Greg Hrinya, Associate Editor02.22.16
HP Indigo Labels Discover Event, the company conducted a host of presentations intended to educate industry professionals and digital customers. One such lecture, “Unleash the Power of Digital Print,” highlighted the benefits of the digital print specialist’s latest technologies, including Enhanced Productivity Mode (EPM) and HP Indigo SmartStream Mosaic.
The event took place at HP’s Graphic Arts Experience Center in Alpharetta, GA, USA, on January 21, 2016. Michael Cox, solution architect at HP, and Richard Lightfoot, senior account executive at IntelliMark, explored the growth of the digital market and how smart technology is gaining in popularity.
“We have to ask ourselves as printers, ‘what do we want from digital printing?” said Cox. “We want to be able to bring value-added services to your clients or create an advantage for you. You also want to take cost and waste out of your process. As we look at the nature of the jobs we’re getting right now–shorter runs and more frequencies–there’s a tremendous amount of effort to generate the same amount of labels because they’re splitting those orders up.”
HP SmartStream Mosaic functions as a personalization application in SmartStream Designer. Users can generate a large volume of unique graphics for embedding into a variable data job, and they only originate from a base pattern. This technology has been seen with campaigns such as “Share A Coke”, “OREO Colorfilled”, and “Diet Coke: It’s Mine”.
The Diet Coke initiative, which launched on February 1, features “36 ‘base’ designs inspired by the bubbles, fizz, taste and spirit of Diet Coke.” Using the HP software, millions of unique combinations are then generated.
“Mosaic holds value because it’s an application that can only exist in digital,” explained Cox. “At its heart, Mosaic is dynamic image generation, or what we call hyper-customization.”
Mosaic takes a Vector PDF and runs it through an algorithm. Operators can then set scales, including minimums and maximums, as well as angles and combinations. “Maybe I take the same pattern and just alternate colors,” added Cox. “There were two million sleeves done for the Diet Coke campaign in Israel, and there were 25 files that generated all of those.”
Prepress emerges as a critical factor for these personalization initiatives. HP utilized Esko Studio software to take a shape–which in one instance was a Bud Light can–and simulated the shrink sleeve with Lay Flat mode. The operator could then create a 3D PDF.
Cox also touched upon the benefits of printing labels with EPM. Unlike the four colors in CMYK mode, EPM runs in three colors, eliminating black ink. One less color translates into fewer separations, which ultimately means a 33% productivity increase. In addition to the WS6800 digital press, EPM is also available on wider web presses like the HP Indigo 10000, HP Indigo 20000 and HP Indigo 3000. It works on various models from previous generations, as well.
“It’s the removal of the black channel and the oversaturation of the cyan, magenta and yellow to achieve what often times looks like a black,” said Cox. “You have the distinct advantage when you don’t have a press, right off the bat, run as many jobs as you can EPM. If you do need to make a determination, we have tools. You can visualize EPM on the screen before you even go to press. It’s an early decision making tool, and if it’s close make the call on the press.”
According to HP, converters can print up to 131 fpm (40 mpm) using EPM, equating to roughly 33 more feet per minute and 13,860 more feet per shift. Prepress work is also not affected, as the job automatically converts to CMY. Esko tools like Automation Engine can help with color management, as well as simulating the final product.
Lightfoot explained how IntelliMark places unique codes on packaging for tracking purposes. Each code is serialized and variably printed with digital technology, allowing the company to track who scans which item and where. “The same code can do a variety of things,” he said. “The same code, when scanned here, could have a totally different content message if I scan it somewhere else. I can set it up to show specials, for example, in whole food stores, and then take that special away when someone is out of that store and deliver a totally new set of content to help build loyalty and have a different engagement point on the same code.”
For more pictures of the event, click here for the slideshow.
As part of the The event took place at HP’s Graphic Arts Experience Center in Alpharetta, GA, USA, on January 21, 2016. Michael Cox, solution architect at HP, and Richard Lightfoot, senior account executive at IntelliMark, explored the growth of the digital market and how smart technology is gaining in popularity.
“We have to ask ourselves as printers, ‘what do we want from digital printing?” said Cox. “We want to be able to bring value-added services to your clients or create an advantage for you. You also want to take cost and waste out of your process. As we look at the nature of the jobs we’re getting right now–shorter runs and more frequencies–there’s a tremendous amount of effort to generate the same amount of labels because they’re splitting those orders up.”
HP SmartStream Mosaic functions as a personalization application in SmartStream Designer. Users can generate a large volume of unique graphics for embedding into a variable data job, and they only originate from a base pattern. This technology has been seen with campaigns such as “Share A Coke”, “OREO Colorfilled”, and “Diet Coke: It’s Mine”.
The Diet Coke initiative, which launched on February 1, features “36 ‘base’ designs inspired by the bubbles, fizz, taste and spirit of Diet Coke.” Using the HP software, millions of unique combinations are then generated.
“Mosaic holds value because it’s an application that can only exist in digital,” explained Cox. “At its heart, Mosaic is dynamic image generation, or what we call hyper-customization.”
Mosaic takes a Vector PDF and runs it through an algorithm. Operators can then set scales, including minimums and maximums, as well as angles and combinations. “Maybe I take the same pattern and just alternate colors,” added Cox. “There were two million sleeves done for the Diet Coke campaign in Israel, and there were 25 files that generated all of those.”
Prepress emerges as a critical factor for these personalization initiatives. HP utilized Esko Studio software to take a shape–which in one instance was a Bud Light can–and simulated the shrink sleeve with Lay Flat mode. The operator could then create a 3D PDF.
Cox also touched upon the benefits of printing labels with EPM. Unlike the four colors in CMYK mode, EPM runs in three colors, eliminating black ink. One less color translates into fewer separations, which ultimately means a 33% productivity increase. In addition to the WS6800 digital press, EPM is also available on wider web presses like the HP Indigo 10000, HP Indigo 20000 and HP Indigo 3000. It works on various models from previous generations, as well.
“It’s the removal of the black channel and the oversaturation of the cyan, magenta and yellow to achieve what often times looks like a black,” said Cox. “You have the distinct advantage when you don’t have a press, right off the bat, run as many jobs as you can EPM. If you do need to make a determination, we have tools. You can visualize EPM on the screen before you even go to press. It’s an early decision making tool, and if it’s close make the call on the press.”
According to HP, converters can print up to 131 fpm (40 mpm) using EPM, equating to roughly 33 more feet per minute and 13,860 more feet per shift. Prepress work is also not affected, as the job automatically converts to CMY. Esko tools like Automation Engine can help with color management, as well as simulating the final product.
Lightfoot explained how IntelliMark places unique codes on packaging for tracking purposes. Each code is serialized and variably printed with digital technology, allowing the company to track who scans which item and where. “The same code can do a variety of things,” he said. “The same code, when scanned here, could have a totally different content message if I scan it somewhere else. I can set it up to show specials, for example, in whole food stores, and then take that special away when someone is out of that store and deliver a totally new set of content to help build loyalty and have a different engagement point on the same code.”
For more pictures of the event, click here for the slideshow.