HP Indigo | 37HP looks ahead to ‘Indigo First’ digital futureLabelexpo Europe 2023 saw HP Indigo demonstrate a suite of products designed to allow converters to operate inside a fully digital ecosystem. HP’s Haim Levit explains the concept to Andy Thomas-Emansaim Levit, senior vice president and general manager at HP Industrial Print, believes a very successful Labelexpo Europe 2023 represents a watershed moment for the Hcompany – the frst step towards building a global community with a digital mindset transforming the industry.‘We have sold 8,000 presses to 5,000 companies across both the commercial and packaging spaces, including 2,000 6K-series presses. What I’m trying to achieve is to build that into a global HP Indigo community that helps our customers to be part of something much bigger,’ explains Levit.“Today’s market trends are characterized by converter consolidation alongside consumers and brand owners demanding Haim Levit at Labelexpo Europe 2023agility and sustainability”This is not simply a matter of label and packaging converters Game changerbuying more digital printing equipment. It’s also about the In this context, Levit describes the HP Indigo V12 as a ‘game eco-system of some 200 OEM partners HP has built up across changer’.prepress, coating, fnishing and packaging systems, which ‘The V12 is a 24/7 printing line that allows label converters to allow converters to adapt their business to rapidly changing replace more than one fexo press. Indeed, one of our beta testers, requirements. Brook & Whittle, says two V12s would replace eight legacy fexo Levit says the press technology HP Indigo introduced at presses. The V12 needs only one operator compared to various Labelexpo Europe 2023 will allow converters to fully operate specialized manpower required around a fexo press, and we are within a fully digital eco-system and create new business models constantly working with our partners to provide more automation that dovetail with emerging trends across the supply chain. solutions to make the production fow more seamless.’ ‘Providing proven digital printing for all types of print runs is, in As an example, Levit points to the launch at Labelexpo Europe short, our main intent,’ he says. 2023 of ABG’s high-capacity automated unwind and rewind ‘Today’s market trends, refected in the state of the industry, modules for the V12. are characterized in part by converter consolidation alongside With the V12, capable of fexo-matching speeds up to 120m/min consumers and brand owners demanding agility and sustainability. in six colors, fnishing can be the bottleneck. But Levit says HP’s These trends are creating market conditions in which digital partner network is already working to tackle the issue. ‘JetFX is now delivers tangible benefts to navigate a complex production working with ABG on end-to-end automation of the embellishment landscape where converters need to adjust production plans and process.’ types of substrates very quickly. This is precisely where the HP Given the high productivity of the V12, will it now replace the Indigo mindset unlocks higher effciency, and shorter delivery HP Indigo 8000? ‘Absolutely not,’ confrms Levit. ‘The HP Indigo times, resulting in increased productivity and higher ROI.’ 8000 is still in the range as not all label converters will have that Commercial trends Haim Levit sees an increasing migration of HP Indigo’s This process is working both ways, with some label commercial print customers into the labels and fexible converters looking to add ‘commercial’ equipment to widen packaging space. their offering to brand customers. All4Labels, for example, ‘They are already working with brands in their commercial recently purchased an HP PageWide press to bring the business who are asking: can you also supply labels and fexible production of booklet labels fully in-house. packaging? These printers will generally start with a 6k then Some 20 percent of HP Indigo’s commercial print customers move to the 25k and now possibly to the V12. They typically are producing folding cartons, mostly on 15k presses as part of understand digital very well.’ a wider product mix. Oct - Dec 2023