Inkjet & Digital Printing
Baker Self Adhesive Labels Install UKs First HP Indigo WS6000 Digital Press
Friday 04. September 2009 - HP today announced that Baker Self Adhesive Labels, of London, has installed the first HP Indigo WS6000 Digital Press in the UK to increase its production capabilities and attract new business.
Established in 1976 and now employing forty people, Baker Labels, a leading trade label printer, has been an advocate of digital printing since it installed its first HP Indigo press ws4050 in 2006. In 2008, the company added an HP Indigo press ws4500, which it has now upgraded for the HP Indigo WS6000 Digital Press.
“There were a number of reasons why we made the move,” said Steve Baker, managing director, Baker Self Adhesive Labels. “We believe in the technology and have found it to be a valuable offering to our customers. The new press will enable us to print faster and move jobs from our flexo presses. With no make-ready time and easy job changeovers, the HP Indigo WS6000 Digital Press will let us print longer jobs digitally and profitably. We believe the work is out there, and making the investment at this time has enthused our staff and caught the interest of our customers, too.”
The HP Indigo WS6000 Digital Press is able to print at speeds of 30m/min., four colours, and twice that speed in two-colour mode. According to Baker, this means that jobs up to 4,000 linear metres (~13000 feet) are cost-effective to print digitally.
Driving the new press is an HP SmartStream for Labels and Packaging Print server, Powered by EskoArtwork. Designed for high performance and with the ability to handle large volumes of variable data (including text changes, barcodes, sell-by and best-before dates), the server includes a high performance RIP and hardware combination, integrated PDF support, PANTONE Colour conversion tables and a powerful step-and-repeat engine designed for labels and packaging applications.
Neil Marchant, repro and digital manager, Baker Self Adhesive Labels, took part in special training sessions at HP, Sant Cugat, along with the company’s press operator.
“It was very useful to have training experience with the press operator,” said Marchant. “We developed a mutual understanding of the requirements and capabilities of both the server and the press enabling us to work more productively.”
As a printer to trade customers, Baker Labels has developed a reputation for printing the full range of labels, including technical, pharmaceutical, healthcare, food and drink and for other sectors. The HP Indigo WS6000 Digital Press with its ability to handle a wide range of substrates from 12 – 450 microns and its seven-colour capability, give the company the ability to handle highly complex jobs. Using HP IndiChrome on-press colours (CMYKOV) plus white, gives Baker Labels an extended colour gamut and the white ink can provide an opaque base when printing on transparent materials, or used as a seventh colour.
“Digital printing used to be seen as a niche market,” Baker concluded. “With the HP Indigo WS6000 Digital Press, it’s moved into the mainstream with higher speeds, quality and versatility.”