Greg Hrinya, Associate Editor01.25.16
HP has ramped up its efforts to educate the market. The digital printing specialist hosted the HP Indigo Labels Discover Event at its Graphic Arts Experience Center in Alpharetta, GA, USA, on January 21, 2016.
As part of the event, HP Indigo experts conducted press demonstrations, hosted Q+A sessions and provided customer testimonials. The company also provided an update on the state of the digital printing industry.
According to Matt Bennett, director, HP Indigo, and Steve Powers, business segment manager–labels–North America, label printing is the fastest growing business for HP Indigo. Powers said that 52% of the presses sold in 2014 were digital, and that number is expected to rise to 77% by 2020. HP also anticipates a 10% growth in electrophotographic (EP) printing over the next five years.
“We talk about what digital print solves, not only for the brand but also engaging with the retailer,” said Powers. “It just allows you more choices. You can print those long runs of static print with no problem, too.”
HP is exploring new ways to capitalize on the success of the “Share A Coke” and “OREO Colorfilled” campaigns. The Share A Coke promotion translated to a 19% bump in sales because of its ability to reach new customers. Utilizing eight HP Indigo WS6000 and four WS6600 digital presses, the global initiative resulted in roughly 800 million personalized labels with the top 150 names in more than 32 countries.
“With personalization, you see many examples of connecting one-to-one with the consumer,” added Powers. “With those types of campaigns, consumers are very willing to pay 4 to 5x for that product, so there’s a big opportunity for the brands to have different revenue streams than what they would right now.”
Currently, one of the company’s most popular presses is the HP Indigo WS6800. In his press demonstration, Monty Faulkner, strategic accounts solutions architect, HP Indigo, stated that in the two years spanning Labelexpo Europe 2013 and Labelexpo Europe 2015, the WS6800 doubled its footprint in the market.
The WS6800 serves as a high-capacity, high-quality narrow-web labels and packaging solution that can print on a variety of substrates. The press can print up to 98 fpm in CMYK and 131 fpm in Enhanced Productivity Mode (EPM). Printing at 2438 x 2438 dpi HDI, users can replicate 97% of Pantone colors with seven ink stations.
The event’s hosts focused on digital printing’s versatility, reminding customers that the technology is not limited to short runs. Although the printing method has gained traction for customized short runs, HP said that there is an opportunity for higher market shares in longer runs. “The biggest misconception out there in the market is that digital is for short run,” said Powers. “There is a question of crossover, and traditionally we see 12,000 to 15,000 is the crossover point on a 6800. We throw that out the door. There are Indigo users are running run lengths, one SKU and no variable data, 50,000 linear feet to 100,000 linear feet. Above all, we ask people to have an open mind.”
Brandon Betts, financial consultant at HP, and Brian Cleary, label segment category manager, HP Indigo, compared the pros and cons of digital versus flexo in a presentation titled, “Time Is Money”. The experiment focused on eight jobs of varying demands, which were run on traditional and digital presses. When printing the first job–a 2-color wine label with one SKU, finished inline–the results were negligible. The flexo press took 1.75 hours to complete, compared to 1.74 for digital.
According to HP, the time differences began growing apart as the jobs became more demanding. The second job featured a 36,000 label run across six SKU’s. Running on CMYK, the flexo press took 2.71 hours while the digital needed 1.45 hours to complete the job. Following all eight jobs, the difference in time stood at 31.74 hours running flexo and 14.64 running digital. According to Cleary, the cost savings totaled $353.70 per job and a margins increase of 62%.
“You’re getting a little bit of savings on the digital side because you don’t have to take care of any color screening, and the files go through and they’re set up to the Esko system,” explains Betts. “There’s certainly no platemaking on the digital side, and because there’s virtually no setup time on an Indigo, I just fire out jobs as long as they’re on that same media.”
The event also featured contributions from HP partners, including AB Graphic International, Avery Dennison, Delta ModTech, Karlville, IntelliMark and Wausau Coated. The customer panel included contributions from WS Packaging, Cenveo, and Flexible Technologies. Each company maintains multiple HP Indigo presses, and they cited SKU proliferation, shortened lead times, and an evolving market for their foray into digital printing. According to Steve Luedke, business and market development manager at WS Packaging, his company “is not looking to run digital, but the demands of the marketplace dictate digital.”
Mike Gore, vice president of operations at Cenveo added, “I don’t promote digital; I sell labels. Digital is just a weapon I have because there are no plate costs.”
For more pictures of the event, click here for the slideshow.
With digital technology continuing to find its place in the label printing industry, As part of the event, HP Indigo experts conducted press demonstrations, hosted Q+A sessions and provided customer testimonials. The company also provided an update on the state of the digital printing industry.
According to Matt Bennett, director, HP Indigo, and Steve Powers, business segment manager–labels–North America, label printing is the fastest growing business for HP Indigo. Powers said that 52% of the presses sold in 2014 were digital, and that number is expected to rise to 77% by 2020. HP also anticipates a 10% growth in electrophotographic (EP) printing over the next five years.
“We talk about what digital print solves, not only for the brand but also engaging with the retailer,” said Powers. “It just allows you more choices. You can print those long runs of static print with no problem, too.”
HP is exploring new ways to capitalize on the success of the “Share A Coke” and “OREO Colorfilled” campaigns. The Share A Coke promotion translated to a 19% bump in sales because of its ability to reach new customers. Utilizing eight HP Indigo WS6000 and four WS6600 digital presses, the global initiative resulted in roughly 800 million personalized labels with the top 150 names in more than 32 countries.
“With personalization, you see many examples of connecting one-to-one with the consumer,” added Powers. “With those types of campaigns, consumers are very willing to pay 4 to 5x for that product, so there’s a big opportunity for the brands to have different revenue streams than what they would right now.”
Currently, one of the company’s most popular presses is the HP Indigo WS6800. In his press demonstration, Monty Faulkner, strategic accounts solutions architect, HP Indigo, stated that in the two years spanning Labelexpo Europe 2013 and Labelexpo Europe 2015, the WS6800 doubled its footprint in the market.
The WS6800 serves as a high-capacity, high-quality narrow-web labels and packaging solution that can print on a variety of substrates. The press can print up to 98 fpm in CMYK and 131 fpm in Enhanced Productivity Mode (EPM). Printing at 2438 x 2438 dpi HDI, users can replicate 97% of Pantone colors with seven ink stations.
The event’s hosts focused on digital printing’s versatility, reminding customers that the technology is not limited to short runs. Although the printing method has gained traction for customized short runs, HP said that there is an opportunity for higher market shares in longer runs. “The biggest misconception out there in the market is that digital is for short run,” said Powers. “There is a question of crossover, and traditionally we see 12,000 to 15,000 is the crossover point on a 6800. We throw that out the door. There are Indigo users are running run lengths, one SKU and no variable data, 50,000 linear feet to 100,000 linear feet. Above all, we ask people to have an open mind.”
Brandon Betts, financial consultant at HP, and Brian Cleary, label segment category manager, HP Indigo, compared the pros and cons of digital versus flexo in a presentation titled, “Time Is Money”. The experiment focused on eight jobs of varying demands, which were run on traditional and digital presses. When printing the first job–a 2-color wine label with one SKU, finished inline–the results were negligible. The flexo press took 1.75 hours to complete, compared to 1.74 for digital.
According to HP, the time differences began growing apart as the jobs became more demanding. The second job featured a 36,000 label run across six SKU’s. Running on CMYK, the flexo press took 2.71 hours while the digital needed 1.45 hours to complete the job. Following all eight jobs, the difference in time stood at 31.74 hours running flexo and 14.64 running digital. According to Cleary, the cost savings totaled $353.70 per job and a margins increase of 62%.
“You’re getting a little bit of savings on the digital side because you don’t have to take care of any color screening, and the files go through and they’re set up to the Esko system,” explains Betts. “There’s certainly no platemaking on the digital side, and because there’s virtually no setup time on an Indigo, I just fire out jobs as long as they’re on that same media.”
The event also featured contributions from HP partners, including AB Graphic International, Avery Dennison, Delta ModTech, Karlville, IntelliMark and Wausau Coated. The customer panel included contributions from WS Packaging, Cenveo, and Flexible Technologies. Each company maintains multiple HP Indigo presses, and they cited SKU proliferation, shortened lead times, and an evolving market for their foray into digital printing. According to Steve Luedke, business and market development manager at WS Packaging, his company “is not looking to run digital, but the demands of the marketplace dictate digital.”
Mike Gore, vice president of operations at Cenveo added, “I don’t promote digital; I sell labels. Digital is just a weapon I have because there are no plate costs.”
For more pictures of the event, click here for the slideshow.