Heading up HP Indigo’s drupa launches for the digital label and packaging sector is a new 80 metre per minute label press, the Indigo 8000. The company will also show a new thermal lamination technology PackReady, which it claims will slash the lead-time required to produce laminated products such as pouches, opening the market up to digital printing.
‘Customers told us that what they needed was speed,’ said HP Indigo general manager Alon Bar-Shany when introducing the 8000, which will be commercially available in time for Labelexpo Chicago in September.
The 8000 uses a twin-engine configuration – effectively combining two 6800s inline – to achieve the higher throughput.
PackReady is a thermal lamination technology that HP has developed to work in conjunction with the inks used in its Indigo presses. It uses a special thermoplastic resin to ensure reliable adhesion between the printed film and other laminate layers. The benefit of PackReady over existing technologies was claimed to be the ability to be processed and filled immediately after lamination rather than requiring days of curing time.
At drupa HP Indigo will show a prototype machine, which is currently running in its R&D centre in Israel. The technology will be licensed to third parties. US company Karlville has been revealed as the first to produce suitable laminating equipment. Companies licensed to produce film using the technology will be announced at the show.
In addition to the 8000 and PackReady, HP will also show enhancements to the 20000 and 30000 presses and new inks to extend the application range of its products for packaging and labels applications.
