September 10, 2002—Altrif Label, one of the largest manufacturers of self-adhesive labels in Europe, will further increase its extensive production capability by adding two new 7-color HP Indigo Press ws4000s this year. The two HP Indigo presses will complement a dozen already installed Ko-Pack presses, and are intended to handle shorter print runs of adhesive labels as part of Altrif’s growing order volume. Altrif had earlier experimented with digital label printing using a 4-color, dry toner-based system. The company quickly saw an increasing demand for short-run digital label printing. F.P. Doomen, Altrif director, said, "We developed a special booklet label which was a tremendous success, generating a 15% increase in order volume. At the same time, we noticed an increasing need for smaller campaigns and test marketing materials. We soon realized that we needed an additional solution for orders of less than 3000 meters in print length." As to why they chose the HP Indigo solution, Doomen said, "At Altrif, we are always looking to provide our customers with the very best quality product. Our existing equipment had difficulty printing more than four colors. HP Indigo’s special liquid inks, which enable 7-color printing including special PANTONE spot colors, as well as the system’s offset quality, were for us a compelling combination." Doomen said, "Rather than engage in time-consuming set-ups to do short runs with more than four colors on our existing Ko-Pack units, digital printing was clearly the most cost-effective solution. This is especially true when the system is equipped with the extra station, making it possible to create custom PMS colors. We also ordered the ink-mixing system to further extend the color possibilities and offer our customers a value-added difference." After seeing a demonstration of the industry-leading HP Indigo systems at Ipex 02, Altrif’s management team was convinced that purchasing the units would be the best investment to ensure a solid future. The fact that HP Indigo is the only digital printing supplier able to work with PANTONE-approved inks was another strong selling point. Altrif’s increasing order volume, coupled with smaller run lengths and shorter deadlines, emphasized the need for a top-quality digital solution. Dion Goderie, Altrif technical director, said, "We were looking for a solution that will ensure the highest quality printing for the near and long-term future. At Ipex we also considered alternatives such as inkjet. Our view is that although the quality is quite good, the production capacity is not adequate to meet our needs. With our Ko-Pack systems we set very high quality standards in label printing, and we expect our digital printing solution to meet the same standard. The vibrant HP ElectroInks and the wide range of printing stock were differentiating features that are extremely important to our business." Additional information about HP products and services is available at http://www.hp.com.