Two of HP's customers – O’Neil Data Systems, Los Angeles, and CPI Group, Paris – have installed a sixth HP Inkjet Web Press, bringing the firm's total installed base to more than 60 inkjet web presses worldwide.

HP says it now has inkjet web press customers in 11 countries, including the first installation in Latin America, São Paulo, Brazil-based BMK (which has just has installed an HP T350).

Since entering the market in 2009, HP has worked with many of the world’s leading book, transactional statement and direct mail print service providers (PSPs) to improve productivity, reduce costs and offer a more-efficient publication and collateral supply chain management. So HP's latest figures from ­show the collective number of pages produced on its inkjet web presses since 2009 have passed the 10 billion mark. In addition, its customers produced more than 2.5 billion of those pages in HP’s most recent fiscal quarter alone.

“We are helping our PSP customers transform their businesses through profitable new solutions that in turn deliver higher value to their customers,” said Aurelio Maruggi, vice president and general manager, inkjet high-speed production solutions, HP. “The productivity and print quality of our inkjet web presses help PSPs extend the advantages of digital even further into traditional analogue markets.”

One of O’Neil Data Systems’ new presses, a 42-inch wide HP T400 Colour Inkjet Web Press, is the centrepiece of a new digital production facility in Plano, Texas. Joining the T400 at the facility are a newly installed, 22-inch wide HP T200 Colour Inkjet Web Press, and a sheet-fed HP Indigo 7500 Digital Press. O’Neil Data Systems highlighted all three of its new HP installations during a grand opening celebration earlier this month.

CPI Group, Europe’s largest book manufacturer, recently installed its sixth press, a 30-inch-wide HP T350 Colour Inkjet Web Press at its Antony Rowe facility in Chippenham, UK.

Communisis recently announced its investment in two HP T400 pressesHP says CPI is witnessing many new growth opportunities as a result of its rapid adoption of its equipment. The company’s proprietary Quantum solutions – a series of integrated CPI book manufacturing lines based on HP Inkjet Web Press technology – recently produced their 10 millionth, digitally printed monochrome book. The company also has expanded opportunities in colour publishing with HP. Its newest press is the first HP Inkjet Web Press at CPI to be used for colour printing.

UK customer Communisis plc is a leading marketing services provider which already has HP T300 presses and recently invested in two HP T400 presses for its Liverpool facility.

The first T400 has already been installed with the second due for installation this June. This will triple Communisis’s digital capacity and allow it to migrate all of its existing transactional production onto a digital print platform.

Andy Blundell, chief executive, Communisis, said: “The T400 investment by Communisis is driven by our key transactional customers wishing to access benefits which include greater bill clarity and personalised marketing communication. Building on the success of our earlier T300 deployment at Leeds, this is pioneering technology and our strong relationship with HP has ensured both an effective installation with great support plus a roadmap to ongoing technology upgrades.”

Worldwide HP has also made major inroads. Another customer expanding its use of digital printing is King Printing, which bought its second HP Inkjet Web Press, an HP T350 model, to pursue growth opportunities in short-run book manufacturing. The new press is being installed at King Printing’s Lowell, Massachusetts, headquarters, where the company operates a high-speed inkjet production operation that also includes another HP T350 Colour Inkjet Web Press.

“As we continue to expand our services to book publishers, which are transitioning analogue pages to digital pages, the installation of our second T350 will help our customers to continue their pursuit of short-run, on-demand book manufacturing,” said Adi Chinai, managing director, King Printing. “With our inkjet web press capacity, we are able to offer better time-to-market solutions that are progressive and profitable for our customers.”

HP also has continued to expand its business in the Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) region, which it said represented a significant growth opportunity.

Tokyo-based Kodansha  – Japan’s leading manga (Japanese comic books), book and magazine publisher – has signed a sales agreement for an HP T300 Colour Inkjet Web Press. Kodansha is the first company in Japan to buy an HP Inkjet Web Press. It also is the first publishing company to buy this technology, a potentially huge boost for digital printing in the publishing value chain for HP.

One of Kodansha’s key bookbinding suppliers will instal and operate the publishing company’s new press alongside a newly installed SigmaLine bindery system from Swiss finishing equipment manufacturer Muller Martini.

“We feel very pleased and excited to adopt and introduce an advanced book production system consisting of the HP T300 Color Inkjet Web Press and the Muller Martini SigmaLine to lead Japan’s publishing industry,” said Kenjiro Umezaki, leader of Kodansha’s operations division. “The main and decisive reasons Kodansha chose HP’s inkjet digital web press are HP’s high-level inkjet technology and the record of good performance seen with HP web presses in many past installations.

“By introducing this latest book production system,” Umezaki added, “Kodansha will be able to produce required volumes for many kinds of books with quick delivery. We also believe Kodansha will be able to reduce production and storage costs while fully meeting readers’ diverse needs.”

HP recently completed the APJ region’s first HP T400 installation, at Kingsgrove, Australia-based McPherson’s. And upcoming installations in the region include HP Color Inkjet Web Presses to be installed at Sinjin in South Korea, and at Hucais Group, Dongguan, China.

More information about HP Inkjet Web Presses is available at www.hp.com/go/inkjetwebpress

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