Lightning Labels, one of the nation’s first all digital label printers, is expanding its capacity by ordering a new ws4500 digital label press from HP. The newest version of the Indigo press, launched in September at Labelexpo in Chicago, will be installed in January at the company’s Denver, CO, USA headquarters. Lightning Labels already has two HP Indigo ws2000 label presss.

To accommodate the new press, Lightning Labels is expanding its office and warehouse space by 50 percent by taking over the vacant unit next door. The expansion brings the company’s total space to more than 12,500 square feet.

Lightning Labels was founded by Peter Renton in 2002 with a mission to focus on short run labels. “There are a huge number of companies who want to order just 500 or 1,000 labels, but until recently these people have been ignored,” says Renton. “The beauty of digital printing is that setup is quick and easy, which makes it economical to do runs as small as 500 labels. You no longer have to order 10,000 labels in order to get a decent unit price.”

With the increased production speed of the ws4500 press, Renton says, Lightning Labels will be able to take on slightly larger runs. The new press can print high resolution labels at up to 100 feet a minute, compared with 24 feet a minute from the ws2000 machines. Renton says that the company will trade in one of the two ws2000 machines toward the acquisition of the new press.

Steve Smith, president of Lightning Labels, cites speed, print quality and fast ink replacement technology as among the reasons for the upgrade. “We already have one of the fastest turnarounds in the industry,” he says. “With the ws4500 running in tandem with our existing ws2000 press, we will be able to be even more responsive to our customers’ needs. It will effectively enable us to double our capacity and still produce the fast turnaround our customers expect.”