National trade printing house CMYKhub has just installed five HP Indigo Digital Presses, the biggest order supplier Currie Group has received in the 17 years it has been supplying the presses.
The five HP Indigo presses at CMYKhub join the four the company already has, and means that each CMYKhub has two HP Indigo, with the exception of Sydney, which has a B2 HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press.
Melbourne also has a B2 HP Indigo 10000, the remaining seven are from the HP Indigo 5000 and 7000 range and include one in Melbourne, two in Brisbane, two in Perth, two in Brisbane and two in Cairns. The five presses just installed by Currie Group include an HP Indigo 7800, a 7600 and a trio of 7r digital presses.
Trent Nankervis, CEO of the family owned CMYKhub says, “The quality of print on the HP Indigo is at a similar level to the offset print we get from our Komori and Ryobi UV offset presses, and this was key in opting for HP Indigo for our digital fleet.
“CMYKhub is determined to offer its trade partners every possible advantage, which is why we have installed HP Indigo presses in each of our print hubs around the country, in fact most of them have two. HP Indigo offers offset quality, in short runs, with variable data and on demand printing.
The quality of print we are achieving is high, on both coated and on uncoated stock, it is as vibrant as UV offset. We find toner sits on the sheet, where Indigo sinks into it, giving the quality. Just like offset HP Indigo prints to a blanket first then transfers onto the sheet, delivering a smooth dot.”
“We first installed HP Indigo five years ago, and our experience since then with the printers and with the supplier Currie Group drove our decision to go with HP Indigo again for this major new investment.
David Currie, executive chairman of supplier Currie Group says, “CMYKhub has been an HP Indigo user for many years, so it knows what it is getting, which is high quality print in a robust digital machine.
“Everyone knows the commitment CMYKhub has to the market, to its customers, and its desire to provide them with the best print.
“The HP Indigo provides quality print on demand, in short runs with variable data if required. As a trade printer CMYKhub has to meet a wide range of requests from its clients, the HP Indigo is clearly a key part of its solution.”
Trent Nankervis says, “We are also seeing a lot of demand in the market, particularly from the agencies our customers deal with, for print produced on HP Indigo, HP has done a great job in back selling the benefits of Indigo.”
CMYKhub is the country’s largest trade printer, and the only one with manufacturing facilities in Vic, NSW, Qld and WA. It is now fully owned by the Nankervis family, one of the best-known print families in the country, with a serious pedigree in print won over decades.
In addition to its digital printing the company has been investing strongly in UV offset presses over the past few years, the Vic hub has an eight-colour B1 Komori H-UV, with the other manufacturing sites in NSW, WA and Queensland running eight-colour A1 RMGT LED -UV 920 series presses, and another about to go in.
The only exception is Far North Queensland, which has two HP Indigo presses to compliment its rollfed and flatbed wide format printers, but no longer runs offset. Nankervis says, “If we have a call for a long run job we will print it in Brisbane, but the HP Indigo presses up there print virtually everything our customers need, they do a terrific job. The market is really suited to HP Indigo, for instance there is lots of tourism print, and that print is produced in many different languages to accommodate the different visitor groups, which is ideal for Indigo.”
“Part of our aim in installing digital print solutions was to be platform agnostic, so as far as the customer is concerned the result is the same with digital and offset, and we achieve that offset quality result with the HP Indigo. It is then a question of which is the most efficient to print, and that depends on factors such as run length, turnaround time, whether there is variable data.”
The company has two B2 HP Indigo systems, one each for Melbourne and Sydney. Nankervis says, “The B2 sheet size gives us a serious point of difference in the digital short run, on demand market. We can produce digital products to the B2 space like A2 posters, landscape books, and presentation folders.”
CMYKhub also runs a Scodix digital embellishing press in both Melbourne and Sydney (also supplied and serviced by Currie Group).
Nankervis says, “The Indigo quality coupled with the range of embellishments the Scodix machine can produce, allows our resellers to create low cost, but high perceived value short run orders.”
The CMYKhub Indigo and offset production is rounded out by a comprehensive roll-fed and flatbed wide format production suite in the eastern states, with WA completing its installation in January. CYMKhub now has a total of nine HP Indigo presses in its Australian network - by far the most of any local printer - and has had no trouble finding people to run the presses.
Nankervis says, “When we put a new one in lots of people put their hands up to train on them. We have had offset guys, prepress people looking to upskill, even a couple of finishing staff. We print to satisfy requirements of resellers, so deadlines can’t be moved because of machine down time. With the HP Indigo we really appreciate the service, support and back-up we have from Currie Group. All the Indigo presses are also self-diagnosing, and we have a 24-hour hotline to HP Indigo in Israel if we need to talk to someone there.”
David Currie says, “Currie Group is one of only two authorised HP Indigo trainers around the world. Thanks to the investment we have made we are able to train HP Indigo users around the country, both to operate the press and where appropriate to provide engineering input.”
Trent Nankervis says, “Installing five HP Indigo presses in one swoop I think shows that we believe Indigo is now very much part of the CMYKhub value proposition. Our customers – printers around the country – need to know they will be receiving the highest quality print, and on time every time. With our UV offset presses and quality matching HP Indigo digital colour presses, I think we are showing the market that we are completely committed to achieving that.”