unit contributing 21.5% to sales revenue – more than any other segment that year. “As a managed service provider, we deliver a comprehensive portfolio of document solutions, professional consulting, infrastructure, collaboration, and content services, and specialise in cybersecurity,” the company says. “Kyocera’s superfast inkjet production printers offer a cost-efficient alternative to conventional printing in transactional, trans-promotional, and direct mail applications. Built for speed and reliability, they feature our innovative proprietary printhead and ink technologies.” At drupa this year, Kyocera will be launching its new digital inkjet press, the TASKalfa Pro 55000c which targets the graphic arts space as a low-cost entry to printing on direct-to-offset-coated media with no pre-coat. The small-footprinted machine promises 1,200 x 1,200dpi on 52 to 400gsm media and achieves 150ipm with a duty cycle of 5 million pages per With a digital inkjet portfolio boasting environmental benefits and a new model to be launched at drupa, we take a look at Kyocera’s 65-year history and the company's success today 43 www.printmonthly.co.uk May / June 2024 - Issue 348 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT / KYOCERA ▲ The TASKalfa Pro 15000 series offers easy front maintenance
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