HP had taken over a whole hall at Labelexpo where it introduced its Print Your Future concept
At Labelexpo, HP introduced a new silver ink for the HP Indigo WS6600 digital press, giving label printers new capabilities, along with the news that the company has sold more than 500 Indigo WS6000 series digital presses.
The volume of labels printed on the presses grew by more than 25% in Q3 2013 versus a year ago, significantly outpacing the market growth rate of less than 5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR).
Speaking at Labelexpo, Alon Bar-Shany, vice president and general manager, Indigo digital press division, said, ‘Business for the 6000 series is growing and this is due to the increased print volumes of our customers. Rako Etiketten, is a customer of ours and has bought many presses including the 500th press.’
Mr Bar-Shany went on to explain how beta customers have provided favourable feedback for the WS6000 series enhancement package introduced in August. The enhancement package includes a series of features that improve press performance, including the new HP SmartStream Labels and Packaging Workflow Suite, version 4.0, powered by Esko. All of these product upgrades and capabilities are backward compatible, creating new opportunities for converters.
Demonstrated for the first time at Labelexpo, new end-to-end solutions for the Indigo 20000 and 30000 Digital Presses will accelerate the transformation of the folding cartons and flexible packaging markets.
The 20000 Digital Press will be producing high-quality digital printing of multiple packaging applications, including flexible packaging, pressure-sensitive labels and shrink sleeves. AB Graphics’ Digicon 3000, designed specifically to support the HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press specifications, was shown alongside the press, and allows converting of pressure-sensitive labels and flexible packaging films.
For the first time, HP also demonstrated a full end-to-end solution for folding carton production on the new Indigo 30000 Digital Press, including the Tresu iCoat 30000 from Tresu Group, which enables both UV and aqueous post-print selective coating. Also on display was the Kama stripping and blanking unit (SBU) that contains programmable rollers to strip waste and blank printed boxes without the need for expensive tools or cumbersome manual processes. The SBU joins Kama’s DC 76 die-cutter, a die cutting and foil unit with automatic registration camera for a complete, digital compatible finishing solution.
