HP Indigo shows pouch production and in-line embellishment developments

‘HP Indigo labels and packaging production offers a world of profitable applications at the highest quality, helping HP Indigo customers outpace market growth and double print volume every four years,’ said Alon Bar-Shany, general manager, HP Indigo. ‘Converters are investing in a digital future with HP Indigo, operating more than 2,000 presses worldwide.’

Turnkey pouch system

At Labelexpo Europe at the HP stand (5C200), HP Indigo and Karlville are demonstrating a new system to optimize pouch production for HP Indigo digital printing, allowing immediate time-to-market for short and medium runs. The HP Indigo Digital Pouch Factory demo makes its debut at the show with the HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press and Karlville Pack Ready lamination and pouch making machines. According to the company, the turnkey system makes it easy to enter the market to deliver pouches on-demand, more sustainably, while complying with food packaging regulations. HP Indigo ElectroInks can be used for food-packaging applications and are free of UV-reactive chemistries.

HP Indigo 8000 

The HP Indigo 8000 digital press will be shown, highlighting its ability to allow converters to move medium run length, multi SKU and time-sensitive jobs from flexo to digital. Visitors to the HP stand can see the press printing at up to 80m (262ft) per minute, as well as survey one-shift towers of production printed by Interket of the Netherlands and L’Epron of France, winnersof the HP Indigo 8000 Challenge. Many HP Indigo 8000 users are printing some 20,000 meters per shift, says the company, with an 85,000-meter one-day record set recently in Asia. 

Digital embellishment

Label converters with HP Indigo’s LEP-based technology can print on a broad range of substrates and thereby diversify into new applications, including shrink sleeves for the growing craft beverage market. 

HP announced the HP Indigo ElectroInk white ink portfolio would expand with HP Indigo ElectroInk Premium White for Sleeves for narrow web presses. The new high slip white ink can deliver a wider range of opacity levels, in a single print process, and is designed specially to help more efficient shrink sleeve converting. 

In combination with the Karlville Plus Series seamer and Tornado Tunnel shrinker, converters have a complete system for shrink sleeve production. Visitors can watch live printing of shrink sleeves on the HP Indigo 20000 digital press and in-line coating with the AB Graphic ILC 762, followed by converting on beer cans at the adjacent Karlville stand (8A54). 

The HP Indigo GEM integrated with the HP Indigo 6900 digital press can produce digital spot and tactile varnishes, digital foils, and a range of other creative effects.  The one-pass system needs only one operator and one digital file per job. In Europe, GEM beta-testing is now beginning at All4Labels, Germany. 

Beta-testing of the first GEM unit is in progress at ILS in the US. ‘ILS is a pioneering customer in HP Indigo digital labels and packaging technology. The HP Indigo GEM system offers the ability to disrupt the market with a fully digital printing solution including variable embellishments,’ said Jay Dollries, president and CEO of ILS This latest innovation delivers a broad range of embellishments and creative options.”

The GEM is scheduled to begin commercial availability at the end of the year.  

Additionally, in collaboration with Kurz, a leader in thin film technology, a new in-line Kurz DM-Jetliner digital metallization system with the HP Indigo 6900 makes its Labelexpo debut, demonstrating silver and gold digital foiling. This system simplifies the production of high-value labels with metallic effects in one pass, on a wide range of substrates at full press speed with no tooling and lower waste compared to conventional printing. All4labels is also running the Kurz in-line system. 

HP Indigo ElectroInk Silver for HP Indigo 6000 series presses delivers metallic effects in one printing process, today running on more than 300 presses worldwide in applications such as health and beauty, beverage, and household. 

Another new ink, HP Indigo ElectroInk Fade Resistant Orange, is now released to complete a seven-color ink setfor outdoor label applications requiring high lightfastness,

Brand protection 

Brands and leading e-commerce platformsare responding to the growing threat of counterfeiting by implementing print-enabled protection, opening new business opportunities for converters. The HP Indigo 6900 delivers a wide variety of brand protection products including inks and software tools. HP Indigo ElectroInk Invisible Yellow and Blue areonly visible under UV light, delivering high performance for security applications. Coupled with new software and cloud-based systems that allow anti-counterfeiting marks, micro text fonts, and protected track and trace solutions, converters can offer unique layered security, static or serialized, for brand protection. 

New sustainability applications 

HP Indigo is helping drive new sustainable labels and packaging business with on-demand, low-waste printing, alongside a growing portfolio of environmental credentials. At Labelexpo, HP will present new sustainable packaging products and new credentials including: 

• Green Leafsustainability mark from Intertek for the HP Indigo 6900, HP Indigo 8000 and HP Indigo 20000, independently verifying the digital presses for environmental credentials.
• TUVAustria‘OK Compost Home’ and ‘OK Compost Industrial’ marks awarded to HP, verifying HP Indigo ElectroInks can be used as printing inks for packaging recoverable through composting and biodegradation according to leading standards, such as EU regulation EN 13432.
• Deinking tests conducted byCadel Deinkingof Spainverifying that HP Indigo digitally printed flexible packaging, including coating, can be fully deinked. The results on a range of substrates open new ways for brands and service providers to work towards higher sustainability, where deinking is an essential stage in the recycling process.

Automation powered by workflow from HP and partners

HP Production Pro for Indigo Labels and Packaging is installed today on more than 170 HP Indigo presses, delivering fast processing of even the most complex data jobs including mass customization, security, and variable brand protection. New workflow offerings for HP Indigo digital press users include:

• An enhanced Esko Automation Engine for HP Production Pro for HP Indigo Labels and Packaging enables HP Indigo users to boost productivitywhile using Esko DeskPack templates.
• Web2pack workflow powered by PrintOS Site Flow and partner systems for automating end-to-end packaging fulfillment to deliver dozens of jobs per day with minimum touchpoints.
• Visitors to the HP booth are invited to customize packaging and watch a live demo of end-to-end web2pack automation, from online job submission on the Infigo software-powered storefront, through automated pre-press and end-to-end production management using PrintOS Site Flow. 

HP PrintOS new applications and enhancements

With over 10,000 converters and PSPs and 20,000 registered users globally, HP PrintOS is a secure cloud platform enabling converters and PSPs to manage and control their print operations from anywhere at any time. HP is presenting new advancements at Labelexpo:  

• PrintOS Enhanced Productivity Mode (EPM) Preflight for Labels and Packaging, replacing manual file analysis and offering an effortless way to check the compatibility of PDF files for printing 33 percent faster using three colors.
• HP PrintOS Marketplace– a cloud-based system community to enable on-demand subscription to a wide variety of value-add workflow apps and licenses, plus a new community of ideas, services and more, from HP and any third-party vendor for customers to share, sell, upload and download designs. 
• Print Beat Jobs report, enabling customers to optimize printing quotations and focus on job types printed in an inefficient manner, important to the pharma and food industry.
• PrintOS OEE, empowering converters to use the industry-standard Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) methodology to gain insights into HP Indigo press efficiency. 

Desktop labeling 

HP Specialty Printing Systems (SPS) OEM partners will demonstrate a wide range of desktop labeling applications, from prime and sub-prime through GHS and industrial, enabled by HP thermal inkjet technology. In an in-store customization experience, Afinia Label, the first HP OEM partner to adopt the HP SI-1300 print engine, will demonstrate how desktop label printing offers brands the perfect system to engage consumers. 

HP Service Edge

HP Service Edge is launching a new service for HP Indigo digital press customers that enables the prediction of potential press issues or failures before they occur.  The HP Predictive Press Care service uses artificial intelligence (AI) and real-time press data algorithms to analyze press status. HP experts send notifications with corrective actions to counter incidents before production is impacted.