Inkjet & Digital Printing

Windmill Tapes & Labels Expands Digital Capabilities with an HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Press

Friday 23. August 2013 - HP today announced that Windmill Tapes & Labels, of Stockport, Cheshire, has bought an HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Press to increase its digital label production capabilities, improve quality and migrate work from conventional printing.

Windmill produced adhesive tapes exclusively from its foundation in 1980 until 2005 when it moved into label production.
“Label production has driven virtually all our growth and today accounts for roughly 60 per cent of our business. This steady growth has accelerated the need for additional production capacity in order to meet increasing demand for high-quality labels,” said Andrew Southern, owner/managing director, Windmill Tapes & Labels. “The HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Press gives us the print quality, power and speed needed for a first-class digital label printing operation.”
To ensure that Windmill had the ability to handle all the requests it receives, it chose the seven-colour model of the HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Press and the HP SmartStream Labels and Packaging Print Server, Powered by Esko front-end. PHP Windmill also has two Digicon Series 2 finishing lines from HP Finishing Partner AB Graphic International for near-line finishing.
“We’re hoping the new press will increase our output by about 20 per cent,” said Southern. “That would be through a combination of new business and work migrated from our flexo presses, and driven by HP technology.”
The HP Indigo WS6600 will be installed in September at the company’s new facility in Stockport, which will bring together Windmill’s original operation with those of Commercial Label Products Ltd, which it acquired in 2010.
“Part of our reason for acquiring Commercial Label Products was to gain a digital printing capability,” said Southern. “We were very impressed with its HP Indigo press ws4050, and that led us to make this latest investment in HP Indigo technology. The HP Indigo digital presses have better print quality, higher speeds and lower running costs that the dry toner press we also acquired from Commercial Label Products.”
In the highly competitive labels market, Windmill wanted a competitive edge and the right support.
“That’s why having the right presses is so important,” Southern said. “I’m an advocate for HP; I think it’s Number One in the digital labels market. Its support is first class, and it has the benefit of size to have more people able to respond.”
Windmill has a mixed client base ranging from food and FMCG retail suppliers to plastics and chemical companies. Much of its work comes via trade packaging companies.