HP recently announced that Anglia Labels of Suffolk, UK, has expanded its production capacity and opened up the potential for new business with the installation of an HP Indigo press ws4500.
With the company at digital production capacity, and continuous demand for high quality labels, short print-runs and quick delivery, Anglia Labels took the decision to purchase an HP Indigo press ws4500 in March 2011. Following their first move into digital printing with HP 11 years ago, the decision to install another HP press was considered an easy one.
"Servicing a wide and varied client base in Animal Healthcare, Agro-Chemical, Automotive and various others market places, to have our litho press running alongside our new digital press makes perfect sense. The HP Indigo ws4500 was the ideal choice as it produces similar quality, allowing us to move jobs from one press to another without compromising quality," said Ian Woodhead, sales director, Anglia labels.
Although Anglia Labels used their previous press for over 10 years, they felt the need for more capacity, and wanted the speed and efficiency of a new press to complete orders more quickly.
"We wanted to be able to fulfill short run requests, while still maintaining high quality labels and competitive pricing," said Woodhead. "The HP Indigo ws4500 has enabled us to do this. Typically print runs have decreased from 30,000 to more frequent runs of 5,000 or 10,000. By making smaller, more frequent orders our customers can reduce the amount of labels in stock and therefore, the amount of wasted print if a new label design is required to meet campaign or product changes. Not only does this mean that our customers can be more flexible and quicker to react to competitor campaigns or changes in the market, but less waste has obvious environmental benefits too. In addition, printing more frequently does not cause us any capacity problems, thanks to the productivity of our new press."
The speed and width of the new machine and the ability to print on different substrates more efficiently has allowed Anglia Labels to experiment with the press and offer a wider range of packaging solutions.
"The increased length of the HP ws4500, compared to our old press, has allowed us to win new business that we wouldn't have been able to compete for previously. This extended ability, together with shrink sleeve printing and the presses white ink capability has provided an opportunity for us to attract new customers as well as offer new services to existing customers, such as printing on tactile and silver materials," commented Woodhead.
The HP Indigo press ws4500 can print onto a wide range of substrates between 12-350 microns, offering the ability to produce a large variety of applications. In addition, the HP Indigo press ws4500 offers seven-colour printing for enhanced print quality, and to achieve a broad colour gamut ensuring Anglia Labels can be adaptable to all their customers' requests. The HP Indigo White Ink allows customers to achieve a professional look for their labels. The white ink allows print service providers (PSP) to print on a larger variety of specialised substrates, such as transparent, metallic and coloured media, enabling PSPs to deliver a wider range of unique applications.
