250 print VIPs attend HP event in Israel

The HP Indigo 2015 Worldwide VIP event in Israel was everything that one would like to see. A group of 250+ packaging and commercial printing professionals from six continents and a dozen of countries; tours of the HP Indigo production lines, from assembly to integration; the quality checks; the ink facility; plant visits and finally the R&D lab visit.

10 Jul 2015 | By PrintWeek India

Amin of Art O Print takes a close look at the carton boxes printed on the HP Indigo 30000

The event was divided into four tracks; commercial, flexible, labels and folding cartons. PrintWeek India was part of the event, opting for the folding carton track, and it was evident that the focus was clearly on two of the series for digital production machines, the Indigo 20000 and Indigo 30000.

Welcoming the participants of the event, Alon Bar-Shany, general manager, HP Indigo, spoke about dealing with ‘C’ – change. He said, currencies, are changing daily, the print industry is consolidating, there’s commoditisation happening with prices going down, tough competition, then there’s the impact and clout of China, which has impacted the world economy in the last decade or so. “Sometimes it feels like C for Chaos,” he said.

Drawing parallel with the way Israel cars and communication have evolved, Bar-Shany, said, it’s been HP’s Indigo’s vision and mission to enable its customer base become profitable by driving analogue to digital transformation in high-value colour print production market in an increasingly connected world.

There were two Indian print companies at the event, Ahmedabad’s Art O Print and Hyderabad’s Pravesha Industries.

Biren Amin of Art O Print, accompanied by his son, Rushil and nephew, Niral, was part of the folding carton track, while B Sivaprasad Reddy, chairman of Pravesha attended the label track.

Art O Print has ordered a Gallus ECS 340, which is on its way. The company specialises in pharma packaging and has been looking at digital as an option since 2012, while Reddy of Pravesha, is already an HP Indigo 4500 user.

As part of the folding carton track, PrintWeek India visited HP Indigo’s most latest 30000 customer, Ducart Packaging Solutions in Kibbutz Kfar Masaryk.

The new investment is the offset folding carton company’s first foray into digital. “Some may call it a risk but we think it is a niche activity and an advantage,” said Ori Sheffi, the CEO of Ducart. “The buyers are not asking for simple boxes today, they are seeking more than package for the product. Plus, there are some abilities like short-runs, which we miss and cannot deliver.”

Sheffi was referring to those products which are now supplied in smaller quantities because of changing regulations, export to different markets, smaller quantities as samples. “Today, a print run length of 40,000 is divided into smaller quantities,” said Sheffi.

Ducart converts around 720 tonnes of paperboard on its three KBA six-colour presses, three Bobst punching and three folding-gluing machines. The company also has a Bobst hot-foiling machine and fires 100+ plates on its Agfa platesetter. The company also produces packaging for milk with its six-colour French-made Chambon line.

Danial Assoulne, the export manager at Ducart, however, does not see his company going all digital. “Digital will not replace offset. It all depends on how you calculate your print business and divide its route. We see 20% of our job being done on digital while 80% will continue to be done on offset,” said Assoulne.