HP Graphics Business Experiences Most Successful Year to Date

The HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press delivers 120 high-quality four-color A4-size pages per minute for customers in general commercial, direct-marketing, photo merchandise, and book and publications printing. For high-print volume customers, the HP Indigo 7000 offers a total cost of ownership that significantly increases the break-even point of digital against conventional printing.(1)

Many of the HP Indigo orders for 2008 have been for multiple units – including HP's largest single digital press order, a record 36-press order from Houston-based Consolidated Graphics Inc. (CGX) at drupa.

Today, CGX is the largest user of HP Indigo presses worldwide and its new presses are fully integrated across multiple facilities throughout the world. Each press is calibrated utilizing the latest software for color matching.

The HP Indigo 7000, which has been installed at customer sites in 19 countries, is also being selected by print service providers (PSPs) opting to transition from traditional offset to digital production based on the press model's higher-volume capabilities, fast throughput, higher crossover points compared to offset, and greater workflow efficiency.

"The HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press extends our return on investment deeper into longer projects," said Brad Clarke, vice president of McCallum/DirectConnectGroup West, Seattle, one of the first companies in North America to purchase the HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press. "For variable print jobs it reduces the cost per unit through faster runs. For static work it shifts the economic equation towards migration from offset."

Additional PSPs in North America that have invested in HP Indigo 7000 Digital Presses include:

• RT Associates, a PSP specializing in marketing services, which installed two presses after seeing firsthand how the HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press delivered faster turnaround time and higher productivity as a participant in the press's beta program;

• White House Custom Colour, one of the leading digital providers for the professional photography industry, which installed four HP Indigo 7000 Digital Presses to augment productivity and meet increased customer demand for the high-quality greeting cards and photo specialty applications;