Foundry Press boosts digital firepower with HP Indigo 7800 buy

Commercial printer Foundry Press has bought a "Rolls Royce" HP Indigo 7800 digital press, as the centrepiece of a new in-house digital print and repro facility that will also house a new Heidelberg Suprasetter A75 CTP system.

The firm, which operates from 743sqm premises in Horsham, West Sussex, will take delivery of the Indigo 7800 next week and the Suprasetter next month.

Both machines will be installed in the newly created 110sqm suite that the company is currently building and expects to be ready by the end of the year. The business has invested around £450,000 in the venture overall, including the new equipment and site revamp.

The sheetfed Indigo 7800 can be used for a range of applications including publishing, fine art, packaging, personalised direct mail and POS printed materials.

The machine prints at speeds of up to 160ppm and its features include one-shot printing, matt ink, 'invisible' red, light black and digital special effects including texturing, raised print and watermarks.

According to HP, intelligent automation allows the job queue to be optimised based on priority, length, image type or media.

The business also considered alternatives from Xerox and Heidelberg before coming to its final decision regarding the new press.

Works manager Warren Sweatman? said Foundry Press classes the HP Indigo as “the Rolls Royce of digital machines”. It will replace a Xerox DocuColor 8002, which will be returned to Xerox at the end of this month.

“Everything we’ve been producing on the Xerox will move straight over to the Indigo, plus the eye-catching features of the machine will help us to sell into new areas,” said Sweatman.

“The press wouldn’t fit into our current digital room so we had to rejig the factory a bit and we’ve now created an 110sqm room that will hold the new Indigo.”

Explaining the Suprasetter investment decision, Sweatman added: “It was our vision to create a client friendly digital suite and merge the reprographics and digital in the same room.

“So when we looked at moving the repro into that room we thought it was the perfect time to get a new machine on that front as well.

“The Suprasetter has got Autoloader, which means we will effectively be able to run plates through the night and free up the staff to increase productivity and flexibility.”

The Suprasetter will replace a Heidelberg Topsetter, which will be part exchanged.

Foundry Press also operates a 10-colour B2 Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 74 perfector, an Epson Stylus Pro 9880 wide-format printer and a range of finishing kit.

The company, which has 22 staff and a turnover of £2.75m, produces work for customers including agencies, charities and end users.