HP: Entire Indigo range revamped for drupa launch

HP says drupa will see the "most exciting launches in the history of Indigo" announcing a raft of new print solutions with eight new presses that include a 6000sph B2 press, an entry level SRA3, and software for its new range of label and packaging presses that will enable them to hit any spot colour within three minutes.

 

Phillip Rennell, sales and marketing director at ANZ distributor Currie Group said, “HP Indigo has really shown their leadership in the graphic arts market, producing an enhanced portfolio for our customers, continuing to deliver digital print solutions for today and showing how they are creating the future. Again.”

Alon Bar-Shany, general manager at HP Indigo said the new press line-up was designed to work in what he called 'the new normal' of the online world where same day delivery, no minimum orders, evidential sustainability and consumers willing to pay premium prices for outstanding experiences were facts of life. He said the current coronavirus crisis was an opportunity to look at things in new ways.

The commercial presses are now Series 5, the SRA3 line-up will now include three systems: the enhanced top-of-the-range HP Indigo 7K, a new entry level HP Indigo 7eco and the remanufactured HP Indigo 7r. The B2 line up is now in two versions: the HP Indigo 15K for premium market, and the new 6000sph HP Indigo 100K for high-volume work.

In labels and packaging HP Indigo is launching a new spot colour matching system SpotMaster across the range, which it says will enable any spot colour to be reproduced accurately within three minutes. Label presses will include the HP Indigo 6K with inline varnishing, the HP Indigo 8K which is the duo version. THere is a new flexibles press, the HP Indigo 25K which supersedes the 20000.

The new folding carton press is the HP Indigo 35K which supersedes the 30000, and, says Indigo general manager Alon Bar Shany, has 'hundreds of improvements under the hood'. For larger cartonboard printing the company is launching the HP Indigo 90K for B1 plus sized sheets.

HP also previewed a new narrow web label press the Series 6 V12, which will print at 120 metres a minute in 12 colours at 1600dpi, and is based on a new LEPX technology. It is due for release in two years' time.

Global head of Graphic Solutions Business Santi Morera said the new print systems would offer 'high growth opportunities to printers' and said the launch was 'unprecedented'.

HP will have the largest booth at drupa, again taking the whole of Hall 17, and will run a Possibility City, with the emphasis on showing what can be produced. There will be some 30 HP Indigo presses, some configured in factory type settings, for instance there will be a digital pouch factory and a carton factory with end-to-end production.

“Over the last four years, HP customers have almost doubled business, generating US$15bn in revenue in the last year alone from 100 million print orders. We believe the dramatic innovations in our drupa portfolio will usher in a new era that will drive continued growth for customers over the next decade and beyond,” added Bar-Shany,

Bar-Shany emphasised that all the print solutions that were shown at drupa 2016 were ready for commercial uptake, and the same will be the case this time around. Drupa of course is under the Covid-19 shadow right now, but Bar Shany said he was 'hopeful' the show would run.

Bar-Shany said, “The world is full of good news and bad news, our job is to turn that into opportunity, which the new range of print solutions does.”

He acknowledged the declining commercial print market and the rising labels and packaging markets, and said both offered opportunities.

Beyond the presses HP is developing its PrintOSX cloud-platform applications with an AI-driven service and support infrastructure to enable printers to get the most out of their press investment.

Based on PrintOSX advanced technology, tools and know-how, HP says printers can start building the “print factory of the future” and reach operational excellence, automate production, and innovate with high-value applications.

Launched at drupa 2016, some 12,000 HP customers are now connected on HP PrintOS, using a range of applications that leverage big data on the cloud in real time for all types of production challenges.