HP Accelerates Analogue-to-Digital Publishing Transformation

TEL AVIV, Israel, 13 March2012 - HP today announced new digital press solutions that offergreater flexibility and higher productivity to help print serviceproviders (PSPs) and publishers meet growing market demand forcustomised, shorter-run and personalised publications.

The solutions, which HPwill showcase May 3-16 at the drupa tradeshow, Düsseldorf, Germany,include:

• HP T360 and T410 Color Inkjet Web Presses, offering fastermonochrome speeds (244 metres/800 feet per minute),(1) and an HPT230 Color Inkjet Web Press offering faster colour speeds (122metres/400 feet per minute),(2) for higher-volume bookmanufacturing. 

• The HP Indigo W7250 Digital Press, a high-volume, roll-feddevice offering 33 per cent faster throughput(3) for one-off andshort- to medium-run production of high-end colour textbooks,journals, manuals and trade books. 

• The HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press - the first offset-qualitydigital press in a B2 size format (750 x 530 millimetres [mm] /29.5 x 20.9 inches) suitable for printing a very broad range ofpublishing applications, including book signatures. Available nextyear, it offers HP Indigo's unparalleled print quality andextensive media flexibility. 

• The HP Indigo 7600 Digital Press, a sheet-fed press offeringgreater versatility and productivity, improved automation(4) andexclusive special effects for book cover printing.

From nichepublishing to mainstream production

The technology developmentshighlight print's important, evolving role in the publishingindustry transformation. As e-books and tablet-edition magazinesreduce demand for hardcopy volumes, digital printing is becoming amainstream solution for cost-effective publishing applications.

Publishers increasingly usedigital printing to extend the number of backlist titles they canprofitably offer in print. Plus, digital printing meets growingdemand for personalised and niche publications, such aspersonalised children's books ordered online.

The trends collectivelydrive significant growth: According to industry research firmINTERQUEST, digital book printing is expected to grow by nearly 30per cent annually through 2015.(5)

"The publishing industry isundergoing an undeniable transition, accelerated by continuedinnovation in digital print quality, productivity and breadth ofcapabilities," said Christopher Morgan, senior vice president,Graphics Solutions Business, HP. "The companies thriving in thischanging market are finding new ways to add value for theircustomers - from reducing print and supply chain costs to creatingnew business models."

Less risk, morereward for publishers in title management

HP's installed base of morethan 60 inkjet web presses worldwide includes top bookmanufacturers, such as Courier Corp. in North Chelmsford, Mass.;CPI Group in France; and Webcom in Toronto, use multiple HP InkjetWeb Presses to help their publishing customers increaseprofitability.

With their faster, 244metres (800 feet) per minute monochrome printing speeds, the 762-mm(30-inch) HP T360 and 1,066-mm (42-inch) HP T410 Color Inkjet WebPresses help book manufacturers shrink their turnaround times andreduce unit costs without sacrificing quality.

"Turning up the speed ofmono printing to 244 metres per minute makes inkjet printing evenmore compelling for book manufacturers," said industry analyst NoelWard, president of Brimstone Hill Associates. "It's all aboutproductivity and controlling costs and the added mono speed is awelcome addition for these machines."

The HP T230 Color InkjetWeb Press brings new productivity and cost advantages to colourpublishing in 558-mm (22-inch) production environments. Compared tothe HP T200, the HP T230 model offers a 100-per cent speed increaseto 122 metres (400 feet) per minute in monochrome and colourprinting, with the same high quality the HP T200 model offers inits standard imaging mode.  

The new features of the HPT230, T360 and T410 presses will become available as optionalupgrades to existing HP T200, T300, T350 and T400 Color Inkjet WebPress customers later this year.

HP Inkjet Web Presses alsohave new media options, including100-per cent post-consumerrecycled coated paper from Arjowiggins and Utopia Inkjet Gloss fromAppleton Coated.

In addition, papersuppliers Metsä Board/M-Real and Arjowiggins announced they areworking with HP to develop papers that deliver superior performanceon HP Color Inkjet Web Presses. HP also announced an expansion inthe range of inkjet web press media using ColorPRO Technologies tonow include coated papers as well as uncoated.

New finishing equipmentincludes the Epic WebCoat 350 from Epic Products International,which provides in-line UV or aqueous coating on HP T300 and T350production lines for durability and excellent appearance inpublishing applications. Expanding the range of finishing solutionsavailable to customers, Muller Martini - a global leader in printfinishing systems - has developed a new, 1,066-mm (42-inch)SigmaLine in-line digital book production system offering a fasteroperating speed to match the higher throughput of the HP T410.

HP Indigoaccelerating publishing growth

HP Indigo digital presseshave witnessed increased opportunities by leveraging disruptivebusiness models to create and capture value in the publishingmarket.

In 2011, the publishingmarket became HP Indigo's fastest growing vertical segment asleading printers and publishers worldwide capitalised on thenumerous advantages the presses offer. Traditional publishersincreased the amount of HP Indigo-printed books they order, andonline providers of unique and custom books, including industryleaders such as Blurb and Lulu, continued to see expansion indemand for Indigo-printed, full-colour self-published books printedon demand.

The HP Indigo W7200 DigitalPress, which has an installed base in excess of 60 units worldwide,is the primary driver of rapid HP Indigo publishing page growth.The majority of HP Indigo W7200 customers use their pressesexclusively for publishing applications, including colour-intensivecookbooks, children's books, textbooks, teachers' editions, andscientific, technical and medical journals.

HP has updated thistop-performing platform in an HP Indigo W7250 Digital Press thatuses an Enhanced Productivity Mode (EPM) feature to boost colourthroughput by 33 per cent.(6)

Available in June, thepress's higher full-colour speed reduces the cost per page whileincreasing the number of pages produced per shift, factors thataccelerate the offset-to-digital transformation in book printing bygrowing the number of high-quality colour titles PSPs caneconomically produce on a digital press. 

The new, 340-mm (13.4-inch)wide HP Indigo W7250 model is designed for printing up to 10million full-colour, A4 or letter-size pages per month and offersthe exceptional quality and productivity needed for dedicated,high-volume publishing applications. Like the HP Indigo W7200, theHP Indigo W7250 model includes an in-line media primer that ensurescompatibility with virtually any standard uncoated or coated offsetstock.

HP Indigo W7200 users canadd the new press's EPM feature and other HP Indigo W7250-modeladvancements through an optional upgrade that will be availablethis summer.

Better bookprinting and binding with the B2-format HP Indigo10000 

Available in early 2013,the sheet-fed HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press brings HP Indigo's trueoffset-quality printing advantages to a B2 press size format thatsupports nearly every type of publishing print job. 

The HP Indigo 10000 prints3,450 four-color sheets per hour in its standard production mode,and can provide 33 per cent faster throughput of 4,600 coloursheets per hour using EPM. In addition to printing signatures orlarger, multipage impositions for standard-size books, the press,with its B2 sheet size, accommodates efficient production oflayflat books, coffee table books and large dust jackets.

The B2 format of the pressalso helps PSPs efficiently adopt "long grain" printing and bindingof standard-format books to meet many publishers' binding qualityexpectations. The HP Indigo 10000's ability to support eight- and16-page signature layouts also makes it compatible with thesignature bookbinding methods many PSPs already use withoffset-printed sheets.

HP also announced two in-or near-line finishing options for the HP Indigo 10000. One, asignature folder from MBO, helps PSPs eliminate the finishingmake-ready spoilage typically required in bookbinding work andoffers fully automated set-up for signature-fold work. The folderalso gives PSPs a continuous productivity advantage byautomatically reconfiguring to handle the different format ofsuccessive jobs printed.

The other new finishingsolution, the Horizon SmartStacker, is a slit-merge-stack systemthat automatically produces collated, stacked book blocks ready forbinding.

Faster throughputin A3 size, with new effects for book covers

Building on the success ofthe HP Indigo 7000-series sheet-fed solutions, HP is launching theHP Indigo 7600 Digital Press. Featuring higher productivity,increased automation and increased flexibility, the HP Indigo 7600prints 120 A4/letter-size pages per minute in its standardproduction mode, and provides 33 per cent faster throughput of 160pages per minute using EPM.(7)

The HP Indigo 7600, whichwill be commercially available at drupa 2012, also helps PSPscreate premium-quality book covers using new special effectsfeatures including:

• Raised print, which uses multiple layers of ink to create imagesraised up to 50 microns from the sheet. 

• Textured effect, a feature that allows users to create a moldwith the press in three minutes or less for on-press sheetembossing or debossing. 

• Digital watermarking, a feature that allows PSPs to createspecific gloss differential effects.

For professionalphotography books and other projects featuring black-and-whitephotography, the HP Indigo 7600 press offers higher-qualitygreyscale imaging using standard, process-colour black ink and anew, optional Light Black ink in a duotone printingprocess.(8) 

The HP Indigo 7600 pressalso offers fully automated finishing using Lasermax Roll Systems'PageReady system, an in-line or near-line cut-merge-stacksystem.

UpgradedSmartStream tools advance digital publishingworkflows 

New HP SmartStream and HPSmartStream Solutions Partner programme workflow solutions for HPIndigo presses include:

• HP SmartStream Production Center, a new production managementsystem that addresses the challenges of producing and deliveringhigh volumes of short-run jobs, reducing turnaround time andincreasing profitability. Available later this year, HP SmartStreamProduction Centre unifies multiple job streams, shows real-time,detailed end-to-end production floor status and enables PSPs tomanage job progress and priority.

• HP SmartStream Production Pro Print Server, version 5, a digitalfront-end solution that supports HP Indigo 10000 B2-format andother high-volume applications with a multi-raster image processingarchitecture that significantly shortens job processing, batchingand streaming.(9)  The server has a web-based user interface tomanage complex print server tasks, and includes new, automatic ICCsubstrate profiling and finishing setup features.  

• The latest versions of the HP SmartStream Director Web-to-Printsolution, HP SmartStream Designer variable-data design andimpositioning software, and the HP SmartStream Production Analyzerpress monitoring solution.

More information isavailable at www.hp.com/go/HPPredrupa12,www.hp.com/go/drupa andthrough the HP Graphic Arts Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/hpgraphicartsand YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/hpgraphicarts.Join or follow the conversation using the #HPdrupa hashtag.

HP also is discussing itsnews on March 14 at 3pm GMT/4pm CET in a webinar taking place at www.hp.com/go/historynow.

(1) Compared to monochromeprinting speeds for the HP T300, T350 and T400 Color Inkjet webpresses. (2) Compared to colour printing speeds for the HP T200Color Inkjet Web Press.
(3) Compared to the HP Indigo W7200 press printing at four-colourspeed.
(4) Compared to the HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press.
(5) INTERQUEST, 2012.
(6) Speed increase is from 240 A4/letter-size pages per minutetwo-up (29.87 m / 98 feet per minute)  to 320 pages per minutetwo-up (39.9 m / 131 feet per minute) in Enhanced ProductivityMode.
(7) Compared to the HP Indigo 7500 press printing at four-colorspeed. Speed increase is from 120 A4/letter-size pages per minute(3,200 330 x 482-mm / 13 x 19-inch sheets per hour) in four coloursto 160 pages per minute (4,800 sheets per hour) in EnhancedProductivity Mode.
(8) Compared to other HP Indigo press models using process-black HPElectroInk alone.
(9) Compared to previous versions of the HP SmartStream ProductionPro Print Server.

AboutHP

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

Editorialcontacts:

Vanessa Ribeiro, HP
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vribeiro@hp.com

Ben Dodson
Bespoke for HP
+44 (0)1737 215 200
ben@bespoke.co.uk

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