HP Indigo Warms Up for drupa

I was among several dozen trade journalists and analysts from around the world who arrived last Monday in Tel Aviv, Israel for HP Pre-Drupa 2012. Despite varying degrees of jet lag, most of us were keen on finding out just what HP had up its sleeve for Dusseldorf. There was great interest in seeing the HP Indigo manufacturing facilities at Kiryat Gat, which was scheduled for the first day of the event, but we were destined to be disappointed. The tour was cancelled due to several Gaza rocket strikes near the facility. The idea of putting the world's printing industry trade press in harm's way prompted the tour cancellation—although a cease-fire later that day temporarily cleared the way for an optional visit later in the tour.

After an on-the-fly reorganization, day one started with series of presentations outlining the major announcements and details of what HP Indigo and Scitex had in store for Drupa 2012. Among the highlights outlined by Alon Bar-Shany, VP and general manager of the Indigo Digital Press Division, Chris Morgan, senior VP of HP's Graphic Solutions Business in the Imaging and Printing Group, Xavier Garcia, VP and general manager of HP Scitex, and other senior HP officials were:

• Three next generation 29-inch format HP Indigo presses capable of producing almost any commercial print job and a much broader range of packaging applications.
• Three updated models of the current HP Indigo portfolio with higher speeds in Enhanced Productivity Mode (EPM).
• Three higher-speed HP Inkjet Web Press models featuring advanced ink and print head technology.
• New HP high-speed imprinting solution for adding monochrome or full-color content to preprinted offset materials.
• A white ink kit, automatic loader and HP SmartStream Production Analyzer monitoring solution for HP Scitex industrial presses.
• A range of new HP SmartStream workflow and finishing solutions, HP Hiflex management information systems (MIS) and web-to-print solutions, and an expanded services organization.
• New media for the HP Inkjet Web Press systems, including the first coated glossy paper with ColorPRO technology available from Appleton Coated.
• New HP Indigo preferred media partner agreements with Sappi, Avery Dennison, Mitsubishi and ArjoWiggins Graphics.

Getting Faster

After the morning presentations, attendees were driven to the HP Indigo labs at Ness Ziona to see the new equipment in person. Among the new introductions demonstrated were the new HP Indigo 7600 and the new HP Indigo 5600. Both boast 33 percent faster speeds using the new Enhanced Productivity Mode (EPM) that uses three colors to simulate black, thus eliminating the use of black ink. While EMP is not appropriate for all jobs, it can be used in most.

The 7600 was developed out of the HP Indigo 7000 and 7500 models and not only offers faster speeds but also has increased automation and can simulate special effects such as raised print, textured effect embossing, and digital watermarking. HP says that "nearly all" of the new features of the 7600 will be available as field upgrades for existing 7000 and 7500 HP Indigo presses.

The new HP Indigo 5600 was developed out of the HP Indgo 5500, the most popular press in Indigo's history with more than 1,500 produced since 2007. It offers a white ink option which will enable the production of metallic effects and an optional "one shot" printing mode for printing on synthetic substrates such as PVC and PET. These new features will also be available as field upgrades for owners of HP Indo 5500 presses beginning in the summer of 2012. Both the HP Indigo 7600 and 5600 will be available for order at drupa 2012.

At drupa, HP will also showcase the T360 and T410 color inkjet web presses with faster monochrome speeds and an HP T230 color inkjet web press with faster color speeds—all aimed at the higher-volume book manufacturing market. Also on display will be the HP Indigo W7250 high-volume, roll-fed device for one-off and short-to medium-run production of high-end color textbooks, manuals, and trade books.