HP has introduced a new range of 3.2m Latex roll printers, new and updated PageWide high-speed inkjet web presses and a new suite of Professional Print Service plans for improved productivity.
The HP Latex 2700 family offers 3.2m width roll printing at up to 89sqm/hr via a double printhead arrangement, using fourth-generation Latex inks to achieve what is described as a ‘30% wider [colour] gamut’ across a range of media types that includes thin films, vinyl and paper. There are also variants of the Latex 2700 which add white ink, claimed to be the whitest on the market, and offer speeds of up to 54sqm/hr; automatic ink recirculation and the ability to store the white printheads in a rotating offline chamber to eliminate waste between jobs that use white ink.
The Latex inks carry a number of environmental and safety certifications, allowing their use on direct-contact items such as toys and wallpapers, and are supplied in recyclable cardboard-based cartridges that also use recycled plastics from HP.
HP’s Professional Print Service Plans are available in two levels, Basic and Plus, each containing a portfolio of service and software solutions. New and enhanced features include Print Beat Live Production, which gives users a single real-time view of all jobs queued and in production across multiple sites, including on HP Indigo presses, and Print Beat Jobs API, which shares printer data – including from non-HP hardware – with external ERP/MIS systems for process automation and business insights. HP Learn is a digital learning platform with free and premium training modules according to service plan, while the Enhanced HP Service Centre offers proactive troubleshooting and smart diagnostics.
‘To reach higher margins, PSPs are always on the hunt for efficiency gains, and technology that allows them to say yes to more jobs with the confidence to deliver exceptional results,’ said Daniel Martinez, general manager, HP Large Format. ‘Our latest offerings are designed to enable this. The HP Latex 2700 family delivers increased print quality, raw speed and white ink capabilities that will amaze customers. Meanwhile, our new Professional Print Service Plans give PSPs a range of ways to manage fleets and operations – improving workflow and maximising the potential of their business.’
Both the Latex 2700 printers and the Print Service plans are available immediately.
On the PageWide side of the business, HP has introduced the T485 HD, a 1.06m (42-in) web inkjet that runs at up to 244m/min in mono or colour Performance mode (slower at higher quality), equivalent to over 7300ppm. The new press uses HP’s Brilliant Ink to give a wider colour gamut on supported papers, which include both coated and uncoated offset types, and is said by HP to be suitable for producing commercial print items including brochures, catalogues and newspapers in addition to direct mail and books. Existing T400-series models may be upgraded to T485 specification. It is expected to be available in the first half of 2023.
The existing T250 HD model has also been upgraded, with a new 244m/min mono mode, representing a 60% increase in productivity, allowing the production of 1250 300-page 6 x 9-in book blocks per hour.
HP also reported the first installation of its PageWide Advantage 2200, announced in early September 2020. This is at DataOne, part of Groupe Diffusion Plus in France, a customer communication management company which provides solutions for transactional and targeted marketing programmes. Loïc Lefebvre, development director, DataOne/Groupe Diffusion Plus said, ‘This new investment is decisive for our group, as we have decided to accelerate our ‘eco-responsible strategy for a sustainable customer relationship.’ ‘
The HP PageWide commercial press platform is reported to have passed the 750 billion pages printed milestone. Additionally, HP has increased the flexibility of its HP SmartStream Elite print server family to support the needs of printers producing direct mail and transactional applications, via expanded support for common file types including IPDS and AFP as well as PostScript and PDF.
