During HP Inc.’s recent pre-drupa event in Israel, the company hosted several anaylsts and members of the trade press, myself included. For L&NW readers, the part of the event most noteworthy was the introduction of the HP Indigo 8000 – a 262 feet per minute digital label press.

The company is moving toward drupa with the theme “Reinvent Possibilities,” and the features of this new press speak to this. The 262 fpm print speed of the 8000 is due to having two print engines hat share an infeed and outfeed. It doubles the speed of the company’s popular WS6000 digital press series, of which there are now more than 1,000 installations worldwide. 

During the event, HP personnel made it very clear – the press is not in response to faster speed digital presses such as the Xeikon CX3, based on the Belgian press manufacturer’s Cheetah technology, which runs at 98 fpm. The HP Indigo 8000 is looking to be compete directly with the label industry’s leading flexo presses.

The approach of challenging flexo speaks to Indigo founder Benny Landa’s famous quote, “Everything that can become digital will become digital. Printing is no exception.”

In discussing the new press at the pre-drupa event, Alon Bar Shany, HP’s general manager, Indigo Division, said, “It hasn’t been easy evangelizing digital – many converters are comfortable where they are, they like things predictable. And it’s a huge investment – we understand that. But those that do ‘get it’ don’t look back,” he said, adding, “Packaging is a much bigger part of our future now. The opportunities are massive in this market that is still relatively ‘untouched’ by digital.”

The HP Indigo 8000 will be demonstrated at drupa and will be launched at Labelexpo Americas in Chicago. It will be very interesting to gauge the label industry’s reaction to the 8000 – both converters as well as flexo and competing digital press makers.