Canada’s Lorpon Labels has doubled its digital label production capacity with a new HP Indigo 6900 digital press, improving its ability to deliver labels with fast turnaround to support the upswing in demand for food packaging.

The Toronto-based converter, supplying to the wine and spirits, beverage, beer, food, and cosmetics industries, has experienced nearly a 70% increase in orders during the pandemic, as food suppliers scramble to restock stores.

“COVID-19 brought unexpected demand for labels. The addition of another press gives us flexibility and allows us to continue to deliver fast turnaround times in a period of dynamic supply chains,” says Jeff Sommer, VP business development. Lorpon also operates and HP Indigo WS6800 and flexo presses.

The HP Indigo 6900 is a new-generation press supporting the HP Production Pro for Labels and Packaging high-powered print server for high productivity, variable data processing and color matching. The digital front end offers up to five times faster RIP power for more jobs per day and faster turnaround.

“Our partnership with HP offers the ability to serve new and existing customer in a manner we cannot achieve with any other technology, adding to our fleet was the best path to successful growth,” adds Sommer.

With digital printing, Lorpon has shifted its business plan from providing industrial commodity labels to a company that can compete as provider for global brands. “We gave small to medium size business the chance to compete with big global brands and over time, these brands grew and brought big brands to us,” he says, adding the HP Indigo press can match roto-gravure while delivering excellent print registration.

The media range of the HP Indigo, able to print on textured wine papers and special substrates, such as metallic and wood veneer, is especially appealing to the wine and beverage industry. The HP Indigo 6900 can be upgraded to the latest features of the new HP Indigo 6K digital press, as well.

As Lorpon grows its HP digital business, it is taking advantage of HP PrintOS Print Beat, the cloud-based PSP management solution, to monitor the productivity of the presses in real-time, identify issues, and keep press uptime to a maximum.