Inkjet & Digital Printing
HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press Helps FAS – Icono Digital Increase Productivity
Tuesday 20. January 2009 - FAS - Icono Digital, of Madrid , Spain, has installed an HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press to increase productivity of versioned books and catalogues.
Established in 1988 as a prepress company, FAS – Icono Digital has developed into a full service print service provider (PSP) offering digital and litho services for an end-to-end production solution. The company installed its first HP Indigo press in 2002 (an HP Indigo press 3050), later upgrading it to an HP Indigo press 5000.
“The printing speed and larger format was a major reason for adding the HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press,” says Félix Sevilleja, partner and production manager at FAS – Icono Digital. “We also like the improved longevity of the consumables, but it is the performance and print quality that impresses our customers.”
The HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press prints 120 full colour pages per minute and has a maximum image size of 317mm x 486mm, enabling more formats and applications as well as increased productivity. Larger ink containers keep the press running for longer without interruption and the On-press Fast Ink Replacement facility means that special and spot colours can be changed on-the-fly. With all the additional production power, the presss electricity consumption is 25 percent less than previous presses, and an imaging oil recycling system reduces consumption and cuts waste.
FAS – Icono Digital is known for its efficient delivery of its jobs, including special short-run applications. Normally they will deliver a job within a few hours, and a maximum of two days.
Overall, their major focus is on publications: magazines (40 percent), brochures (30 percent), books (20 percent) and other work (10 percent). The use of the HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press for targeted (versioned) catalogues, and text and workbooks for schools has opened a new niche for the company.
FAS – Icono Digital prints personalised books for schools with the name of the school and special sections for different schools. A total run might be 9000 books with different versions running from 50 to 150 copies. Another interesting application it has developed for the press is the short-run production of toy catalogues that are used for market testing with children and retailers.
Though it has evolved as a business to become a comprehensive PSP with 60 employees and a six million turnover, it is FAS – Icono’s heritage as a prepress house that continues to give its edge.
“We try to think digital,” Sevilleja concludes. “We plan our colour reproduction carefully; we decide whether to use extra colours (we like the orange and violet of the HP IndiChrome process), and find that the results from our HP Indigo digital presses attract new customers.”