Konica Minolta, Inc. (Konica Minolta) announced the construction of a plant at Konica Minolta Kofu Site (Chuo-shi, Yamanashi Prefecture) for mass production of plastic substrate flexible Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) lighting panels toward a stronger development of its OLED lighting business in fiscal 2014 and forward. The construction will be complete in the summer of 2014. The plant is scheduled to start mass production in the fall of 2014.

OLED lighting is attracting attention as the next generation lighting having such unprecedented features as thin, light weight, and surface light source. In addition, it features high energy efficacy, no scalding surface, and reduced environmental footprint since it is mercury-free unlike fluorescent lightings. Furthermore, OLED lighting technology is mild to eyes and friendly to people, since it is free of ultra-violet rays.

Konica Minolta has been making progress in the research and development of OLED lighting toward commercialization, as it most effectively utilizes the company's unique core technologies. Along the way, the company has also been vigorously driving its marketing activities.

In 2011 Konica Minolta commercialized OLED lighting panels using all phosphorescent emitters for the first time in the world. Last year the company exhibited at trade shows its paper-thin and light-weight plastic substrate flexible OLED lighting panels and low-resistance transparent conductive film. So far in 2014, Konica Minolta has presented pioneering R&D results and drawn close attention in the industry, including the announcement of the OLED lighting panels with the world's first color tunable function* and the world's thinnest form factor*among flexible type, and white-light OLED lighting panel with the world's highest efficacy.

Through its marketing activities, Konica Minolta has reached the conclusion that offerings of light, bendable and hard-to-break OLED lighting panels with proven plastic substrate technologies will be able to deliver new values to customers not only in general lighting and architecture sectors but also in electric appliances and automobile sectors. These findings have paved the way for the plant construction.

The new plant will introduce high-productivity roll-to-roll manufacturing method for the world's first mass production of plastic substrate flexible OLED lighting panels with white color and color tunable functions.