Founded in July 1986, Mineon Printech celebrated its 33rd anniversary this year. A publishing and commercial printer producing a variety of books and publications, Mineon Printech moved in October 2018 to a new factory located in the city of Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Korea.
The area in which the new factory is located is packed with Korea's leading printing companies, and while accessing industry information is easy, competition is very stiff.
Mineon Printech installed the eight-color Lithrone GX40RP when it moved to the new factory to fortify its competitive edge through more efficient production and higher print quality.

Cue for investment in the Lithrone GX40RP

Kim says, "It wasn't that we trusted the technology in Komori presses right from the beginning. Our first connection with Komori presses began quite a while ago with the installation of a used Lithrone S32. As a result of managing a printing company for a long time and operating presses from various manufacturers, I determined that no press could rival Komori in providing the advantages of print quality and ease of maintenance."
"I also did not decide to trust Komori technology simply based on operating results," explains Kim. "It was important to me that ever since its founding in 1923, Komori Corporation has invested unsparingly in the development of presses and demonstrated the possibilities of growth in various printing technologies, including offset presses."
In the past few years, shorter work hours, increased wages and greater customer and environmental demands have put increased pressure on Kim. He decided that the overall solution was to invest in automated printing equipment. Says Kim: "We selected Komori because the Lithrone GX40RP, which is drawing attention in the Korean market due to these industry trends, is the model that gives us the most confidence at just the right time."

Technology powers growth

It's no exaggeration to say that printing industry growth is proportional to total equipment investment. Kim says: "It is necessary to fully push technological capabilities to achieve market growth, and companies must create profits in this way and contribute more to society."
"Many publishing and commercial printers should be worried about their future rather than their past. In the past, there may have been periods when the printing market was brisk, with high unit prices and the consumption of large volumes of print. But now we are facing the paperless age and must implement measures that respond to the present. Since our customers will demand better print quality and also more reasonable prices in the future, we must solve two crucial issues: production site automation and print quality," says Kim.
As a solution to both the automatic equipment and print quality requirements, KHS-AI (Advanced Interface), specified on Mineon's Lithrone GX40RP, not only enables quick register and color matching settings but also maintains and improves stable print quality by optimizing preset data. The A-APC (Asynchronous Automatic Plate Changer) can change all plates in just 85 seconds, minimizing manpower and work time.
These are important because the speed of a company's growth is a function of how quickly it can introduce and apply advanced technologies in order to keep up with the pace of market growth.

Duty to provide solutions

From left: Jeong Chango, Director, Production Control Department; Kim Sunkui, President; Kim Seungjun, Senior Managing Director, Sales Management Department

Worried voices have been heard regarding the declining volume of orders from publishers, the main clients of Mineon Printech.
"Rather than the simple transactional relationship of taking orders and making deliveries, I believe that finding solutions together with the customer is the better road," Kim says.
"The Lithrone GX40RP, with its high production speed of 16,500 sph, stable print quality, efficiency and low maintenance costs, is capable of short-run production and reasonable prices, enabling us to provide solutions that satisfy our customers," he adds.

Vision of Mineon Printech's future

"We want to do everything possible to become an innovative company in the new market of Industry 4.0. Offering not only high quality printing but also the know-how acquired during 30 years of operation, we are able to satisfy customers with our outstanding technical capabilities. Winning customer trust through our service and quality, we can grow together with customers by delivering our unique customer kando. This is our vision, and we are committed to doing our best together with Komori to achieve it," concludes Kim.