Siti Tea adds HP Indigo 20000

Société Impériale des Thés et Infusions (Siti Tea), a provider of customized tea packing services, has installed an HP Indigo 20000 digital press to expand its in-house printing capabilities at its Marrakech, Morocco plant.

The new press joins two HP Indigo WS6X00 series presses and one HP Indigo 5600 press on Siti Tea’s production floor

The HP Indigo 20000 gives Siti Tea the ability to print large labels, overwraps and Doypack pouches in a wide range of sizes. In addition to the larger size applications, Siti Tea assigns longer runs of 30,000 units or more to the HP Indigo 20000 and, on occasion, it handles especially large orders that can run into the multi-millions of overwraps.

While printing is not the company’s core business, it has previously invested in HP Indigo digital printing technology as a key element in its end-to-end tea packing offering. The new press joins two HP Indigo WS6X00 series presses and one HP Indigo 5600 press on Siti Tea’s production floor, the first of which was installed in 2012.

Before the installation of the new press, in July 2016, Siti Tea printed 20 percent of its tea bag tags, labels and packaging in-house. Now, with four HP Indigo digital presses routinely working three shifts, Siti Tea prints 60 percent on-site, outsourcing only the folding cartons, for which it does not yet have its own printing option.

Mohamed El Baroudi, Siti Tea managing director, explained: ‘At first, we only thought about printing in small runs, but we were surprised to see demand for bigger runs as well, so we had to add a bigger capacity solution. We needed a press that is adapted to industry, with industrial reliability, capacity, efficiency, and cost savings, as well as very high-quality for our high-end market. Only HP Indigo checked all the points.

‘The HP Indigo 20000 gives us huge flexibility to take on any volume for our customers. With no need to wait for outsourcing, we can easily adjust to delays and changes in lead times. Having a wider printer is a competitive edge for Siti Tea. We now offer a one-stop shop, and very fast lead times, which is helping us win a lot of deals, reaching even big multi-nationals.’