HP Indigo Worldwide 2017 VIP Event: a report

The HP Indigo Worldwide VIP Event was an opportunity for customers to know HP Indigo’s technology and understand how to leverage it to grow their business. The 2017 edition was held in Israel from March 27-30, 2017. One thing was loud and clear at the event– India and China are the major markets for printing industry. Sonal Khurana from Print & Publishing, who attended the event, brings a report.

The HP Indigo Worldwide VIP event in Israel was a great place to learn from industry experts, share insights with other HP Indigo users and see the brand new HP Indigo portfolio up close and personal. Delegates could see the manufacturing and ElectroInk plants, demonstrating HP’s new products and developments. They were also inspired by winning applications and helped them discover new market opportunities.

The event was officially opened by Alon Bar Shany, general manager, HP Indigo. The event celebrated 40th year of HP Indigo. “Almost 2 billion dollar has been funded by HP Financial Services to Graphic Arts customers,” he shared. The event was attended by 600 delegates from 51 countries,majorly from China, US and India. There were 22 people from India.

HP Indigo Kiryat Gat Campus visit

The opening session was followed by deep-dive product demonstrations and tour of Kiryat Gat campus, where the delegates could see HP Indigo portfolio/solutions showcase, HP Indigo Technology Fair, solutions for success, HP Indigo manufacturing & ELectroInk plant tour, application showcase and meet with HP Indigo partners. At the Kiryat Gat campus, there were designated areas for commercial solution showcase, labels & packaging solutions showcase, press manufacturing plant, ink plant and application showcase. The commercial solutions showcased HP Indigo 12000 digital press, HP Indigo 7900 digital press, HP Indigo 5900 digital press and HP Indigo 50000 digital press. While, the labels & packaging section showcased HP Indigo 20000 digital press – commercial applications, HP Indigo WS6800 digital press, HP Indigo 8000 digital press, HP Indigo 20000 digital press and HP Indigo 30000 digital press. Delegates could freely wander around the campus and see products/solutions of their choice.

The HP Indigo Technology Fair opened its R&D labs to the visitors so that they can know more about HP Indigo’s unique printing technology. The highlights included HP Indigo ElectroInk white inks, silver ink and metallic colours, fluorescent inks, experimental inks, current & future security solutions, transparent writing head technology, ElectroInk live demonstration (LEP) + thin ink film, new binary ink developer concept for series 3, silky screen, HP Predictive Press Care, Colour Beat, Automatic Alert Agent, New print quality benchmark with high definition laser array writing head and HP Indigo Optimizer.

Solutions for Success area included products/services like HP Service Advantage, Service Online Consumers, Make prepress 10X more efficient, Print Beat Store, Empower your brands with HP Smart Stream Designer, Control your production with PrintOS apps and HP PrintOS.

Meet the expert sessions were held on three different topics – A step ahead in colour management; Get a step ahead with image quality; and How to boost your productivity?

Seminar in Tel Aviv

The seminar started with a keynote address by Mooly Eden, former Intel senior vice president, chairman of the executive board of Haifa University, Innovations advisor, who spoke on The exponential world and risk taking. “In an era in which fast-paced, technologically-driven change is impacting every aspect of our lives, staying still puts you at risk of extinction,” he said.

While, Christian Menegon talked on Brands love HP Indigo. “Digital printing and right software tools can unleash creativity to create a whole new branding method and support the new challenges,” he said.

Taking it further, Gershon Alon talked about HP PrintOS, which is a print production operating system for HP Indigo customers and it helps them get the most out of their presses, simplify and automate production and facilitates collaboration, innovation and growth. Since its release at drupa 2016, almost 2000 HP Indigo customers have joined PrintOS. The journey of success in commercial printing was discussed by Paula Comes Ahedo, Ravit Spiegel & Michal Marcus. Jim Benedict, marketing director, GLS companies, spoke on the GLS journey to success.

The seminar was followed by customer site visits

Customer site visits

Visitors were taken on a tour to different customer sites:

Iprint – iPrint was established in 2009 to provide creative print solutions based on a combination of digital and offset printing. Using an extensive online print ordering system, customers can self-design print products from a wide variety of templates. A new digital facility was established in Petah Tikva based on the HP Indigo 12000 and HP Indigo 7900. The digital short-run work is driven by high-performance workflow solutions including HP SmartStream Production Center. They have a variety of finishing equipment including Horizon, Polar and GMP.

Elinir – All digital from day one, Elinir is an ultra-modern printing house whose core business is now based on two HP Indigo digital presses: an HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press and an HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press. Located in Petah Tikva, Elinir was founded 30 years ago.

Papyrus – Established in 1994, it is a general commercial printer specializing in catalogues, folders, brochures, stationery and business cards, with its core business based on two HP Indigo digital presses. Papyrus is the print service provider for Lupa, a leading Isrraeli provider of photo books.

Roltag– Roltag, established 35 years ago in Holon, is a leading label converter in Israel specializing in high-value applications such as wine labels and cosmetics. Roltag has installed a new HP Indigo 8000 Digital Press in addition to two HP Indigo WS6000 Series units. Finishing equipment includes AB Graphics machines.

Tadbik CLP– Tadbik CLP, based in Kibbutz Negba, is a leader in the field of Flexible Packaging, with over 50 years of experience. Tadbik CLP operates an HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press for producing a range of flexible packaging applications. Customers include global manufacturers of food & beverage, personal care & cosmetics, pharmaceutical, retail, industrial and more.

Eshel Printing– Eshel printing is a folding cartons converter specializing in the pharma market. Eshel recently installed an HP Indigo 30000 Digital Press to improve the production floor, give a solution for short-run jobs per the market demands, and to develop new and improved markets such as cosmetics. The company is located in Petah Tikva.