“It is our dream project and we are happy it is realised today,” said Kasturirangan, whole-time director of Redington India.

“Our more than a decade long association with HP Indigo has been hugely successful considering our humble beginning with a handful of staff to the current team size of more than 100 making up the Indigo division,” he added.

The highlight of the spacious 8000 sq ft Centre of Excellence is the showcasing of the Drupa launched 12000 Digital B2 Press.

The centre is also equipped with the 7900 which is another Drupa launch press that had its first commercial installation in India a few days ago. Interestingly, the 12000 also had its first installation inaugurated at Hyderabad before the CoE opening. The 5900 press completes the press line-up at the centre.

Alon Bar-Shany, vice president and general manager of Indigo division, HP who inaugurated the Centre of Excellence was all praises for Redington’s effort in setting up the centre.

Speaking further about the objective of the CoE, he said, “This is not a mere demo centre but I see this as an exciting opportunity to evolve the Indian printing industry at large through solutions and open up doors for Indian innovation-not just the presses but through workflows.”

“The next 10 years is going to be unbelievable and a new chapter for us at HP when it comes to the Indian market,” he added.
Bar-Shany also believes the centre would double up as a training facility for young students to be aware of the HP presses capabilities and become experts on them.

The centre which has been developed with a massive investment of 25 crore also has a wide range pre-press and software solutions from various service providers including Esko Graphics, Haiyaa, Color Logic, Human Eyes, Enfocus and HP Mosaic. The Centre is also equipped with a wide range of finishing equipment.

“This according to me is an important milestone for digital printing technology in India and highlights our commitment to the industry,” said A Appadurai, country manager, digital press and inkjet business solutions, GSB, HP India.

“We have several plans for the centre including programmes to create awareness and educate brands and print buyers,” added Appadurai.

Narrating the power of digital printing Appadurai spoke about an incident during Chennai floods of 2015. He said, “I was given first-hand account of an incident in Chennai during the dreaded Chennai floods when a couple lost lot of their memories which were stored digitally except for their Indigo-printed digital album which is a testimony to our capabilities.”

The Chennai centre is the fourth of such facility with Atlanta, Barcelona and Singapore being the rest.