Finishing & Screen Printing
Finishing Solutions for HP Indigo Presses
Friday 14. March 2008 - HP and its partners offer a wide variety of solutions to address the diverse range of applications commercial printers produce. With an ever-growing list of applications produced digitally, the postpress finishing process is serving an increasingly essential role in turning printed media into books, booklets, die-cut labels, self-mailers and other ready-to-market printed products.
HP has relationships with numerous leading post-press technology vendors worldwide to offer a wide range of finishing solutions to fit the needs of various market segments and different customer sizes. Solutions include near-line and in-line solutions for binding, inserting, cutting and lamination/coating.
Finishing solutions for HP Indigo sheetfed presses
The diversity of finished product is particularly prevalent among general commercial printers using digital commercial sheetfed presses such as the HP Indigo press 5500 and 3500 models. Because these general commercial printers may need to switch between various types of finished products, many of these HP Indigo users opt for the flexibility of near-line finishing solutions for short-run production of multiple applications.
The variety of finishing partner solutions for HP Indigo commercial sheetfed presses also address the needs of application-focused firms which, unlike general commercial printers, specialize in the production of one type of product, such as photo books or publications. To accommodate the wide range of solutions needed to support the needs of general commercial and application-focused printers, HP partners with a number of firms to establish comprehensive production workflows for popular print applications. Near-line finishing partners that offer solutions for HP Indigo sheetfed commercial presses include Duplo, EskoArtwork, GBC, Horizon, Kolbus, MBO, Morgana, Pitney Bowes, Renz and Rollem.
As both general commercial printers and application-specific firms have a general need for coating solutions, the HP Indigo UV Coater enables gloss, matte and satin coating for jobs printed on HP Indigo presses. While the coater is presently a near-line solution, in October 2008, HP plans to release a field upgrade kit that enables an in-line connection of the HP Indigo UV Coater to the HP Indigo press 5500. The kit is also part of the Enhanced HP Indigo press 5500 released in 2008.
Finishing solutions for HP Indigo webfed presses
In the case of commercial web presses such as the HP Indigo presses w3250, HP resells Hunkeler in-line finishing systems that can be configured to meet the specific application needs of customers in a production-line type of operation. HP also resells EMT finishing equipment for use in commercial webfed applications.
HP Indigo industrial web presses, such as the HP Indigo press ws4500, benefit from HPs strategic relationship with AB Graphics, a company specializing in highly modular,
configurable finishing and converting systems for digitally printed labels and packaging. AB Graphics systems for HP Indigo presses can be in-line or near-line solutions.
HP Indigo finishing solutions and HP SmartStream
A print production workflow most often begins with order-entry and pre-press solutions, and ends with post-press finishing and job fulfillment. To facilitate a streamlined, end-to-end production environment, HP has introduced the new HP SmartStream graphic arts portfolio of IT and software components. The HP SmartStream portfolio facilitates data sharing and feedback between workflow components from job creation through job fulfillment.
To continue meeting HP Indigo customers finishing needs, HP is prioritizing efforts and partnerships around Job Definition Format (JDF)-compatible finishing systems for integration with HP SmartStream to enhance productivity and flexibility and reduce the total cost of ownership for customers.