Palo Alto, Calif. – HP today announced that Fey Publishing, a print service provider known for the high-quality samples, swatch books and promotions it prints for leading paper suppliers, has installed its first digital press – an HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press.

The Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.-based company’s primary work includes high-end general commercial printing for businesses and colorful, high-impact printing used to promote many of the industry’s top-selling uncoated paper lines. Before deciding to purchase the HP Indigo 7000, Fey executives had to be sure it offered offset-quality imaging on a broad range of stocks.

New opportunities with digital print
“Digital represents a growing opportunity for Fey Publishing because so many paper companies are expanding in the number of digital papers they offer,” said Keith Gasch, vice president, Fey Publishing. “With the HP Indigo 7000, we have a digital press that allows us to deliver the same level of quality that we are known for in the conventional printing world.”

For general commercial work, the press has made Fey Publishing more competitive on medium- and short-run jobs, without compromising on the quality the company offers.

The company’s business with paper mills and merchants has grown since the press’s installation as Fey establishes a niche in digital grades to complement its existing paper-industry work.

“Paper companies need a nice, high-quality image on their work because it can directly affect their ability to sell,” said Gasch. “We’ve looked at other digital presses, but found that the Indigo technology provides the best images.”

Compatibility with a wide range of media
HP Indigo presses support more than 3,000 off-the-shelf media products, ranging from standard offset papers, coated and uncoated digital grades, to paperboards and synthetic media.

Using newly certified colored papers with a recently introduced white ink upgrade for sheetfed HP Indigo presses, print service providers (PSPs) can now print a broader range of jobs that previously could only be produced on offset. There are also several HP Indigo-certified papers offering the look and feel of traditional professional photo papers for PSPs looking to enter the rapidly expanding photo specialty market.

“The range of certified media for HP Indigo presses has grown by 25 percent in the past year, giving businesses like Fey Publishing more creative opportunities to excel and grow by producing very high quality digital print,” said Alon Bar-Shany, vice president and general manager, Indigo Division, HP. “With our open certification system, HP Indigo users have a broad range of media options that can help them better manage overall printing costs while increasing the value they offer to their customers.”

The list of HP Indigo-certified third-party media also continues to grow quickly in terms of support with substrates that help reduce the impact in the environment. This is partly due to the dedicated efforts from Domtar, GPA, Mohawk and NewPage – four members of the HP Indigo Preferred Media Partner Program that have expanded their HP Indigo-certified commercial print media offerings.

Customers can choose from more than 850 media that are either certified by FSC, SFI, PEFC and ECF, certified as carbon neutral media, or are recycled.

New media locator, swatchbook for HP Indigo customers
Later this year, HP expects to re-launch its worldwide HP Indigo media locator. Located on the “My HP Indigo” online customer portal, the improved locator will feature drop-down menus for country-specific information; guided and free-text search capabilities; U.S. and European Union paper specifications; icons for recycled and other eco-friendly substrates and many other details for each substrate. Plus, the re-launched locator will give customers the option to automatically receive updates whenever a new media offering is certified for use with HP Indigo presses.

HP also has created a new HP Indigo specialty media swatchbook – available from HP Indigo sales representatives – that includes more than 200 specialty substrates provided by more than 30 media suppliers.