Dear readers, this is the last of a series of articles published on LinkedIn to review and highlight the critical technological contributions of Komori that changed everything in the graphic arts industry.

I took an active part working as a press instructor during start-ups and operator's training in Canada and Latin American countries while working for Komori Canada first and from Mexico later in the 90s.

Komori revolutionized sheetfed presses' manufacturing by introducing the highest automation level ever assembled on printing equipment. 

The advanced engineering developments, such as the plug-and-play press design concept, with early adoption of the Toyota manufacturing principles, proved very successful and adopted by all printing manufacturing equipment companies. This manufacturing philosophy tightened the relationship between Komori as a service provider and its customers.

For the first time, introducing a fully Automatic Plate Changing System (APC), Komori launched a game-changer. In the early 90s, that single innovation became a milestone that changed everything in the Graphic Arts Industry.

I will be forever indebted to Takeshi Yoshikawa, a senior team member at the Komori Tsukuba Plant. He contributed to the timeline of events and shared personal experiences and some of the details included in the articles.

Yoshikawa also took an active part from the beginning as hired freshly graduated engineer and lived through the Lithrone press development. He witnessed each of those reengineering efforts step by step and worked closely under the leadership of Mr. Sugiyama, Komori's Head of R & D.

Komori has been awarded five times the InterTech Technology Award for innovations.

The Komori and Landa's partnership introduce Impremia NS 40, the latest game-changing technological developments for commercial and packaging industry segments suited for the short and medium run. 

Kando, to surpass customers expectations

Komori's customer commitment to equipment manufacturing quality gained a worldwide reputation for two reasons: exceeding customer expectations and delivering complete technical solutions based on quality and product reliability. 

Since its foundation nearly 100 years ago, Komori's principal motto exceeding customers' expectations remains. 

Since the introduction of the four colours offset press in 1957, Komori has maintained a strong presence in the industry for its press design and technological innovations and developments.

At the same time, it established a reputation for security printing by developing high-end specialized complete security printing systems to produce the highest security banknotes.

Komori's continuous innovations for currency manufacturing

Currently, Komori's integrated systems for banknotes printing are used by the National Printing Bureau in Japan, Korea Minting and Security Printing, the Reserve Bank of India, and The Nigerian Security Printing and Minting.

The constant innovations in currency manufacturing allowed Komori to perfect CURRENCY NV32, a multi-process for banknote manufacturing platform. Two years ago, the prestigious International Association of Currency Affairs granted Komori an award a Currency Technical Award for New Currency Features.  

Upcoming Japanese Banknote.

The new 1,000-yen banknote to be released in 2024 features a Nobel Prize-nominated bacteriologist Shibasaburo Kitasato, remembered for discovering the bubonic plague infectious agent. On the reverse side, Hokusai's well-known image of the wave by Mount Fuji. 

In Canada and the USA

Komori presses produce on Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and other synthetic plastic polymers credit/debit cards for the Payment Card Industry and meeting the highest quality to comply with Data Security Standards.

Leading credit card companies such as American Express, Capital One, Chase, City Bank, Master Card, and Visa rely on and trust the consistent Komori printing quality. 

Many other PVC ID cards manufactured on a Komori Lithrone, such as driver's licenses, health cards, and high-end security ID documents, include anti-counterfeiting features of high resolution such as rainbow printed designs.

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This article's perspectives and opinions are based on the author's experiences and research and supported by information obtained from Komori R & D senior team member Engr. Takeshi Yoshikawa at the Komori Tsukuba Plant. The author's first-hand field experiences expand several years—nothing in this article demerits other printing equipment manufacturers' technical accomplishments.