HP reports WS6000 success in EMEA

HP Indigo has reported over 100 installations of its WS6000 digital label press in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) since its launch in spring 2009. 

With print speeds of up to 30m/min full color, the WS6000 is claimed to address more than 80 percent of jobs currently printed by flexo presses. The press can print on a wide range of substrates with easy changeovers and full-color variable data printing for short-runs, localization and the printing of barcodes, sell-by dates, batch numbers and security devices. 

Such is the versatility of the machine that, depending on their circumstances, different users cite different features of the press as reasons for investment. 

Springfield Solutions, of Hull, UK, is a packaging decorator and an advocate of digital printing since its installation of an Indigo Omnius in 1996. Today it has two WS6000 digital presses and an HP Indigo ws4500. 

‘The efficiency and speed of the WS6000 press relative to its predecessors made our investment decision for a second press remarkably easy. We enjoy a great partnership with HP and the WS6000 press is a manifestation that their machine development program is in tune with the needs of packaging decorators. Our make-readies are even better than before, our print speeds have doubled, preventative maintenance is easier and the machine has a lower environmental impact versus anything that we have used before. It ticks a lot of boxes,’ said Albert Dass, chairman, Springfield Solutions. 

For nearly 20 years August Faller has focused on printing folding cartons for the pharmaceutical industry. The company operates at four different production sites in Germany and also produces package inserts, labels and combination products. 

‘Since we installed the HP Indigo WS6000 digital press, our productivity has increased,’ said Wolfgang Staudt, director PharmaServiceCenter Labels, Faller. ‘We are taking on more short-run print for our pharmaceutical customers. Also, the workflow from pre-press to finishing has improved with the new press. Our clients require that colors match corporate identities which we achieve perfectly with the press’s color management software.’ 

Pitkit Printing Enterprises, of Caesarea, Israel, is an established label converter of 40 years’ experience with a broad customer base. An HP Indigo ws4500 customer, the company installed a WS6000 in August 2010. 

‘We are a specialist in security label and identity document printing for high-level international brands and organizations,’ said Gideon Fishman, managing director, Pitkit. ‘The WS6000 digital press enables us to print reliably the variable data necessary for these applications. For both security reasons and the high profile of our customers, high image quality is imperative and we are able to achieve this with our HP Indigo press.’

Ro.Ma SpA, of Milan, Italy, specializes in the production of multipage labels as well as self-adhesive labels. It installed its first digital press, an HP Indigo ws4050, in 2006 and has recently upgraded to the WS6000. 

‘When we invested in the HP Indigo WS6000, we aimed to improve our productivity and we have achieved that. The new press is enabling us to improve our production speed and flexibility with fast turnarounds and variable data printing, as well as accommodating changes in paper formats. The HP Indigo press is now handling all the manufacturing we used to run on the ws4050 press as well as that from a retired web offset press. In fact, with the HP Indigo WS6000 digital press, we will be able to achieve the same quality as offset but with higher speeds and lower costs,’ said Marco Rossi, owner, Ro.Ma SpA. 

Vila Etiketten, one of Holland’s fastest growing label producers with a portfolio of over 2,000 customers including blue-chip brands, retailers and other local printers, ordered its WS6000 to replace its ws4500 at Ipex in May last year.   

Robbert Vugts, managing director, Vila Etiketten, said: ‘Our new HP Indigo WS6000 digital press will enable us to maintain our competitive edge and further step-up our productivity to meet customer objectives. Not only will we be able to increase efficiency, but we will be able to increase our page impressions with the HP Indigo WS6000, and help our customers get their products to market much quicker.’ 

Rotolabel, of Cape Town, South Africa, was founded in 1982 and has evolved into one of Africa’s leading producers of self-adhesive labels. A major supplier of labels to the food, wine and hygiene industries, the company had an HP Indigo press ws4500 and had seen its digital production grow rapidly. 

‘Following two extremely successful years we needed to increase our capacity,’ said Grant Watson, sales director, Rotolabel. ‘Being a leader in high quality labels serving the retail, pharmaceutical, personal care and wine markets our next investment in technology had to offer our customers superb quality. This left us with no doubt in our minds, from our experience with the HP Indigo press ws4500 it had to be another HP Indigo press. The print quality on the various materials was in a class of its own. 

‘The only question which remained was whether we should go for another ws4500 or the WS6000. Although priced higher than the WS4500, the increase in blanket size to 980mm doubles the speed and is far more efficient to print a larger spectrum of label sizes. Doing the maths, the equation became a no-brainer, and we bought the WS6000.’

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