Fiery LLC and Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc. (Konica Minolta) have announced the release of five new Fiery digital front ends (DFEs) as part of their ongoing and long-term partnership. These new DFEs are based on the latest Fiery platform, Fiery FS600 Pro, and customized to drive maximum productivity for a wide range of Konica Minolta production presses, saving time and increasing profitability.

The new Fiery DFEs, fine-tuned to the Konica Minolta presses they serve, enable Konica Minolta customers to simplify and automate job preparation, color management and processing while ensuring print production runs smoothly at maximum capacity.

"Print providers are increasingly seeking solutions that will help them automate their workflows in the face of rising operational costs, labor storages and decreased margins," said John Henze, vice president of sales and marketing, Fiery. "With the new Fiery DFEs, Konica Minolta customers have the tools to automate prepress, makeready and color management into one-step workflows, making it easier to take on new print jobs and grow the business with less experienced staff while still ensuring the highest quality, print after print."

The new solutions Fiery and Konica Minolta are announcing are customized to deliver the best possible press utilization. These include:

• Fiery IC-319 and IC-318 v3 DFEs that drive the Konica Minolta AccurioPress C14000/C12000 Enhanced color production presses for the high-end production printing market.
• Fiery IC-319 and IC-318L v3 DFEs that drive the Konica Minolta AccurioPress C7100/C7090 digital color presses.
• Fiery IC-317 and IC-419 v3 DFEs that drive the Konica Minolta AccurioPress C4080/C4070 and AccurioPrint C4065 printers.

"We are pleased to offer these new DFEs to our customers," said Dino Pagliarello, senior vice president of portfolio management and planning, Konica Minolta. "Print providers who are looking to increase performance will appreciate the combination of our outstanding presses with the new Fiery servers to get the most out of their investments. Customers will benefit from the Fiery workflow that further automates job preparation, helping operators produce color-accurate work, the first time, every time."

New capabilities when adding a Fiery DFE to a Konica Minolta printer include:

• User-friendly color management automation. New, easy-to-use color automation and spot color processing features ensure superior color accuracy and quality while cutting operator and profiling time by up to 50%. Thanks to the tight integration with the Konica Minolta IQ-501 Intelligent Quality Optimizer, Fiery offers intuitive automation tools that allow operators with little color management knowledge to produce accurate and consistent color at all times. Creating a custom profile and calibration set for new media is achieved in one easy step and requires no operator decision making. Plus, the DFE can automatically execute recalibration schedules to maintain color consistency without operator intervention.
• Streamlined, error-free job setup, submission and scheduling. Simplify the prepress workflow and reduce manual job touches as users can now seamlessly submit jobs to Fiery JobFlow directly from Fiery Command WorkStation. Operators can group multiple jobs and apply properties to speed up job preparation time. Integration with Adobe PDF Print Engine 6.0 provides a native end-to-end PDF workflow that improves the consistency and flexibility of the printed output from design to print. Konica Minolta operators can use the new built-in print scheduling to slot jobs into a dynamic 24-hour window to best align with press availability and customer deadlines.
• Smart file processing. The Fiery IC-319, IC-318 and IC-318L servers come standard with Intelligent HyperRIP technology, a game-changing innovation that makes it easier for print providers to meet tight turnaround times for higher volumes of shorter runs. Intelligent HyperRIP automatically switches between single-job and multiple-job modes based on a file's characteristics for faster processing, either splitting a single job into multiple parts or processing multiple short jobs simultaneously.
• Enterprise-level security and compliance. The new DFEs for Konica Minolta printers include security and compliance enhancements designed to meet the highest corporate and industry regulations for data security, encryption, cloud-based printing and sanitization standards. This includes integration with single sign-on (SSO) credentials, full compliance with FIPS 140-2 and Common Criteria and native support for the Mopria Print Service and Universal Print by Microsoft.