Inkjet & Digital Printing
Linea 4 Installs HP Indigo press 5500 to Facilitate Web-to-Print Services
Tuesday 23. June 2009 - Leading print service provider reports 25 percent growth per annum with digital capability
HP announced today that Linea 4 srl, of Verona, has installed an HP Indigo press 5500 to expand its digital printing capabilities and to enable it to offer web-to-print services.
Established by Giancarlo Finetto in 1998 as a prepress house, Linea 4 had its eye on digital printing since it was presented at Drupa 1996. The company took its first step into the new technology in 2001 when it installed an Indigo Platinum digital press. The success of the new digital printing services led the company to upgrade its press in 2004, when it installed an HP Indigo press 3050. The capabilities of the new press enabled Linea 4 to continue to grow so that by late 2008, it ordered another press to supplement its digital capacity. The four-colour HP Indigo press 5500 came on stream in April 2009 and prints all Linea 4’s web-to-print jobs.
“We estimate that since 2001 we have been able to progressively strengthen our business, recording a 100 percent growth every four years, which is a great result for a small company. In 2008, we wanted to further differentiate our business and felt that web-to-print was the right option. We chose HP Indigo technology to support and help us to succeed in our new project,” said Giancarlo Finetto, founder and administrator, Linea 4.
Quality is a key factor for Linea 4 and its customers who are primarily publishers, manufacturers and private companies in the fashion, luxury and furniture industries. Linea 4’s main products include high quality catalogues and brochures for the fashion, food and drink and furniture sectors; trial editions of books for publishers; trial editions or dummies for offset printers; and other high-end commercial work.
Currently, ninety percent of its customers come from Veneto and surrounding regions, but the addition of the web-to-print service is expected to attract jobs from throughout Italy.
“I have been involved in the digital printing technology development since its debut on the market and I have been monitoring all different digital printing systems launched by various technological providers during these years,” explained Finetto. “I have chosen HP Indigo technology not one or two but three times because I consider the HP Indigo technology to be the only one that can enable us to reach a resolution and a quality in printing images that can match offset print. HP ElectroInk provides sharp images and life-like colour and enables us to realize images with very high resolutions.
“Furthermore, with HP Indigo technology, the printing can be carried out on a variety of substrates and after printing, easily undergo any other kind of processes, like lamination or UV varnish applications, without compromising the print and the colour quality as the print remains untouched. We are very satisfied with the results. And I can say that for certain jobs it is quite impossible to see the difference between our digital catalogues or books and the ones realised with the offset technology”, concluded Finetto.