HP and ePac, an all-HP Indigo digital flexible packaging provider, have announced a significant expansion with HP Indigo. ePac will roll out a new wave of HP Indigo 20000 digital presses in 2020 to continue disruption of the global flexible packaging market with new opportunities for small and medium-size businesses (SMBs), as well as larger consumer packaged goods companies (CPGs).

A new incremental order of 24 HP Indigo 20000 presses is the largest packaging deal to date for HP. This nearly doubles production capacity for ePac, to expand within the next year from 28 presses in 12 locations to over 52 operating at 20 sites – including new locations opened in Canada and the UK. The investment is valued at over $100 million, including hardware, supplies and services over several years.

“In every market we enter, we experience a similar reception. SMBs partner with us to help them grow into bigger brands, and as they grow, they see opportunities to rapidly bring new products to market and run more targeted promotions. Based on our success, we’ve decided to accelerate our business plan with an additional investment,” says Jack Knott, CEO, ePac Flexible Packaging. “We have figured out how to drive the digital transformation within the flexible packaging market for short, medium and even longer strategic runs with this game-changing technology provided by HP Indigo.”

Founded in May 2016 as a Greenfield business with one HP Indigo 20000 press, ePac has grown exponentially. A year ago, ePac signed for 20 additional presses that are now all deployed in the field. Since the beginning of 2019, ePac has more than doubled its customer base, with 75% placing repeat orders. Today, ePac serves over 5,000 customers.

“The meteoric rise of ePac and its business model based on HP Indigo digital printing technology, in just a few years, is truly amazing,” says Santi Morera, general manager and global head of Graphics Solutions Business, HP Inc. “Thanks to the continued collaboration between HP and ePac, brands of all sizes can obtain high-quality, digitally printed flexible packaging in quick turnaround times, with low minimum orders, high variation and personalization options.”

ePac’s key markets include coffee, pet food, nutritional supplements, snacks, health and beauty, organic foods, cheese and dairy, and bakery products.

”Our customers love the advantages of working with an eco-conscious, community-based packaging partner and the financial impact of fast time to market with the ability to order to demand,” adds Carl Joachim, ePac CMO.

Additional advantages of the 30″ wide (76 cm) HP Indigo 20000 digital press are the 42″ repeat and white ink options. At ePac, HP PrintOS is also an integral part of job flow, performing press performance uptime monitoring across their entire fleet of printers.
ePac customers taking advantage of the technology’s capabilities of HP digital include:

• Sock Fancy, a worldwide sock subscription service delivering monthly to customers. “The big reason we switched to ePac was personalization. Nobody else could do this type of high-level customization. With other companies you have to order tens of thousands of one SKU,” explains Stefan Lewinger, founder and CEO.
• Granarly, a granola snack company. “Since we received the ePac bags, we’ve grown tenfold, and it’s all because of the packaging,” notes Morgan Potts, founder.
• Smackin’ Snacks, a company producing sunflower seeds for sporting events. “The low minimum quantity and fast lead time are great for a small company and allow us to have multiple SKUs in a single order,” says Cole Schaefer, founder.
• Skratch Labs, a nutrition sports drink company. “ePac technology and digital printing enables us to order short runs of unique limited-edition packaging with HP Mosaic software, which gives us an edge over the competition,” states Elliot Freeman, vice president of marketing.