Baker Self Adhesive Label installs UK’s first HP Indigo WS6000

Baker Self Adhesive Label, based in London, has installed the first HP Indigo WS6000 digital press in the UK.

Established in 1976 and now employing forty people, Baker Label, a trade label printer, has been an advocate of digital printing since it installed its first HP Indigo press, a ws4050, in 2006. In 2008 the company added a ws4500, which it has now upgraded for the WS6000.

‘There were a number of reasons why we made the move,’ said Steve Baker, managing director, pictured. ‘We believe in the technology and have found it to be a valuable offering to our customers. The new press will enable us to print faster and move jobs from our flexo presses. With no make-ready time and easy job changeovers, the HP Indigo WS6000 digital press will let us print longer jobs digitally and profitably. We believe the work is out there, and making the investment at this time has enthused our staff and caught the interest of our customers, too.’

The WS6000 is able to print at speeds of 30m/min with four colors, and twice that speed in two-color mode. According to Baker, this means that jobs up to 4,000 linear meters (13,000 feet) are cost-effective to print digitally.

Driving the new press is an HP SmartStream server powered by EskoArtwork. Designed to handle large volumes of variable data (including text changes, barcodes, sell-by and best-before dates), the server includes a high performance RIP and hardware combination, integrated PDF support, Pantone color conversion tables and a powerful step-and-repeat engine designed for label and packaging applications.

Neil Marchant, repro and digital manager, Baker Self Adhesive Label, took part in special training sessions at HP’s European headquarters in Sant Cugat, Barcelona, along with the company's press operator. ‘It was very useful to have training experience with the press operator,’ said Marchant. ‘We developed a mutual understanding of the requirements and capabilities of both the server and the press enabling us to work more productively.’

‘Digital printing used to be seen as a niche market,’ Baker concluded. ‘With the HP Indigo WS6000 digital press, it's moved into the mainstream with higher speeds, quality and versatility.’

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