NEW FLEXIBLES PRESS HP INDIGO 200K LAUNCHED FOR GROWING MARKET

HP has unveiled its new HP Indigo 200K Digital Press, which it says is designed to give digital flexible converters the competitive edge with better productivity, on-demand delivery, no minimum orders, designs of one, reduced energy consumption, and minimal waste.

The new, series 5, HP Indigo 200K digital press, prints up to 56 metres a minute and, says HP, ‘dramatically’ increases the productivity of high-margin, sustainable short runs of digital flexible packaging. It will be supplied in Australia and New Zealand by Currie Group.

Digital flexible packaging is a key growth area, and opportunity for print businesses. It is predicted to grow signifcantly over the next few years, as brands proliferate, and versioning grows as marketers attempt to increase sales of their products.

The HP Indigo 200K digital press delivers 30 per cent improvement in speed and 45 per cent increase in productivity over the current HP Indigo 25K. HP says the new Indigo 200K pushes the break-even point by 50 per cent, and enables printers to triple their volume.

The company says it opens the door to more flexible packaging converters who want to enter the digital market. HP says that today, breakeven point is around 2000sqm, but with the new HP Indigo 200K, the breakeven point shifts to 3000sqm. HP says this number is proven by multiple TCO analyses carried out with customers. It varies by job characteristic (number of colours, coverage, media etc) as well as flexo operated by the customer (speeds, setup times and waste, cost of plates, number of colour spots and SKUs in the job).

Noam Zilbershtain, VP & general manager of HP Indigo & Scitex told Print21: “Our customers’ digital flexible packaging volume doubled in the last three years. The HP Indigo 200K will allow our customers to triple the market size they serve, allowing for continued double-digit growth every year going forward. From annual revenue of $2m the business is profitable. At $4m-5m annual turnover, the ROI for a full digital pouch factory is 1.5-2 years.”

According to the company, the 200K delivers gravure-matching colour quality, using HP Indigo Liquid Electro Photography (LEP) and One-Shot Color technologies. It says with patented Indigo Spot Master technology, converters can easily reach the right colour fast, keep it consistent, and share the colour results online with the brand.

The HP Indigo 200K is carbon-neutral manufactured, and has further sustainability credentials in that it minimises waste during set-up and production, reduces energy consumption, and is food packaging compliant.

The new press is based on what HP claims is the only field-proven digital technology for digital flexible packaging and on a successful install base of 300 HP Indigo 25K digital presses, series 4, worldwide.

“The HP Indigo 200K is a mid-web digital press especially designed for converters addressing the needs of brands in flexible packaging, but it also serves the growing requirements of the label and shrink sleeve industries for higher productivity and wider format,” said Zilbershtain. “Flexible Packaging is a growing market, and as HP Indigo customers are growing much faster than the market, I have no doubt that the HP Indigo 200K digital press will open the door for more flexo converters who want to join the success, and reign in industry 4.0.”

The HP Indigo 200K digital press showcases a 30 per cent increase in speed and 45 per cent boost in productivity compared to the HP Indigo 25K. HP says the new press offers the ‘widest available’ range of ElectroInks, and is designed to print high coverage packages with white on the majority of industrial substrates, both surface and reverse. Additional business opportunities include brand protection elements.

Following the announcement of UK-based Sirane Group as one of the press' first beta customers, its commercial and business development director, Peter Ralten, said: “At Sirane, we have been looking into digital print for a while now, realising it is where the future lies. The HP Indigo 200K digital press, with its increase in productivity, opens new business opportunities for us. With the unmatched HP Indigo quality and versatility, we can’t wait to see the results of adding it to our portfolio.”

The HP Indigo 200K digital press achieves efficient production with HP Indigo’s PrintOS software automation capabilities for batching, ganging, and variable data, as well as faster, accurate colour match and workflow. It has automation tools for operator efficiency, coupled with sustainable production, circular packaging and food packaging safety.