DONGGUAN, China - HP today announced that Hucais Printing Company Limited has installed three HP T260 Mono Inkjet Web Presses to help power its new publishing business model in China. 

The presses, which are the first HP T260s installed worldwide, were initially developed to meet the demands of the China publishing market through a joint effort between Hucais and HP.

In today’s environment, it is hard for publishers to predict sales of printed books. Digital printing allows for the cost-effective production of books in very small quantities, and on-demand printing reduces the risk of ending up with unsold inventory. Cost-effectively printing books as needed helps publishers avoid the costs of unsold inventory and book-storage warehouses.

“As an innovative industry leader, our vision is to bring personalized printed material—whether it is photo books, books or other personalized items—to every home in China,” said Chen Chengwen, chairman, Hucais. “Specifically customized to our unique business needs, the HP T260 will help us achieve our goals and grow the business by taking on more short-run printing and out-of-print books while embracing new business models.”

To reduce delivery time for short-run printing and minimize logistics costs for their customers, Hucais is establishing a network of digital printing centers in China. For on-demand printing of niche books and other personalized print jobs, Hucais is developing a new business model that is open, innovative and provides win-win outcomes for the company and its publishing customers.

Hucais is building its business model around out-of-print or long-tail books using an e-commerce platform and production network. Once an order is received through the e-commerce site, Hucais will cost-effectively and efficiently print the book on demand at the location closest to the customer’s delivery address. As a result, readers receive the books they want to buy and publishing houses reduce inventory while still generating profit from out-of-print books.

The news was announced in conjunction with Hucais’ open house to mark the official opening of its second digital printing center in Dongguan, China, which will serve customers in the south of China. This site joins the first digital printing site in Beijing. The company also is planning to have a third site up and running very soon in Shao Xing. The HP T260 Mono Inkjet Web Press will be operating at each of these facilities.

To fully power the company’s publishing business model across its entire digital printing network in China, Hucais expects to place a further double digit order of HP T260 Mono Inkjet Web Presses.

The new press, which enables printing companies like Hucais to increase speed to market and profitably increase mono inkjet book production, will also be made available globally before the end of 2014.

Established in 1988, Hucais has a corporate philosophy that embodies a strong focus on people, enabling mutual business benefit and continually pioneering innovation to ensure that it remains at the forefront of the domestic printing industry.

The company entered into digital printing in 2011with the purchase of HP Indigo 7500 Digital Presses for its consumer photo and packaging proofing business.  In 2012, Hucais added its first HP T300 Color Inkjet Web Press to start digitally printing books. Today, Hucais uses a variety of HP printing solutions including the HP T410, T300 and T350 Inkjet Web Presses as well as the HP Indigo 7500, W7250 and 10000 Digital Presses to provide one-stop-shop printing services to its diverse set of customers.   

Customer-led innovation with the HP T260 Mono Inkjet Web Press

The new HP T260 Mono Inkjet Web Press prints on a wide range of media with high-productivity and a low total operating cost in a compact size. It is based on the proven HP Inkjet Web Press platform, which has printed a cumulative total of more than 50 billion pages worldwide.⁽¹⁾

With a 26-inch (66 cm) paper width, the HP T260 offers an efficient imposition form factor for book production and fast speeds—printing up to 800 feet (244 meters) per minute with 3-up A4 and 4-up 6-inch x 9-inch (152.6-mm by 228.6-mm) impositions for outstanding productivity. The T260 has a duty cycle of 123 million A4-sized or 211 million 6-inch x 9-inch images per month.

Similar to existing HP Inkjet Web Presses, the HP T260 offers best-in-class print quality with 1,200 nozzles per inch (npi) and 8 times nozzle redundancy. It also features HP Bonding Agent and automation for operator ease of use.

“The publishing market is rapidly changing and digital print technologies are key to business success in this industry,” said Aurelio Maruggi, vice president and general manager, Inkjet High-speed Production Solutions, HP. “The HP T260 mono inkjet web press demonstrates customer-led innovation with a solution designed specifically to enable forward-thinking customers like Hucais to print books on demand and bring their vision to life.”

Additional information about HP Inkjet Web Presses is available at www.hp.com/go/inkjetwebpress, through the HP Graphic Arts YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/hpgraphicarts and through the HP Graphic Arts Twitter Feed at www.twitter.com/hpgraphicarts.