Digilinck installs first HP Indigo 30000 in Benelux

Digilinck started from scratch in 2011, with three people. Four years later, the workforce has increased to 25, and the company's growth shows no signs of slowing. In 2014, the company, specialists in luxury packaging and labels in small quantities, produced 12,000 different jobs. 

'In our initial business plan, the capacity of the two HP Indigo WS6600 web-fed digital presses was more than enough for us to achieve our objectives,' said Digilink managing director Vincent Oosterlinck. 'However, our forecasts were quickly surpassed. The comfort and ease of using the HP Indigo presses to print packages and labels were such that the number of orders began to increase from day to day. This was unheard of in the segment of the market that we provide for, and suddenly, everyone was coming to us.

‘Because of our experience with the two rotary presses, we had already decided that a larger print format would be very useful for us. Occasionally, the format of the HP Indigo WS6600 digital press is just a little too small for printing larger packages. We can get around it by turning the other way on the press, but then a relatively large amount of paper is wasted. A larger format, which would allow us to print larger packages, but also combine small jobs, was the only right solution for us.’

Oosterlinck calculated that an HP Indigo WS6600 reaches speeds up to 1,600 linear meters/hour. On the new press, the company can print 3,250 sheets per hour. ‘So, double the quantity in itself, but, since we can fill each sheet more effectively, the benefit is actually much greater. Before, an order of 30,000 packages would take us a full day. With the HP Indigo 30000, we can dispatch it in less than two hours. If we extrapolate this over three shifts, we're no longer talking about some progress, but a gigantic leap forward.’

The new machine has seven colors plus a varnish unit, which keeps print quality and color consistent with the two web-fed digital presses. This allows long print runs to be handled by the HP Indigo 30000 while, for example, a repeat order of a limited number of items can be dealt with on the smaller-format rotary presses.