Konica Minolta 2006 Annual Report Download - page 19

17
BUSINESS
TECHNOLOGIES
*
In keeping with the policies of the “genre-top” strategy, the Group
endeavored to expand sales in three key areas where growth is expected.
As a result, segment sales recorded growth over the previous fiscal year.
For the year ended March 2006, the Group worked to expand its share
of color and high speed product sales in the MFP business, particularly in
the European and U.S. markets where high growth rates are expected.
Color MFP demand is expanding in Japan, the U.S. and the European
regions, and four new models targeting the office segment were intro-
duced as the Group worked to provide optimal solutions to meet customer
needs for color documents. New products saw particularly strong sales on
customer support for their high performance features such as high image
quality, high productivity, high reliability and ease-of-use features, which
were made possible by the industry’s highest state-of-the-art polymerized
toner and imaging technologies, as well as tandem engines.
As a result, color MFP unit sales recorded high growth over the previ-
ous fiscal year and resulted in a sharp increase in the ratio of color
machines in segment 2 and above (products with output speeds of over
21 sheets per minute) products, which the Group has been emphasizing.
In addition, market share is rising, and the Group has established a posi-
tion in the top group in the U.S. and European markets, which the Group
considers to be key markets.
On the other hand, the new “bizhub PRO 920” with output speed of 92
pages per minute was added to the Group’s lineup in the medium- to
high-speed segment of the monochrome MFP market where competition
is intensifying. Further, concerning the light production printing segment
where growth is expected from in-house printing divisions of large
corporations, data centers and major franchise copy shops, the Group
formed a specialty sales team and promoted strategic alliances with
firms outside the Group in an effort to provide products and services with
high quality and reliability. Unit sales in such high speed product areas
were strong and recorded significantly higher sales than in the previous
fiscal year.
As competition in the LBP market is intensifying for color products, the
Group’s marketing emphasis shifted from targeting sales in the SOHO
segment that had been the main focus heretofore to general corporate
users, and because of the shift in the target market, strengthened the
product lineup in the high value-added high-speed segment as the
Group’s sales efforts shifted to an emphasis on expanding print volumes
in order to enhance revenue from consumables.
In the OEM business on the other hand, the Group began shipments of
new products to major domestic and overseas LBP manufacturers in order
to lay the groundwork for future business expansion.
In the color products area, a new equipment assembly factory built in
Wuxi, China, began operating during the year. In polymerized toner, in
addition to expanding capacity at existing facilities, construction began on
a new specialty factory.
As a result of the above, consolidated sales for the Business
Technologies business in the fiscal year ended March 2006 were ¥606.7
billion, while operating income was ¥65.1 billion.
0
200
400
600
800
02 03 04 05 06
Net Sales
(Billions of Yen)
0
20
40
60
80
02 03 04 05 06
Operating Income
(Billions of Yen)
Akio Kitani
President
Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.