ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Xerox Corporation’s (NYSE: XRX) new Color 800/1000 Presses have made a great first impression as printers around the world install the devices to produce vivid images on a wide range of paper stocks.

The systems, printing 80 and 100 pages per minute respectively, are ideal for print service providers looking to expand their digital businesses to produce sophisticated, full-color applications including sales collateral and direct-marketing pieces.

“This is the first time that the ability to add a special effect, such as this clear coating, has been made available through a fifth imaging station in a Xerox production color product,” said Jim Hamilton, group director, InfoTrends’ Production Hardware Consulting Services. “I am sure customers will be able to use it to great advantage as they create and sell value-added content that goes beyond the four process colors.”

Recent installations of the Xerox Color 800/1000 Presses include:

* James River Press, together with Mailing Services Inc., will use the Xerox Color 800 Press to offer high-end variable-data print jobs to a broad spectrum of clients and prospects. The two companies, located in Richmond, Va., are producing a 5,000 piece three-part mailer with seven different versions and personalized imaging on both sides.

“All of this will be done in one pass on the Xerox Color 800,” said Easley Johnson, vice president, Sales and Marketing, James River Press. “There will be tremendous savings in time and costs running a job like this on the 800 versus offset.”

* The official printer of the Denver Broncos, Publication Printers, purchased the Xerox Color 1000 Press to broaden its digital printing capabilities. The full-service print company will use the press and its clear dry ink feature to enhance short-run color applications, variable-data print jobs and proofing web press applications.

“This new technology will amp up our digital capabilities and we expect an increase in business,” said Kerri Rosenberg-Hallet, director, Sales and Marketing, Publication Printers. “As the print-on-demand market grows, we need to constantly improve our arsenal of equipment and offerings to stay ahead of the pack.”

* Serbin Printing selected the Xerox Color 1000 Press after serving as a customer test site. “We had the opportunity to ‘kick the tires’ of the Xerox 1000 Press before it launched and we were impressed with what we saw; we knew the press could help drive our growing book business,” said Mark Serbin, president, Serbin Printing.

The Sarasota, Fla.-based full-service commercial print shop utilizes Xerox FreeFlow® Web Services and XMPie’s UDirect® Studio to enable more applications and new revenue streams. They have also found the Xerox ProfitAccelerator® Business Development Tools beneficial in attracting new customers.

* Sir Speedy Printing and Marketing Services located in eastern Tampa, is the first Sir Speedy franchise to purchase the Xerox Color 800 Press. Serving the business-to-business market, Sir Speedy will use the device to print booklets, postcards, door hangers, fliers and business cards. Personalized print jobs will be supported with XMPie’s uDirect Classic.

“We have a diverse customer base, and the applications coming off the Xerox Color 800 Press – particularly with its color quality and clear dry ink –will appeal to all of them,” said Steve Albritton, vice president, Sales and Marketing, Sir Speedy.

* Herts Display, a Xerox Premier Partner located in the U.K. and also a customer test site for the press, purchased the first two Xerox Color 1000 Presses in Europe. The printing and stationery company will use the machines to produce a wide range of applications including fliers, newsletters, brochures and variable-data documents.

“We expect the Xerox Color 1000 Press to have a massive impact on the digital printing world, giving users like Herts Display both a competitive edge and a superior product,” said Pete Watkins, director, Herts Display.

Related posts:

1. Presstek 34DI® Builds Bridge to Success for Monkymax
2. Quad/Graphics is the first to install the new Presstek 52DI-AC
3. KBA Genius 52 UV Press Fuels Interest in Plastic and Lenticular Printing

BIRMINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM, June 4 — Headley Brothers has opted for the KODAK NEXPRESS SE2500 Digital Production Color Press with Fifth Imaging Unit and new KODAK Dimensional Printing Technology to expand their digital product portfolio. The key investment is part of a company business strategy to build its digital arm and take full advantage of added value applications.

Managing Director Roger Pitt states, “Headley Brothers continues to invest in a steady programme of development. The KODAK NEXPRESS Press has many attractions for our digital short run business. Our customers’ needs come first. Our mission is to ‘Listen, Learn and Grow’. The innovation on the NEXPRESS Press can offer us huge potential to add value to our products and surpass our customers’ expectations. The fifth unit with Dimensional Ink will make a real difference in quality to the look and the feel of many of our printed products – magazine and booklet covers, promotional materials as well as direct mail. It also gives us a full range of tints and expands our colour gamut. We also selected Kodak’s digital technology for the robustness of the hardware and modularity of the software. In this fast moving age we need to know that we can expand going forward. We know that the Kodak software will offer us multiple options for the future.”

Headley Brothers is a large, independent printing company based in Ashford, Kent. With over 260 staff, the fourth generation family run business will celebrate 130 years of success in 2011. Traditionally a magazine and journal printer, Headley Brothers now offers its customers a complete array of print and media solutions. Services include: online file delivery & approval, web-to-print ordering and monitoring, web and print design, digital, web and sheet-fed printing, finishing and fulfilment and mailing and subscriptions.

“We see ourselves as a ‘responsive’ company – responsive to our customers needs and responsive to innovation,” concludes Roger Pitt. “The Kodak relationship is a new one but we believe they have the equipment and the technology that will take us into the future.”

Pat Holloway, UK Marketing at Kodak comments on the deal: “The power and versatility of the NEXPRESS Press makes it the ideal system for Headley Brothers to base its new digital department around. It will help the company enter new markets and capitalize on the trend for short-run, high-impact, variable data print jobs. We anticipate that it won’t be long before Headley Brothers sees an increase in revenue and enjoys a fast return on its investment.”
About Kodak

As the world’s foremost imaging innovator, Kodak helps consumers, businesses, and creative professionals unleash the power of pictures and printing to enrich their lives.

To learn more, visit http://www.kodak.com and follow our blogs and more at http://www.kodak.com/go/followus.

More than 75 million people worldwide manage, share and create photo gifts online at KODAK Gallery—join today at www.kodakgallery.com

In the graphic communications market, Kodak offers the broadest portfolio of integrated solutions to help customers grow their business. For more information, visit www.graphics.kodak.com. For downloading photos and videos from Kodak’s image library, visit www.kodak.com/go/gcimages.

Related posts:

1. HP Indigo press sold at PRINT 09 to Bradford & Bigelow
2. Kodak CMO Jeffrey W. Hayzlett Resigns to Pursue Personal Projects
3. HP Accelerates Growth Opportunities for Graphic Arts Customers with Expanded Digital Printing Portfolio

June 4, 2010 – HP has completed beta testing for its new HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press, which offers increased automation and exceptional productivity for higher print volumes with offset quality print.

Launched at Ipex, the HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press is built on the proven success of the HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press and is HP’s most technologically advanced, high-volume, sheet-fed digital printing solution. The new press was successfully beta tested at eight sites across Europe and the Americas, including Precision Printing and ProCo in the United Kingdom and Grandville Printing Company in the United States. During the three month long testing period, beta customers collectively produced more than 15 million impressions on the HP Indigo 7500 beta units.

“Our new HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press responds to market trends for higher productivity and longer run lengths,” said Alon Bar-Shany, vice president and general manager, Indigo division, HP. “It offers low cost of ownership combined with an unprecedented range of business opportunities for print service providers. The ground-breaking print technologies embedded into the new press ensure that it provides superior print quality, maximum productivity and increased versatility.”

Intelligent automation for increased productivity

The HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press features enhanced automation for maximum flexibility and to make it the ultimate sheet-fed, digital printing powerhouse.

With its ability to print at high speeds – up to 120 letter-size pages per minute (ppm) in four colors or 240 ppm in monochrome or two colors – the HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press is ideal for fast-paced production environments.

The HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press is equipped with the patent pending integrated Vision System, delivering increased uptime, through automatic hands free press calibrations and highly accurate diagnostics, to eliminate time consuming and costly errors.

The optional embedded Universal Finishing Interface (UFI) enables the end-to-end automation of the entire production processes. The UFI makes it easy to integrate digital inline or near-line partner finishing systems, reducing production costs, shortening turnaround times and eliminating human errors.

This combination of high-speed and exceptional productivity enables the press to push the crossover point with conventional printing to thousands of pages.

Easy-to-integrate workflows

The HP Indigo 7500 connects with one of two high-performance, scalable HP SmartStream digital front ends (DFEs).

* HP SmartStream Production Pro Print Server is a robust, scalable, versatile and high-performance print server, capable of managing large print volumes. This DFE increases productivity with automated job routing and processing, as well as detailed job and production floor tracking.
* HP SmartStream Production Plus Print Server, Powered by Creo, is designed for general commercial printers and provides added value through a full graphic arts feature set for out-of-the-box job control and editing in single and multiple-press environments.

Optimum print quality

Using HP ElectroInk and a digital printing process that emulates conventional printing, the HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press is able to deliver unmatched print quality. With its advanced automation of ink charging, the new HP Indigo press breaks new ground in color consistency and uniformity.

HP Indigo offers four-, six- and seven-color printing, plus print service providers (PSPs) can use special spot colors that are either ordered or mixed on-site with the HP IndiChrome Ink Mixing System. This ensures that PSPs can meet their customers’ most exacting branding requirements, accurately matching up to 97 percent of PANTONE® Colors. Users can produce professional photo prints using HP Indigo’s six-color photo imaging process featuring Light Cyan and Light Magenta inks, ensuring accurate replication of shadow detail as well as smoothed and enhanced skin tones.

Maximum versatility for a wide range of applications

A wide selection of applications is possible on the new, highly flexible HP Indigo press, including marketing collateral, photo-specialty printing, direct mail, transpromotional statements, books and magazines.

The HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press supports a wide range of substrates, more than 1,000 of which meet environmental standards. The press can run coated, uncoated, synthetic, transparent, colored or adhesive media, in thicknesses from 70 to 400 microns. The optional thick substrate kit extends this range up to 460 microns/18 points to enable printing on paperboard for point-of-purchase applications and folding cartons.

Using the new HP ElectroInk White facilitates full-color printing on transparent, metallic and colored media for high-value applications.

Early reactions from the beta test sites

Grandville Printing Company

Grandville Printing Company was founded in 1956 as a newspaper printer. Today, the Grandville, Mich.-based company offers end-to-end print communications solutions, from design and database management through distribution and fulfilment.

In addition to running a beta test HP Indigo 7500 unit, the company has a range of HP Indigo equipment including two HP Indigo press 3050s and two HP Indigo press 5000s.

“In our opinion, the quality of print and the high speeds offered by the HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press are exceptional,” said Chris Nunez, director of digital printing, Grandville Printing Company. “The productivity and reliability of this new HP Indigo press has helped us to streamline our operations and enabled us to transition to the highest possible level of digital printing.”

Precision Printing

Precision Printing is based in Barking, U.K., and is a successful commercial printing business with more than 40 years’ experience of delivering innovative and professional print services to an impressive portfolio of businesses. In 2009, Precision won the British Printing Industries Federation- and PrintWeek magazine-sponsored Excellence Award for customer service teams.

The company has been operating the HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press alongside its HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press and two HP Indigo press 5000s. In addition to its digital presses, it has traditional litho presses. Precision specializes in producing a variety of collateral including business stationery, leaflets, direct mail, brochures, reports welcome packs and photo specialty items.

“The HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press allows us to print on thick substrates, up to 460 microns, making the production of on-demand packaging a possibility for us and the addition of the new white ink ensures that our products really stand out,” said Gary Peeling, managing director, Precision Printing. “We believe that the HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press provides the highest quality digital printing in the marketplace.”

ProCo

ProCo, of Sheffield, U.K., has been an HP Indigo customer since 2001, when it installed a six-colour HP Indigo press 3000 (since upgraded to an HP Indigo press 3050). Established as The Production Company in 1996, it quickly moved into direct mail, data management and fulfillment. By 2004, the company, now called ProCo, was a fully integrated litho, digital, direct mail and distribution provider, with a commitment to investing in market leading technological solutions.

Today ProCo occupies a state-of-the-art 50,000 ft2 facility with 95 full-time staff and operates 24/7. The company became a beta test site for the HP Indigo press 5000, the HP Indigo press 5500 and has also put the HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press through its paces.

“Since we have been utilizing the HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press, we have been amazed at the speed in which we are able to fulfill jobs – it creates another dimension to digital printing,” said Jon Bailey, sales director, ProCo. “For example, a variable-data job that previously took two and a half hours to RIP was sent to the new press in six minutes and produced in a single shift, rather than two. From a business angle, the fast production times combined with the lower running costs add a lot to our bottom line.”

More information about HP Indigo presses is available at www.hp.com/go/gsb and through the HP Graphic Arts Twitter feed.

About HP

HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com/.

Related posts:

1. HP Indigo press sold at PRINT 09 to Bradford & Bigelow
2. Kodak Announces First Installation of Kodak NexPress SE3600 to Cohber Press
3. AVID Ink Designs and Prints High-Quality Fashion Artwork on its New KBA

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – H&H Color Lab, a professional photo lab, is the first in its industry to purchase the new Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) Xerox Color 1000 Press from FUJIFILM North America Corporation.

Related posts:

1. Presstek 34DI® Builds Bridge to Success for Monkymax
2. KBA Genius 52 UV Press Fuels Interest in Plastic and Lenticular Printing
3. DME Selects HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press to Enter New Markets

ECLIPSE s.r.l., a leading offset printer in Romania, confirmed the purchase of MGI’s Meteor DP60 Pro multi-substrate digital press and a JETvarnish digital inkjet spot UV coater.

ECLIPSE was founded in 1992 by Alexandru Anita and is headquartered in Buzau, Romania. The company’s activity was previously focused on the offset printing of labels and product catalogues enriched through various folio printing techniques – hot foil, single/combined emboss-deboss, multilevel, sculptured, flat-textured design, intaglio – using both sheets and rolls. The entire process of design, prepress, printing, finishing, hot foil molding and punching has been done in-house.

To address the ever-growing diversity of the market and the pressure of printing volumes, ECLIPSE made the decision to purchase the Meteor DP60 Pro and JETvarnish combination from MGI.

“We chose MGI’s digital solutions because they are the most flexible and innovative on the market,” said Alexandru Anita, founder of ECLIPSE. “The Meteor DP60 Pro and JETvarnish will expand one of our highest-demand product ranges, offering customers both quality and economic advantages during a difficult time.”

Related posts:

1. 48HourPrint.com Leading Digital Printing Revolution
2. Credit Suisse boosts inkjet transaction printing with high-speed KODAK VERSAMARK VL6000 Printing System
3. UV-spot BV purchases MGI JETvarnish

BIRMINGHAM, U.K., May 21, 2010 – HP today announced it is working with Quad/Graphics, one of the world’s leading printers of magazines, catalogs, direct mail and other commercial products, on a plan to host the first commercial beta test of the HP Color Print Module imager.

The advanced imager, which uses HP Scalable Printing Technology thermal inkjet imaging, integrates cost-effective four-color process digital printing into traditional offset web press lines.

“Personalized, color content is essential to multichannel marketers, so HP is bringing these capabilities to the print space,” said Kathy Tobin, vice president and general manager, Specialty Printing Systems, HP. “Working in collaboration with Quad/Graphics, we plan to refine the HP Color Print Module to provide customers maximum value.”

HP and Quad/Graphics are currently determining the best uses for the HP Color Print Module throughout Quad/Graphics’ manufacturing platform, based on Quad/Graphics’ personalization priorities.

“Today’s marketers require innovative solutions for getting their message to the right people at the right time quickly and cost-effectively,” said Steve Jaeger, President of QuadDirect, the direct mail division of Quad/Graphics. “We are excited by the possibilities of HP’s technology, which will go a long way to strengthen our ability to help clients create targeted, relevant print messages that connect seamlessly with other media channels.”

Producing four-color text and images at a high resolution, the HP Color Print Module imager prints in many different configurations at swift speeds that meet manufacturing expectations. When tied to database/CRM systems, the imager can produce personalized marketing images tailored to an end user’s data.

By producing marketing images and text in full color, print media solutions providers like Quad/Graphics have the potential to deliver targeted, relevant communications that increase the response their customers receive to print products. The technology also provides variable-data text and images that better integrate with offset-printed color content.

HP is showing the HP Color Print Module at the Ipex 2010 graphic arts tradeshow this week and expects to make the imager available later this year. HP is working with original equipment manufacturers for the direct mail and other markets to develop new products that take advantage of the HP Color Print Module’s full-color printing capabilities.

More information on the HP Color Print Module and other new solutions from HP at Ipex is available at www.hp.com/go/IPEX, at the www.hp.com/go/HPatIPEX2010 online press kit or through the HP Graphic Arts Twitter feed.

About HP

HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

Related posts:

1. Xeikon Rolls Out the Xeikon 8000 for the PRINT 09 Conference
2. Strategic Content Imaging, Inc. (SCI) Invests in three additional Xeikon 8000′s
3. KODAK NEXPRESS Presses Help Contac Services Expand Digital Print Capabilities and Increase ROI

HP today expanded its graphic arts portfolio to help its customers print top-quality, high-value materials and capture a larger share of a $124 billion global digital printing market.⁽¹⁾

Delivering on its strategy to drive the analog-to-digital print transformation, HP introduced digital presses, large-format printers, finishing and workflow solutions, services, and business-development programs, while also announcing significant progress in reducing the environmental impact of printing.

The company’s broad portfolio helps print service providers grow their businesses through new high-value digital applications ranging from publishing and transpromotional statements to marketing collateral, packaging and large-format signage.

HP is demonstrating its new solutions at Ipex 2010, the major graphic arts tradeshow of the year. HP has the largest stand and display of digital printing technologies at the show, including a simulated production floor and customer presentations that showcase HP’s extensive range of real-world applications.

Highlights include:

• the HP T200 Color Inkjet Web Press, the company’s first extension to the high-volume inkjet portfolio, which offers a lower-cost⁽²⁾ and smaller, 20-inch solution for print service providers seeking to adopt full-color inkjet web printing
• the HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press, a top-of-the-line, highly automated press designed to replace small and midsize offset presses for high-quality color applications such as photo books, marketing collateral and personalized direct mail
• the entry-level HP Indigo 3550 Digital Press that offers proven HP Indigo quality at a more affordable price
• four new HP Scitex large-format printers, including the first HP Scitex systems to offer odorless HP Latex Inks and two UV-curable printers, significantly reducing environmental impact compared to solvent inks while also delivering superior quality for high-profit signage applications
• the HP Designjet Z5200 Printer for copy shops, quick-printing firms and other small commercial print businesses interested in entering the large-format market
• new HP SmartStream workflow solutions and a range of finishing systems from HP and its partners, which improve productivity by up to 20 percent for commercial print jobs
• the HP Color Print Module, available for the first time in the new Pitney Bowes Envelope Messaging System, for high-value direct mail with color text and graphics personalization

“In the last year, the industry experienced double-digit percent growth for digital color production pages, while analog pages declined,”⁽³⁾ said Christopher Morgan, senior vice president, Graphics Solutions Business, HP. “This is a clear sign that the market has shifted, as print service providers and other graphic arts professionals are moving to digital systems so they can produce more targeted and creative materials while also improving quality and productivity.”

To help customers achieve maximum reliability and stability across all their digital printing systems, HP has created a new Graphics Solutions Services Organization, which extends the expertise of HP services engineers worldwide to all graphic arts customers.

HP also expanded its Print Care offerings to support a broader range of product lines. Print Care is a set of tools and services that anticipate technical issues and provide performance information to help customers maintain uptime and smooth operations. Features include enhanced diagnostics and guidance tools, remote assistance and production information.

HP’s announcements at Ipex build on the company’s success at the drupa 2008 industry tradeshow, where HP introduced an extensive range of presses and solutions. These introductions over the last two years have helped its customers grow in the midst of an industry downturn. For example, HP has installed more than 350 of its flagship HP Indigo 7000 digital presses and added the new HP Indigo W7200 model for photo specialty applications.

In addition, the HP T300 Color Inkjet Web Press – HP’s initial entry into the inkjet web press market – is now in full operation at major customer sites, handling peak print volumes of up to 2 million four-color, single-sided pages per day.

Expected to be available in 2011, the new HP T200 prints 821 four-color duplex pages per minute and has a 23 million page monthly duty cycle. Its innovative paper path makes the press small enough to fit in nearly the same space as a monochrome digital web press. Its convenient size makes it easy for digital print service providers to upgrade from monochrome systems to full-color, high-volume digital printing and eliminate less efficient, offset printing.

HP Indigo 7500: Advanced automation for high-value pages

The high-end HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press introduces the HP Indigo Vision system, which offers automated calibration for highly accurate color matching and increased productivity. Intelligent automation features on the press provide hands-free consumables and substrate calibration, automated Print Care diagnostics and real-time early defect detection technology from HP Labs, the company’s central research arm. With a higher monthly duty cycle of 4 million pages, the HP Indigo 7500 can replace midsize and small-format offset presses on static printing jobs.

Compared to the HP Indigo 7000, the new model consumes 10 percent less energy per printed page and offers significantly improved imaging oil recycling.

More information on HP’s Ipex announcements and demonstrations is available at www.hp.com/go/IPEX, at the www.hp.com/go/HPatIPEX2010 online press kit or through the HP Graphic Arts Twitter feed.

About HP

HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com/.

Related posts:

1. HP Powers Digital Transformation of Commercial Printing Firm Consolidated Graphics with HP T300 Color Inkjet Web Press
2. HP Indigo press sold at PRINT 09 to Bradford & Bigelow
3. Rodaprint rewarded at the HP Indigo Digital Labels & Packaging Awards

HP today announced it has completed a sale agreement for an HP T300 Color Inkjet Web Press with Consolidated Graphics (CGX), which is already using the press to produce a wide range of products on coated and uncoated paper.

CGX, one of the nation’s largest commercial printing companies with the world’s largest integrated digital footprint, installed the HP T300 at its Denver-based Frederic Printing company last year. The initial installation of the HP T300 enabled CGX to begin producing multiple titles of textbooks every day, as well as maps, engineered drawings, saddle-stitched books and other products that have traditionally been produced on analog presses.

CGX also has selected HP as its solution provider for digital color book printing applications, one of CGX’s fastest-growing markets. Unlike analog press technology, the HP T300 digital press can change content on the fly. This allows CGX to print multiple titles of varying page lengths, as well as personalized books, during the course of a single press run. The press also eliminates many of the fixed costs associated with analog press technology, substantially reducing minimum run-length requirements needed to meet economies of scale.

Since the first HP T300 commercial installation in December 2008, the press has helped advance digital print from niche to mainstream applications by offering cost-effective, high-volume digital color production.

“With the HP T300 Color Inkjet Web Press, CGX has established itself as a true innovator,” said Aurelio Maruggi, vice president and general manager, Inkjet High-speed Production Solutions, HP. “By using the only digital color press available today that offers this level of productivity, CGX is setting an excellent example of how the HP T300 can help reinvent print’s role in publishing.”

Generating greater value in digital print

The HP T300 Color Inkjet Web Press prints a 30-inch (762-mm) wide roll with 600 x 1,200 addressable dots per inch (dpi) four-color-process printing at a speed of 400 feet (122 m) per minute – a size, speed and resolution combination capable of creating 500 200-page books an hour with image quality that meets or exceeds book trade standards.

The HP T300 offers print service providers attractive capital acquisition and operating costs, including the ability to purchase consumables as needed without click charges.

“The HP T300 will open up new markets for our customers and enable CGX to remain at the forefront of on-demand book publishing,” said Aaron Grohs, executive vice president, Sales and Marketing, Consolidated Graphics. “This particular press was attractive to us because it allows us to offer our customers greater media flexibility and a superior end product.”

Media flexibility, including compatibility with standard uncoated papers

By taking advantage of the press’s unique bonding agent technology for improved print quality, CGX can now print books on both standard uncoated paper and custom, coated inkjet media on the HP T300.

In addition to being an early adopter of the HP T300 Color Inkjet Web Press, CGX ranks as the world’s No. 1 user of HP Indigo digital presses, with more than 50 presses installed in facilities across North America and Europe to produce photo books, direct mail and commercial print jobs requiring offset- or photo-quality imaging and high ink coverage.

More information about HP digital presses is available at www.hp.com/go/GSB, as well as through the HP Graphic Arts Twitter feed.

About Consolidated Graphics

Consolidated Graphics Inc. (NYSE: CGX), headquartered in Houston, Texas, is one of North America’s leading general commercial printing companies. With 70 printing businesses strategically located across 27 states, Toronto, and Prague, and a presence in Asia, CGX offers an unmatched geographic footprint, unsurpassed capabilities, and unparalleled levels of convenience, efficiency and service. With locations in or near virtually every major U.S. market, CGX provides service and responsiveness of a local printer enhanced by the economic, geographic and technological advantages of a large national organization.

Consolidated Graphics’ vast and technologically advanced sheetfed and web printing capabilities are complemented by the world’s largest integrated digital footprint. By coupling North America’s most comprehensive printing capabilities with strategically located fulfillment centers and industry-leading technology, CGX delivers end-to-end print production and management solutions that are based on the needs of our customers to improve their results. For more information, visit www.cgx.com.

About HP

HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com/.

Related posts:

1. HP Accelerates Growth Opportunities for Graphic Arts Customers with Expanded Digital Printing Portfolio
2. HP Indigo press sold at PRINT 09 to Bradford & Bigelow
3. Rodaprint rewarded at the HP Indigo Digital Labels & Packaging Awards

ROCHESTER, N.Y., May 13 – Adding to the diverse capabilities of the KODAK NEXPRESS Fifth Imaging Unit Solutions with Print Genius, Kodak is introducing a new virtually invisible clear ink. KODAK NEXPRESS Red Fluorescing Dry Ink is clear to the naked eye, but becomes red fluorescing when illuminated with an appropriate ultraviolet (UV) light source. The ink can be used to print unobtrusive images and non-reproducible bar codes on various printed materials, which then can be read with specialized bar code readers. The NEXPRESS Red Fluorescing Dry Ink enables a wide range of security and inventory management applications, including certified documents, such as medical prescription pads, drivers’ licenses and event tickets.

“This innovative expansion of the NEXPRESS Fifth Imaging Unit Solutions allows digital print service providers to enter the lucrative and growing secure documents and ‘track and trace’ markets,” said Steve Fletcher, General Manager, Electrophotographic Printing Solutions, Vice President, Kodak. “The amazing versatility of the family of KODAK NEXPRESS Digital Production Color Presses is designed to help print service providers stay on the forefront of a demanding, quickly changing marketplace.”

This new ink allows clear bar codes to be printed inline and can encompass variable data printing, allowing each printed piece to be marked with unique information. The NEXPRESS Red Fluorescing Dry Ink can be easily exchanged with other Fifth Imaging Unit Solutions, allowing print service providers to efficiently move between various types of printing projects. The new ink creates opportunities for current NEXPRESS Press customers to offer new services to their existing customer bases and enter new markets. It will allow commercial printers to expand their digital print operations into secure documents and other businesses, and will provide book printers with new ways to take advantage of inventory management and automation improvements. Commercial printers can also use the clear bar code for their internal workflow for downstream finishing and binding operations.

The NEXPRESS Red Fluorescing Dry Ink is the latest addition to the NEXPRESS Fifth Imaging Unit Solutions, which also allows dimensional printing that creates a raised-print, 3D effect; coating applications, which can be used to increase durability or add watermarks; clear protection and gloss coating using the nearline KODAK NEXPRESS Glossing Unit; color gamut expansion with red, green, and blue dry inks; and MICR applications for secure, machine-readable documents.

Kodak worked with bar code reader pioneer InData Systems to develop a red fluorescing dry ink application that would be widely adaptable in the field, allowing it to be printed on a variety of backgrounds. InData Systems of Skaneateles, N.Y. is a world leader in bar code reading products designed for the bar code security industry, which uses covert or hidden bar codes for product authentication, tracking, and information retrieval.

“This new ink from Kodak opens up a number of new markets for digital printing,” said John Hattersley, President of InData Systems. “It’s a huge breakthrough, because now one printing application can include both a pass/fail authentication system and include a significant amount of unique, identifying information.”

The red fluorescing bar code itself is the pass/fail authentication. It is difficult to counterfeit and if the bar code does not light up for the UV reader, the document is not genuine. The NEXPRESS Press with Print Genius has an advantage over conventional inks for this application. Offset inks, liquid toner, and inkjet inks tend to spread when printed. The NEXPRESS Press can create very sharp lines in the 2D bar codes enabling higher read accuracy with smaller bar code sizes. This makes the bar codes less intrusive. This feature can be used in a wide range of secure document applications, including identification documents, event tickets and coupons. The bar code itself can encode additional information that might verify the information on a secure document, such as a lottery ticket, pharmaceutical prescription pad or school transcript. Clear security images can be used instead of barcodes for lower-level security applications or verification of documents with UV illumination only without the need for a bar code reader. For applications such as passports, credit cards or drivers’ licenses, the bar code can encode the identity information about the bearer (such as birth date) making it more difficult to counterfeit or alter sensitive documents. Additionally, the bar codes can aid in inventory management, indicating specific handling for versioned textbooks, catalogs or other products.

The fact that the ink is clear with normal lighting has both security and aesthetic benefits. On many backgrounds the ink will appear nearly invisible without the UV light, enhancing its effectiveness as a security tool and allowing the bar code to be placed in locations where a standard black-ink bar code would not be acceptable.

Like all NEXPRESS Fifth Imaging Unit Solutions, the red fluorescing dry ink creates prints that are recyclable. The dry ink also contains no volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Kodak will show off sample applications using the red fluorescing dry ink at Ipex 2010, stand 9-E320. Attendees will be able to see a golf admission ticket and a membership id card with an authentication images and a science textbook cover with the bar code information optimized for work flow automation and inventory management. The new NEXPRESS Red Fluorescing Dry Ink will be available commercially in June of this year.

Also at Ipex, Kodak is unveiling the new Print Genius website showcasing the innovation of the KODAK NEXPRESS SE Digital Production Color Presses and the technology under the covers that enable photographic quality, high productivity, and lowered cost of ownership. In addition to the suite of customer solutions delivered through quality control tools and options for managing and maintaining peak quality throughout a production run, Print Genius also supports the value-added applications and solutions of the Fifth Imaging Unit Solutions, including the use of the new red fluorescing dry ink. After May 18, visit the new Print Genius website at: www.kodak.com/go/PrintGenius.

Related posts:

1. Print 09 Great Success for Xeikon
2. Heidelberg: Up to 30 percent increase in customer productivity
3. New Zealand firm orders two HP Indigo W7200 presses

March 30, 2010 – HP today announced that Dion Label has expanded its digital printing capacity with an HP Indigo WS6000 Digital Press to support continued growth of its label and packaging converting business.

Dion Label selected the WS6000 to accommodate the company’s growing demand for the features that HP Indigo technology and its complementary HP SmartStream Labels and Packaging workflow solutions deliver: fast turnaround, high quality and streamlined, multiple-SKU production.

Dion Label purchased the new press at the Digital Solutions Cooperative’s annual Dscoop conference in February. According to Dion Label’s management team of John Dion and Randy Duhaime, the HP user group conference served as the perfect networking venue to move Dion Label’s Westfield, Mass.-based converting business ahead. Over the course of the two-day conference, Dion and Duhaime arranged to sell of one of its two HP Indigo press ws4050s to another label and packaging converter and finalized the purchase of the HP Indigo WS6000 Digital Press.

Installed in early March, Dion Label’s new press runs alongside the firm’s remaining HP Indigo press ws4050. Both presses use a suite of HP SmartStream Labels and Packaging workflow solutions developed by leading converting prepress technology firm EskoArtwork.

“Customers who attend the Dscoop conference know it is one of the most important events for graphic arts professionals seeking new solutions for profitable growth,” said Jan Riecher, vice president and general manager, Graphics Solutions Business – Americas, HP. “Networking opportunities can be at least as valuable as the conference’s expert training and technology displays. In this case, the Dscoop experience allowed two progressive converters to connect and quickly find the digital solutions they needed to take their firms to the next level.”

Expansion into new markets with the HP Indigo WS6000′s large media range

Dion Label’s new press offers high productivity with its four-color printing speed of 98 linear feet per minute. The HP Indigo WS6000 Press’s ability to print on both thick and thin substrates – from the lightweight media used in flexible packaging to the tag stocks used in folding cartons – will assist in Dion Label’s expansion into new markets and encourage business from new and existing customers.

“Short run, multiple SKUs, repeatable high-quality printing and the ability for variable data has helped to maintain our steady growth,” said Randy Duhaime, vice president, Dion Label. “The purchase of the HP Indigo WS6000 will allow us to continue this trend with longer run lengths transitioning from our conventional flexographic printing department to our digital department. WS6000 enhancements, such as its large repeat length and its ability to print on substrates from 12 microns to 450 microns, will open additional opportunities.”

The new HP Indigo WS6000 Digital Press is more cost-effective than analog flexographic or offset production for jobs up to 13,000 linear feet, a figure that represents approximately 80 percent of the jobs label converters produce.(1) With more than 70 installations worldwide since the product’s introduction in March 2009, the HP Indigo WS6000′s success demonstrates the increasing migration of work from flexographic to digital printing.

Prepress workflow solutions for better color management and quality

The press’s digital front-end solution, the HP SmartStream Labels and Packaging Print Server, powered by EskoArtwork, helps converters establish PDF 1.6 workflows and maximize HP Indigo presses’ advanced productivity and quality. Features include: Pantone®-certified conversion tables for four-, six-, and seven-color printing; “double hit” separations for more effective use of white ink; and options for high-definition or standard screening.

Dion Label’s HP SmartStream Labels and Packaging Color Kit is a high-end color management solution for cost-effectively and quickly matching Pantone colors, flexo, offset or other print outputs. The kit, which incorporates EskoArtwork’s Kaleidoscope software, automatically converts incoming jobs to the appropriate color space based on the specific ink colors installed on the press. The tool also creates spectral profiles of special colors and stores them in a database for consistent, repeatable quality.

Related posts:

1. Xeikon Rolls Out the Xeikon 8000 for the PRINT 09 Conference
2. Strategic Content Imaging, Inc. (SCI) Invests in three additional Xeikon 8000′s
3. Quad/Graphics is the first to install the new Presstek 52DI-AC