Closing the gap: Digital printing in North America moves toward true production scale

Over the past year, digital printing in North America has entered a new phase—one defined less by standalone press capabilities and more by the performance of fully integrated production systems. Across labels, packaging, commercial print, and direct mail, converters and print service providers are investing in next-generation presses and automation platforms designed to deliver consistency, efficiency, and scalability at industrial levels.

What was once viewed as a complementary technology to analog processes is increasingly becoming the foundation of modern print operations. Digital workflows are enabling faster turnaround times, higher-value applications, and more resilient production environments—particularly as run lengths shrink and job complexity increases.

Fernando Alperowitch, general manager of HP Industrial Print North America, notes now success is now measured by how well entire production systems perform, not just individual devices. He says, “Digital print is entering a new phase, where success is defined less by individual devices and more by how entire production systems perform. Our focus is on helping customers build operations that are consistent, scalable and designed to deliver results.”   

Nowhere is this shift more evident than in label production, where converters are actively working to close the long-standing efficiency gap between digital and flexography. The Label Factory, based in Iowa, offers a clear example of this transition in practice.

Operating as a digital-first manufacturer, The Label Factory has built its production model around HP Indigo technology, including the 6K and 6900, with the HP Indigo V12 positioned to handle higher-volume work.

That investment reflects a broader strategic objective: combining the scalability traditionally associated with flexo with the core advantages of digital—high print quality, versioning capability, and rapid changeovers. Rather than treating digital as a short-run solution, converters like The Label Factory are using it to support both flexibility and production-scale output, redefining how label manufacturing is structured.

A similar evolution is taking place across commercial print and direct mail. New platforms such as the HP Indigo 7K+ and 120K are helping printers streamline workflows, reduce touchpoints, and eliminate makeready time, while high-speed inkjet systems like the HP PageWide Advantage 2200 are enabling variable data printing at scale. The result is a more agile production model—one that allows printers to match jobs to the most efficient process while improving throughput and profitability.

Richard Smith, partner and general Manager, Xerographics Digital Printing, says,   “The HP Indigo 7K+ digital press is an excellent fit for our business, delivering the flexibility, speed, and performance today’s market requires. We’ve been testing ECO Print Mode extensively and have found that the color quality meets our standards on most jobs, even for our demanding customers.  The color appears natural and visually pleasing. We anticipate using ECO mode for at least 50% of our total HP Indigo 7K+ production volume.  This technology aligns perfectly with our commitment to innovation and to providing our customers with exceptional quality, efficiency and versatility.”

This move toward scalable production is also evident at The Kelly Companies, where the HP Indigo 120K digital press is bridging the gap between offset and digital – reducing touchpoints, eliminating make-ready time, and enabling more efficient job allocation across the operation. 

“We installed the HP Indigo 120K to bridge the gap between our offset presses and smaller digital equipment, and it’s completely streamlined our workflow by reducing touch points and eliminating make-ready time across all our departments,” says Eric King, COO of The Kelly Companies. “The HP Indigo has increased throughput not just for digital work but has optimized our entire operation – from conventional and wide-format printing to VDP and direct-mail – by allowing us to do right-size jobs to the most efficient press and deliver faster turnarounds with consistent quality throughout our facility.”

Taken together, these developments point to a broader industry reality: digital printing is no longer chasing analog—it’s redefining how production is structured. With advances in automation, AI-driven workflows, and high-speed platforms, the line between digital and conventional processes is continuing to blur. For converters, the question is no longer whether digital can scale—but how quickly it will become the standard.