Model Graphics Finds New Label Opportunities with the HP Indigo Press ws4050
Press release from the issuing company
PALO ALTO, Calif., May 10, 2006 -- HP today announced that Cincinnati-area converter Model Graphics and Media, Inc. has installed an HP Indigo press ws4050 for short-to-medium runs of high-quality full-color labels. With its powerful end-to-end digital workflow and brilliant color imaging, the HP Indigo press ws4050 provides a cost-effective alternative to traditional flexo runs, allowing the 39-employee firm to capture applications ranging from St. Patrick’s Day lapel badges for a local Irish pub to vibrant brand-assured labels for a leading consumer products company.
“The HP Indigo press ws4050’s high-speed production of superior, color-accurate labels gives converters the ability to reach new markets and take advantage of exciting new opportunities,” said Alon Bar-Shany, vice president and general manager, Indigo division, HP. “With today’s shorter run lengths and the need to produce labels on demand, digital production has never been a more attractive proposition.”
Founded in 1984 with a single 3-color press, Model Graphics (www.modelgraphicsinc.com) today operates a 35,000-square-foot facility with five conventional presses and an in-house art and prepress department. The addition of the HP Indigo press ws4050 last December has not only simplified full-color personalization for labels and flexible packaging, but also allowed incoming jobs to be analyzed to see whether they should be produced digitally or conventionally.
According to Model Graphics owner Steve Fleissner, the company’s new digital capabilities have proved an extra selling advantage in a region known for its large number of label producers. “In the flexo business we compete with other businesses in town, but digital gives us a unique difference,” he said. “One of our customers said this is what they’ve been looking for all along. Another was so impressed by the quality they decided not to go back to flexo and want us to produce all their labels on the HP Indigo.”
The HP Indigo press ws4050’s exceptional color consistency, substrate flexibility and variable data printing capabilities are now applied to a wide variety of projects for customers including Kutol, a fast-growing commercial provider of private-label anti-bacterial hand cleaners, and Candle-Lite, a leading scented candle manufacturer. Recently, the digital press also helped Model Graphics win a bid for infant-care soap labels by accurately reproducing the product’s unique colors on the first go-round.
“The sales reps handling the account were amazed at how well the specialized colors came together on this press,” Fleissner said. “The easy set-up, variable data and high-quality graphics let us plug in a design and everything comes out the way it should, without our having to tweak it. If we did this on a flexo press, I guarantee we’d still be here today trying to make it work.”
Model Graphics is also using the HP Indigo press to make inroads into such profitable new opportunities as special-events coffee packaging for regional hotels and personalized photo-quality labels for the wedding planning business, both areas with potential for future growth.
“Our hope is that when a hundred prototypes are needed to show to a test market, we’ll be the company providing that service,” said Fleissner, noting that an in-house Valentine’s Day promotion created to highlight the HP Indigo press ws4050’s extraordinary range literally flew out of the shop. “We had a lot of fun with this promotion and finished them in a variety of ways including using lamination, gold-foil-stamps, and even scratch n’ sniff colors. We’ve done promotions in the past, and still have boxes of the stuff. This time, we had a shortage – we didn’t print enough.”
The HP Indigo press ws4050 is an all-digital, end-to-end solution for the label market that produces high-quality labels quickly, easily and profitably. With variable-data printing, every label can be different, including regional variations, bar codes, numbers, names, text and images. Configured with front-end tools and finishing options from HP partners, the digital web press prints on different substrates to suit specific markets, including flexible packaging and shrink-sleeve applications.