Business News
Photorec Installs Second HP Indigo press 5500 within a Year
Monday 25. October 2010 - Increased demand for photo-speciality products drives expansion of capacity
HP today announced that Photorec SpA, of Boves (Cuneo-Piemonte), Italy, has installed another HP Indigo press 5500, its second this year.
One of the first companies in Italy to install digital photo-printing equipment, Photorec has been at the forefront of the sector, investing in new equipment to serve the photo-products market. In 2007, Photorec installed its first digital press, an HP Indigo press 5000. In late 2009, the company added an HP Indigo press 5500, followed in April this year with the installation of the second 5500 press.
Established in 1970 as a conventional analogue photo printer, Photorec expanded rapidly with an efficient, well-organised and productive unit, pioneering technologies and a series of acquisitions which broadened its customer base and grew the company to about 200 employees.
The continued rising demand for photo-specialty products, including greetings cards, calendars and photobooks has led Photorec, part of Consorzio Rikorda, a group of leading photo-finishing companies, to expand its digital printing capacity.
“When we decided to invest in our first HP Indigo digital press, we aimed at improving the quality and variety of our photo-finishing product range,” explained Giangiacomo Prunotto, R&D and marketing director, Photorec. “In that, we succeeded, and in the past two years we have seen a dramatic increase in the demand for digitally printed photo-specialty products in the Italian market.”
The worldwide photo-specialty market is set to double from 2009 – 2010(1) with the 2009 peak season of photo-specialty printing showing a 47 percent increase in the number of pages printed.
Photorec reckons its own production for the year at about 15,000 photobooks, ranging from high-value wedding albums to more modest photobooks for family holidays and albums for students.
“The outstanding quality, the unique resolutions of images and colour prints on paper, and the flexibility and productivity of HP Indigo solutions are all reasons we decided to invest in another press,” said Prunotto. “We have always been in the professional photography market and therefore our customers have very high quality standards. This was why it was important for us to be equipped with digital printing presses that could provide the outstanding quality we require – and I can say that we are very satisfied with our choice.”
The approaching Christmas holidays are the peak season for photo-printing and Photorec is expecting its presses to be busy through a combination of rising demand and an extended geographical market. Photorec serves customers across north-western Italy (Liguria, Piemonte, Valle d’Aosta and Lombardia) as well as reaching across southern France, to Marseilles. Through its online service, www.fototaxi.it, it has effectively penetrated the whole French market.
“Last year, during the Christmas peak season, we had to outsource some of our production, but this year we aim to address all the orders, providing our customers with the quality products and the flexibility of service that our new press will give us, “Prunotto concluded.