I have been to many schools over the years. Konica and Kyocera schools for their color machines where I really learned a lot about the color process. I have also worked on a variety of other manufacturers' color equipment.
Ricoh at one time (to me) had a great product, (but in my view) they kinda priced themselves out of the market without offering much in the way of innovation.
To me and by far Konica and Sharp are right up there. These two manufactures also make production machines.
But I will say Kyocera is on the right track. From the time Kyocera bought Mita (and I'm an old Mita man from the days of the 600 Dry) it seems to me that Kyocera has made a considerable effort to improve their product, especially in color. Consider the 250ci,300ci,400ci,500ci. YIKES!! That was a nightmare. But those were replaced by the zero series (XXX0ci) and those guys were a big improvement. And so it is today with the new 4 series as Kyocera continues to refine and improve their color products. I think Kyocera has even introduced a production model.
In my view, when a manufacture gets into the production model machines, it has entered the realm of the most discriminating customer. And these customers do not put up with no shit product. Many of these guys use a loupe when examining the output. That's where Konica really dominates the market.
Remember, the above is just my opinion based on what I have worked on over the years. And for those of you that have been banging on equipment since the late 70s, early 80s, that's a lot.
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