EXCLUSIVE: V12 stars on HP Indigo booth at Labelexpo Americas

HP Indigo has an ambitious marketing message for Labelexpo Americas 2022.

‘Our theme is the revolution in label production again,’ states Kirk McLean, general manager, Americas, HP Indigo.

‘Before it was flexo first, digital second. But with the launch of the HP Indigo V12, it is Indigo first and flexo second. At Labelexpo Americas, we have the mission to be the benchmark for the world with the global launch of the HP Indigo V12 - it really is that exciting. We are talking printing at 400ft/min on a 12in web with repeatable 1,600 DPI print quality.

The V12 press at Labelexpo will be shown with a near-line finishing unit developed by ABG, but fully inline solutions are now under development. HP is already partnering with ABG to develop non-stop winding technology to automate roll replacement. Higher converting line speeds, full automation, and tight integration with the V12 press are all key goals.

‘With this new mindset, we believe our customers will be able to replace the majority of their flexo fleet with one V12 and run only specific jobs on flexo,’ says Keren Yakolev, head of product, strategy & business development at HP Indigo. ‘The V12 will easily take on the work of 2-3 high-end flexo presses with just a single operator when running mid-size jobs. Replacing flexo is not just about productivity; the press must be able to produce most of the applications that flexo currently prints. With respect to substrate versatility, PQ that the brands will accept, and regulatory requirements, only Indigo LEP technology can do it. Indigo inks and primers are food-packaging compliant with EU and FDA regulations.’

Sustainability is another key message on the HP Indigo stand at the show.

‘For label converters in today’s world, they not only need to be more agile, they need to demonstrate sustainability,’ says Yakolev. ‘At Labelexpo Americas, we will run the 6K press with sustainable media and on the V12 demonstrate [just-in-time] production in medium and long runs. There are other sustainability benefits for the V12, including a 10x longer life span on the digital blanket and more efficient power consumption. The V12 manufacturing process is carbon neutral.’

Automated color matching is another theme on the HP Indigo stand with the launch of Spot Master technology. Spot Master uses an in-built spectrophotometer on the press to measure the delta-E of Pantone colors in real-time during the press run. The technology allows the press to hit color targets faster and maintain them over the run, fully automatically. That information can be sent as a report to the brand owner or used for internal QC/QA purposes. Spot Master works across all HP Indigo’s most recent presses, including the 6K, 25K and V12.

This works because the V12 uses the same inks used on the 6K and 25K. The V12 press is currently supplied with CMYK +OVG+ premium white. Going forward, standard white and special Inks – such as invisible inks for brand protection – will be available.

Although the V12 is the star of the show at Labelexpo Americas, Kirk McLean is keen to emphasize continuing developments on the 6K and its eco-system. ‘Indigo presses own 65 percent of the labels market share, and there are new applications for that too, especially with Spot Master, shrink sleeve white and new brand protection tools.’

With converters’ margins under such pressure and the growing shortage of skilled operators, HP Indigo has been working hard on automation, both on the press itself and in integrating the press with the wider production environment. The results can be seen at Labelexpo.

‘On workflow automation, we are working with the biggest suppliers in the industry,’ says Keren Yakolev. ‘Our partners’ systems, such as MIS or prepress solutions, are connected to Indigo presses through our open APIs and provide what we call “automation through integration”.’

Recent examples include tighter integration with ePS (ex-EFI) Radius and Auto-Count, allowing Radius to automatically fetch data from the production floor, while a partnership with Esko has delivered a new version of ArtPro Plus, which allows converters to better utilize EPM (black replacement) mode. ‘All of these things help improve the overall TCO of the press,’ states Yakolev.

Cloud connectivity has been available for HP Indigo presses via PrintOS for some time now, but Yakolev believes customers are finally starting to recognize the benefits. For example, HP Spot Master is now visible on PrintOS, enabling converters to share their color results with their staff as well as with brand customers.

‘Overall, we see great interest and high usage of our software solutions, and we intend to increase our investment in this area,’ states Yakolev.

HP Indigo has also been working on AI/machine learning to promote pro-active maintenance for the global HP Indigo press fleet. ‘We can now predict failure instead of simply reacting to it,’ says McLean. ‘We recently launched xRServices, which uses augmented reality to enable our customers to quickly solve press technical issues using Google Glass technology. We have close to 200 customers using it, and the demand is high as this simplifies the way we provide service and increase uptime.’