HP Indigo 25K AT POUCH WORK

Today I visited the HP booth at printing-expo.online, and I would like to share my experience with you! HP has decided to use its exhibition space to present the "Digital Pouch Factory," which allows the visitor to learn more about the HP Indigo 25K and how it works with the Karlville lamination and pouch production solutions. I will revert to the lamination and pouching process in a separate article, but you should consider the total solution if you decide to visit HP's booth!

But let's start. HP Indigo has, in many segments, become a market leader in the printing industry. With HP's electro-ink, the toner-based system delivers consistency, high quality, and productivity, making the Indigo platform the preferred choice for many PSPs and converters. Another reason why, I believe, the Indigo has become so successful is because of HP's many models' default able to print with seven colors, maximizing the color gamut.

Another reason is that HP has an Indigo for almost every PSP or Converter - and with the models recently released, the range further extended with "entry-level" commercial presses.

The Indigo 25K on display at printing-expo.online targets the flexible packaging market. The flexible packaging market is vast and a market other manufactures also address.

So we are talking about a roll-to-roll-based printing machine that can print on a wide range of substrates. After placing the roll with the substrate in the unwinder, the substrate is primed, enabling print. Having the inline primer allows printing on almost every substrate and a flexible shift between various types of printing equipment - hint, faster and without the need of pre-primed (typically more expensive) substrate and non-primed (commonly used in analog equipment).

The print speed of an Indigo depends on how many colors are used to print, so a one-color job is faster than a four-color job, and thus also seven colors make the machine slower. However, this flexibility is another asset of Indigo since many CMYK jobs can be printed using HP's EPM technology. The EPM-mode uses three colors rather than four, and on many jobs, most won't be able to see the difference, but, of course, this is a choice you can make on the fly! In EPM-mode, the 25K can print up to 42 meters per minute.

Talking colors. The HP Indigo 25K also has a built-in spectrophotometer that not only auto-calibrates the machine - also seen on more and more printers but also allows reproducing PMS colors on the spot (so to speak). At the "booth," you can see a video with Product Manager Aviram Iluz from HP match three "randomly" picked PMS colors to match - and it seems easy. Judging from the video, the result looks stunning. If you still can't get the color you want, HP offers a service called 'HP IndiChrome Ink Mixing Service,' where the user on-site can mix electro-ink from 18 different colors to match up to 97% of all PMS colors.

I believe this option is great when you need to reach a specific color, but also if you have longer print runs where you can optimize production with fewer colors - but that's just my guess :-)

Visiting HP at printing-expo.online gives you a lot of information, and though you probably could find all the same information on HP's website, it to me made sense to see the solution presented here. However, I couldn't find a link to download a brochure or get the specs, so please find the link here. I also would like you to stop by the HP Reception area. Some stunningly great case-study videos will blow your mind. I need to direct you to one specifically - called 'Cafe Pele Case Study" that by all means show the power and value of digital! Enjoy!

Sep 08, 2021

Author: Morten Bech Reitoft