HP is developing a flatbed inkjet press specifically for corrugated packaging printing. The Scitex 15000 will come up against a Bobst machine with Kodak’s Prosper inkjet heads, corrugated versions of the Inca S40i sold by Fujifilm and a new machine developed by Sun Innovations.
The HP Scitex machine was revealed at Interpack in Dusseldorf last week and will be available, assuming field trials meet expectations, on 1 November. The machine forms part of a three-pronged approach to what HP considers an $11.5 billion opportunity. The HP Indigo 20000 for labels and flexible packaging and the Indigo 30000for carton printing are both commercially available HP announced at the show.
There are ten machines of this type already in use with an Indigo 30000 sold to MPS in the US and a 20000 sold to Emerald Packaging in California and Flach in the Netherlands which are still to be installed.
And the company sees a further opportunity to print the top surface of a corrugated sheet before it is applied to the flute and base layers. It will launch a version of the T series inkjet web presses to take on litho lamination for the corrugated sector. However, at this point there is no product, nor specification for one, but consultations with the leading corrugated packaging providers are underway according to Juan Ignacio Calderon, VP strategy and market development for packaging.
The decision to create a flatbed press specifically for the corrugated boards where the print surface can be irregular, where the substrate can be highly absorbent and sheets can be uneven and dusty, comes a year after the launch of the FB10000 at Fespa. To date HP has supplied 30 customers, many of which, UK flagship customer Swanline Print included, have already been printing on corrugated either for packaging or for POP displays. “We have seen a number of customers using the FB10000 in the corrugated space,” says Calderon, “so we know the opportunity is there, so we have developed a new product optimised for that market.”
For HP POP is the key opportunity as supermarket choices are increasing taken in the aisle. Digital production will also allow segmentation and micro segmentation of advertising messaging.
The press will be fully automated in terms of handling from lifting boards on to the bed, to removing them to a stack of finished sheets. There will be an upgrade path to more productive or next generation machines HP promises.
As well as naming new customers for the Indigo digital presses, HP announced a collaboration with Comexi to develop a laminator specifically for the HP Indigo 20000, working either inline or offline to this press. The technology will be a cold seal solvent free process allowing printed and protected reels to be filled immediately rather having to undergo a two-day curing process to defeat the idea of printed flexible packaging on demand.
The deal with the Spanish company is currently exclusive, though HP is not shutting the door to future deals, Indigo’s Simon Lewis explains. “At this point we have elected to focus our efforts on Comexi. We are not going to be working with multiple vendors in this regard, I don’t think we have the bandwidth.”
The Indigo 30000 gains a coater from Tresu and a partnership with Kama, represented in the UK by Friedheim International, to operate as inline or near line finishing systems.
The press will be fully automated in terms of handling from lifting boards on to the bed, to removing them to a stack of finished sheets. There will be an upgrade path to more productive or next generation machines, HP promises.
