Konica Minolta brings white toner to centre stage with Bizhub 12010s debut

When Katsuhisa Asari, managing director at Konica Minolta, speaks about the Bizhub 12010s, the tone is less about a routine product refresh and more about closing a long-standing gap. “White has been something our customers in India have been asking for consistently over the years,” he says. “This launch brings us to the same competitive stage, but with an approach that reflects our strengths in toner chemistry.”

For the first time in its production print portfolio, Konica Minolta has introduced a CMYK plus white toner press for the Indian market at Pamex 2026, positioning the Bizhub 12010s as a flagship launch aimed squarely at premium, short-run and high-value applications.

At Pamex, the company’s showcase spans production print, labels and embellishment, but the spotlight remains firmly on the 12010s and its sibling, the 14010s. The ‘s’ suffix, Asari explains, stands for ‘special’, denoting white toner capability. “It is a simple name, but it represents a very important step for us,” he says. “This is our first CMYK plus white system in this segment.”

The Bizhub 12010s was also later inaugurated at TechNova’s stand at the show.

White done differently

The key distinction lies in how the white is applied. Unlike systems that require multiple passes to build opacity, the Bizhub 12010s delivers white as an underlay in a single run. “Our white is designed to work as an underlay and achieve strong opacity in one pass,” Asari explains. “Others may need two hits to get the same effect.”

Crucially, the white uses standard toner chemistry, eliminating the need for special handling, purging or production planning. “Because it is normal toner, customers do not need separate workflows or additional planning for white,” says Asari. “That simplicity is a big advantage.”

This matters because white is not about everyday paper. Asari is clear that conventional white stocks rarely need it. “White paper does not need white toner,” he states. “The real demand comes from clear films, coloured substrates, black media and textured stocks.”

These applications are growing as brand owners expand SKUs and printers look to realise higher margins through value-added work such as premium invitations, short-run labels and speciality commercial print.

The Bizhub 12010s is capable of delivering speeds of up to 120 A4 pages per minute, while white printing runs at up to 120 A4 pages per minute. Monthly duty cycles extend up to 2.2-million A4 prints, positioning the press firmly in the industrial production segment.

The engine supports paper lengths of up to 1,300-mm, enabling six-page A4 or banner-format applications, and handles substrates up to 450 gsm. “This combination of speed, volume and media flexibility underpins Konica Minolta’s pitch to premium commercial printers and short-run label producers looking to add white without compromising productivity,” says Manish Gupta, head of product life cycle and solution consultancy division at Konica Minolta Business Solutions India.

The Bizhub 12010s was also later inaugurated at TechNova’s stand at the show  

Textures, substrates and premium intent

On textured stocks, the press preserves the tactile feel rather than flattening it. Heat and pressure fuse the toner while maintaining surface character, provided the grooves are within workable limits. “The texture does not disappear,” Asari explains. “The look, touch and feel remain, which is exactly what premium customers want.”

Clear films and speciality substrates are another focus area, particularly for sheetfed labels where converters are not using applicators. “In India, we see growing demand for sheet-based label production because of short runs and increasing SKU counts,” says Asari. “That is where white toner really shows its value.”

Beyond white, the Bizhub 12010s is packed with automation aimed at reducing operator intervention. Paper is measured before feeding for size, stiffness, moisture and white point. If a sheet is unevenly cut, the system can correct registration, reject the sheet or stop the job. Once a paper library is built, profiles are applied automatically to maintain colour accuracy.

During print, Konica Minolta’s IQ systems handle real-time quality control, with the latest iteration extending validation to variable data jobs. “The idea is to make the machine more intelligent,” Asari says. “Operators should not have to spend time on manual checks before, during or after printing.”

Questions around inline clear toner are met with a strategic answer. Konica Minolta continues to back offline embellishment through its MGI portfolio, offering spot UV, foiling, foil-on-foil and clear-on-foil in multiple combinations. “With MGI, customers can do much more than just clear,” Asari argues. “We believe that delivers greater value than a single inline clear option today.”

Pricing, positioning and confidence

Configured with white, the Bizhub 12010s sits north of INR 1.10-crore, compared to around INR 90 lakh for the CMYK-only version. It is positioned as an investment for printers aiming to move up the value chain rather than compete purely on volume.

Asari cites IDC data showing Konica Minolta holding just over 54% share of India’s production digital press installs of the 2,700 presses added in 2025 carrying the brand. Growth for the current financial year is tracking at 8% to 9%, broadly in line with India’s GDP, with a stronger Q4 expected.

What underpins this confidence is reach. With near-total service coverage across tier-one to tier-four cities, Konica Minolta is preparing for digital print demand to migrate beyond metros. Internally, the company runs on what Asari calls ‘1,000 action items’ to keep teams aligned. “Whether it is sales, service or support, everyone knows what needs to be done,” he says.

In that context, the Bizhub 12010s is more than a long-awaited white toner press. It signals Konica Minolta’s intent to remain dominant as Indian print shifts towards premium, short-run and application-led growth, where white is no longer an add-on, but a commercial statement.

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