HP has announced that UK-based Ultimate Packaging, a flexible packaging supplier for the food industry, has completed the installation of an HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press.

With 300 employees, an annual turnover approaching £50 million and an end-to-end capability for the design and production of high quality flexible packaging, Ultimate Packaging is an approved supplier to all of the UK’s food retailers and many major brands. The company manufactures between 60-70 million meters of food packaging every month from its traditional flexo-print business as well as its expanding digital business.

“Packaging is the only interruptive media left, and global brands are starting to recognize that digital print allows them to connect with their customers like never before,” says Chris Tonge, sales and marketing director, Ultimate Packaging. “Going digital has allowed us to engage with global brands on personalization and customization projects on flexible packaging, opening up both existing and new markets, and giving us a unique position in the UK, Europe and beyond. The HP Indigo 20000 means we can talk to brand owners about strategic marketing campaigns rather than continually discussing price and production.”

Ultimate Packaging installed an HP Indigo WS6600 Digital Press about three years ago to prepare for the wider HP Indigo 20000. A 30-inch wide roll-to-roll printer, the HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press has transformed the company’s capability to digitally produce flexible packaging jobs on-demand with no make-ready and minimum waste. It enables the company to meet growing requirements for shorter run lengths, shorter lead time and higher print quality while incorporating customised, personalised variable data printing.

The HP Indigo 20000 can handle substrates from 12-100 microns, which allows Ultimate Packaging to digitally print a full range of food-approved packaging, resulting in a portfolio of exciting new products.

“As customers worldwide adopt the HP Indigo 20000 and other HP solutions, we continue to drive the analogue to digital conversion of labels and packaging printing,” says Julia Cole, UK & Ireland marketing manager, HP Indigo. “The volume of labels printed on HP Indigo digital presses is growing at a rate of 30 per cent year over year in a market that averages just 5 per cent yearly growth.”