HP is launching a B2 6000sph duplex press that pumps out up to a million sheets a month, as it identifies two key markets for B2 printing – premium quality, and high volume, and releases two presses for those two markets.
The new 6000sph HP Indigo 100K is designed for non-stop printing, while the HP Indigo 15K is aimed at the premium printing market. HP Indigo currently dominates the B2 digital market, its own estimates claim it has 95 per cent share, with in excess of 1000 in the market.
Alon Bar-Shany, general manager at HP Indigo said, “Our analysis of the B2 market revealed two winning strategies: premium printing, and high-volume printing from the likes of the online ganging printers. The new HP Indigo B2 digital press solutions will enable printers in both these markets to optimise their businesses and take them to new levels of productivity.”
Phillip Rennell, sales and marketing director, Currie Group said, “With this news, HP Indigo has continued to innovate and increased the ability to meet changing customer demands for our Australian and New Zealand customers.”
Bar-Shany said the new presses were not intended to replace offset printing, saying they would complement it, although offset to digital transfer is one of the key strategies with most commercial B2 in the 5000 sheets or less bracket. He did describe the HP Indigo 100K as a "digital offset press" saying printers "will recognise the sound it makes from feed and delivery".
The HP Indigo 100K Digital Press offers uninterrupted duplex digital printing, enabling printers to deliver more than one million B2 duplex sheets per month. Printing at 6000 sheets per hour, the new four-colour HP Indigo 100K press delivers significantly higher productivity compared with the HP Indigo 10000 series, along with the look and feel of offset. It has the capacity to print on different substrates non-stop.
HP says the high performance is enabled by advanced paper handling and offset-like gripper-to-gripper design for precision registration, as well as Indigo digital advantages, including colour automation, calibration, fast switchover between jobs and media, and five-input source feeder.
Aimed at the premium print market the new B2 HP Indigo 15K Digital Press brings new quality with high-definition printing and FM screens, and versatility enabled by a wider range of substrates, now offering additional options with up to 600 microns (24 pt.). New inks include ElectroInks Premium White and Invisible Yellow. New high definition FM stochastic screens support increased sharpness for halftone text.
Existing HP Indigo 12000 presses are upgradeable to new features of the HP Indigo 15K through a new Value Pack that is available now.
In the SRA3 market the new HP Indigo 7K supersedes the 7000 series, it is a 19-inch (SRA3+) digital press that offers a broader range of high-value digital applications with a media gamut up to 550 microns, with special inks such as HP Indigo ElectroInk Silver, high opacity Premium White, Invisible Yellow for security or other applications and ElectroInk Easy Release ink for scratch-off applications. New features will be upgrade options to the HP Indigo 7000 series, again through the Value Pack.
The new HP Indigo 7eco is an entry-level press with Indigo quality and productivity offering what HP says is an economical and sustainable choice to sprint into digital printing. Bar-SHany said, “This is an aggressively priced HP Indigo for those looking for lower cost entry into Indigop printing. It has the same platform as the 7K, but not all the bells and whistles, it prints in five colours, and doesn't print on plastics for instance, but it keeps the Indigo quality and capabilities.”
HP is also launching the HP Indigo 90K web-fed press, which supports single sided applications including banners, oversized B1 posters and wallpaper, incorporating new and patented algorithms for continuous print.
