Wing Hung first for HP B2 press

Wing Hung Group has become the first company in the world to invest in HP's debut B2 digital press, the Indigo 10000.

The Hong Kong-based business, which has already signed up for two machines, will become a beta site for the new press when it takes delivery of it in August.

The Indigo 10000 moves the group into B2 digital print production, something John Lau, chairman of Wing Hung Group, said it had been asking HP about for the past three years.

"Having the B2-format size opens up many more opportunities for us in terms of efficiencies and new jobs that presently cannot be produced on digital presses," said Lau.

Investment in the Indigo 10000 platform marks a period of impressive ongoing growth at the Chinese group, which produces labels, hangtags and packaging as well as barcode products for retail brands.

Its new machine is the group’s ninth Indigo investment in three years, part of an expansion programme that has included six HP Indigo 5500s and two Indigo 7500s.

Lau said: "HP Indigo has catered for our needs for many years, but from the very beginning we have been asking it about a B2 machine and the benefits that would bring."

"As a group that has grown thanks to our customer-driven approach, we now aim to grow further in partnership with HP and the Indigo 10000."

The 10000 press, which carries a basic €1.14m ($1.5m) price tag, can print full variable data up to 3,450 sheets per hour (equivalent to 230 A4 pages per minute). The press can be seen running at drupa on HP’s stand (Hall 4/Stand D60).

"Wing Hung’s rapid adoption of our technology mirrors what we see across Asia, as progressive businesses use premium-quality, HP Indigo digital printing to offer cost, time and relevancy advantages over mass-produced, analogue offset production," said Alon Bar-Shany, vice-president and general manager of HP Indigo.