PALO ALTO, Calif., June, 27, 2006 -- HP today announced that approximately 200 label and packaging converters explored new opportunities in digital printing at the HP Label and Packaging Summit held recently at the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa. During the May 9 -11 event, attendees learned how the world’s best-selling digital label press, the HP Indigo press ws4050, is bringing new growth opportunities to firms providing label and shrink-sleeve packaging production. “Digital printing has established itself over the last several years as a mainstream printing technology for the label converter. We at HP are glad to have had a chance to demonstrate how this technology is helping our customers to capture new business,” said Vince Pentella, business manager, HP Indigo Label and Packaging Group. “The Summit fully demonstrated the quality of liquid HP ElectroInk and HP Indigo technology. With productive digital workflows and the substrate flexibility of HP Indigo presses, our users have turned digital printing into a profit center for the label and shrink-sleeve packaging markets.” Speakers at the three-day Summit included converters, brand marketers who leverage digital technology, and leading consultants in the label and packaging industries. A panel session of converters who have adopted and are thriving with HP Indigo digital presses included: Maui Chai of Flexible Technologies, Randy Duhaime of Dion Label, Mike Keegan of AC Label, Elisha Tropper of Prestige Label, and Mike Young of Royal Label. Tropper, who is the president of Prestige Label, the Burgaw, N.C.-based converting firm, remarked on the tremendous value the event held for his business. “I attend many conferences and found this HP conference to be extraordinarily relevant to our business,” said Tropper. “It was unique in that it provided the kind of supportive energy that is critical to bringing digital printing to the mainstream.” A panel of brand marketers and marketing consultants focused on how converters can meet emerging needs in the marketplace with high-quality digital label and package printing. The speakers on the panel – Scott Power, Main One Design; Ken Monnens, kenCREATIVE; Doug Miller, Beauty Avenue; brand and marketing consultant Stacey Lawrence; and Ray Blackburn of Kraft Foods – offered expertise that has been put to use for some of the world’s best-known consumer product brands including Kraft, Gillette, Nestle, Dole Foods, and Bath and Body Works. Their discussion at the Summit illustrated how digital printing provides an ideal solution to significant consumer product company concerns, including the need to print multiple SKUs of a single product, limited edition runs, and the need to produce labels and packaging for events and seasonal marketing opportunities. A level of security and professional quality available only from HP HP’s Ray Dickinson and Henry Sang Jr. gave a presentation titled “Brand Protection and Security Printing” to highlight high-volume digital opportunities for a market predicted to have a value of $16 billion by 2008 . Converters’ customers, particularly pharmaceutical firms, have a growing need for the many easy-to-use but powerful variable-data printing applications possible with HP Indigo. Using variable-data-enabled techniques such as barcoding, digital watermarking and number sequencing, converters can offer solutions that go beyond traditional offset and flexo security printing to address counterfeiting issues that can otherwise result in warranty and returned goods fraud, liability concerns, brand loss, smuggling, recalls and even legal penalties. HP Indigo presses can also incorporate many additional offset and flexo techniques, including printing with invisible inks and lenticular printing. Several technical presentations focused on the unique ability of HP Indigo presses to meet the stringent color and quality standards of world-class consumer product companies. HP and partner firm Esko presented a two-part session on exact color matching, while HP and partners Rotoflex and AB Graphic International showcased real-world solutions for digital label and packaging production in a two-part session titled “Not for Display Only.” Additional sessions at the event included seminars on selling and other topics. HP Business Consultant Brian Weinman presented the Label Job Estimator for HP Indigo presses, a comprehensive software tool that enables converters to accurately and reliably determine costs related to particular label jobs and determine whether they are best produced on a digital or flexo press.