HP India displayed nearly 250 samples of applications printed with HP Indigo technology at Labelexpo India 2022. Of these, 240 samples – shrink sleeves, conventional labels, laminated tubes, and flexible packaging, to name just a few – were printed by Indian brands for the Indian market.
A. Appadurai, country manager, Indigo and PageWide Web Press, HP India says this exemplifies the ‘one investment, multiple revenue option’ story that HP Indigo has been telling its customers.
“Today you can produce anything, be it laminated tubes, shrink sleeves, in-mold labels, conventional labels, or folding cartons. One machine can do all you can see and this changes the game. Convertors can charge a premium for it. Packaging buyers or brand owners like to deal with a single vendor and not multiple vendors. ‘One investment, multiple revenue options’ is the story HP Indigo has been telling the industry. We reinforced that at Labelexpo India 2022. And people liked it,” Appadurai says.
HP India collaborated with Technova for live demonstrations of the HP Indigo 6K digital press. The company also focused on sustainability and the future of services. HP Indigo has been working on machine learning to promote proactive maintenance for the global HP Indigo press fleet.
HP recently launched the xRServices, which uses augmented reality to enable customers to quickly solve press technical issues using Google Glass technology. “Google Glass technology is the future of services. This is going to change the way we service the machine. The technology can help reduce service time by almost 85%,” Appadurai says.
Shot in the arm for short-run printing
The Covid pandemic and the disruptions changed the dynamics of the label and packaging printing industry and fueled demand for short-run work.
“From March 2020, when the first lockdown was imposed in India, till now, there has been a 300% increase in the number of pages HP Indigo customers have printed. All this positively impacted HP Indigo’s business. During these two-and-a-half years, HP Indigo’s business increased by 150%,” Appadurai says.
An exciting Labelexpo
The HP booth at Labelexpo was buzzing all four days as visitors were eager to see the Indigo 6K press live and know about the samples on display. Appadurai says the event was a very successful one for HP India.
“This was a very focused event. And the fact that it took place after four years made it very special. Humans are social animals, who like to interact in person. It has been a great platform to meet stakeholders from the label industry. Our stand had amazing footfall and the engagements and the conversations were very exciting. We met 8-10 brand owners every day who wanted to try something new in packaging,” he concludes.
