A visit to HP Graphics Solutions Centre of Excellence and New Ink Plant in Singapore!

HP has created a new facility to help printing companies and brands in Asia Pacific and Japan to bring their ideas to life. A group of media professionals from Asia were recently invited to look into this centre of excellence. Here, Varsha Verma of Print & Publishing brings a report.
HP’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Singapore aims to educate and inspire printing companies and their customers – including brands, agencies and print buyers – in Asia Pacific and Japan about new opportunities made possible by HP digital printing solutions. Spread over an area of 21,000 sq m, the facility provides customers with one-stop access to HP’s broad digital printing portfolio and solutions, as well as a space to connect with experts and share creative and technical best practices.

The facility further supports worldwide Indigo ink volume production by expanding local capabilities from the current ink series to the fast-growing new generation of inks for the HP Indigo 10000, 20000 and 30000 Digital Presses.

“Brand owners are facing increased competition as consumer choice and expectations have exploded. As a result, they’ve moved into the digital world to connect more powerfully with their customers,” said Gido van Praag, vice president, Graphics Solutions Business, HP Asia Pacific and Japan. “The HP Centre of Excellence aims to give them the tools to compete, helping brands identify new ways to combine their unique skills with the industry’s broadest portfolio of innovative digital printing solutions, and its unparalleled application capabilities.”

“We believe in the ecosystem of innovation, which includes print buyer/brand owner innovation, print service provider innovation and go-to-market innovation,” Gido said. He mentioned the innovative use of digital prints at Belfrance Bakers & Chocolate (India), Forbidden City, Coco-cola, Durex personalised campaign, Shanghai Natural History Museum, etc.

He also mentioned about digital going from short-runs to long runs. “Digital prints accounts for 38 percent of $50.6 billion graphics hardware and ink value,” told Gido. “Also, HP’s digital value proposition for labels and packaging is increasing. Digital has an exciting time today and the future is even more exciting,” he said.

HP Graphics Solutions Centre of Excellence unlocks the full power of digital printing

The complete graphics portfolio and partner solutions along with an extensive gallery of applications – from stamps to building wraps – can be seen in the new facility to make it easier for customers to unlock the full power of digital printing.

Printing companies can benchmark and conduct end-to-end application testing of their HP digital printing equipment. Inspirational ideas and pilot projects in a real-world production environment, can be easily seen here. The applications are displayed in well demarcated zones – living room showcase (HP latex technologies), supermarket showcase – labels & packaging, bookstore showcase – publishing, general commercial printing, art gallery, etc.

Fully operational HP Indigo Digital Presses, HP Scitex Industrial Presses, HP Latex and HP Designjet Printers can be seen here.

Also displayed was the newly launched HP PageWide printer, which is specially focused to take on the blue print market segment in India, besides churning out very good quality full-colour prints.

HP Ink Manufacturing Facility

The increase in ink manufacturing capabilities supports the growing demand of Indigo next-generation presses, which are reaching 150 installations worldwide. These installations are in addition to more than 6,000 HP Indigo Presses now in 120 countries.

The 10,000 sq m expansion to the ink manufacturing plant supports global production of specialized HP Indigo ElectroInks for the new generation of HP Indigo 10000, 20000 and 30000 Digital Presses. The Indigo 10000, the first B2-format digital press with offset quality, enables print service providers, photo specialty shops and book printers to provide high value, high productivity applications. The Indigo 20000 and the Indigo 30000 Digital Presses are the first digital presses designed to meet the needs of label & flexible packaging and folding carton converters.

To allow HP Indigo customers in the region to order and receive more than 3,000 specially mixed ink colours within short lead times, the plant also manufactures Pantone-licensed spot colour inks. Substrate testing and certification capabilities are built into the plant to enable substrate manufacturers, suppliers and HP Indigo press owners from Asia Pacific and Japan and Europe, the Middle East and Africa to evaluate substrate compatibility with HP Indigo Digital Presses.