Editor’s Note: The world of printing is evolving, with digital printing making gains through virtually every segment, driven by key advantages such as being able to print short runs with no minimum order threshold, less waste and fast turnaround times. Haim Levit, VP and GM, HP Industrial, offers his insights into the changes we are seeing.

Ink World: Is HP seeing strong growth throughout its digital printing portfolio?

Haim Levit: There is no question that the strength of our digital portfolio, driven by our Indigo and Thermal InkJet technologies, is driving growth. We are proud to offer the most comprehensive ready-to-go portfolio in our history and the most advanced digital product portfolio on the market. Our customers are expanding faster than ever – outpacing market growth across the board and producing more pages than ever before. HP Indigo customers grew six times faster than the market last year, and we recently celebrated a new A4 inkjet page volume record: 750 billion impressions (printed cumulatively). With regards to our commercial growth, we closed FY’22 with 53% market share and are back to pre-pandemic levels of our B2 platform unit sales.

This past year, we had two major launches accelerating the shift from analog to digital printing, both aimed at giving print providers the flexibility to take any kind of print job. The HP Indigo V12 Digital Label Press, now in beta, is our next-generation label press, based on our LEPx technology. This press, which offers our customer the same tried and true profitable Indigo image quality as our other presses, is at the forefront of innovative digital print and will continue to transform the labels and packaging market with its 4-5X greater speed and efficiency.

Our second launch, the HP PageWide Advantage 2200 Press, is tailored for high-speed continuous feed commercial production in publishing, commercial print and direct mail. It is unique among its competitors by offering about 30% greater productivity on higher weight substrates than any other press on the market, which has resulted in orders from direct mailers who had never before owned any HP printing presses. Strong early indications are that the productivity and output quality of this press will accelerate the shift from offset to inkjet document printing.


Ink World: Which markets are seeing the greatest growth?

Haim Levit: Labels and flexible packaging are two huge markets with a lot of untapped potential for true analog to digital transformation and are experiencing strong growth. Label converters looking to compete in the areas of mass versioning, fast delivery and sustainability can’t afford not to have digital printers in their portfolio. In addition, with the introduction of the HP Indigo V12 Digital Label Press into the market, the benefits of digital print are being extended to longer runs, while maintaining print quality and optimizing the production floor.

Market expansion goes beyond digital-to-digital competition, and our vision has always been to create something new in the market – a digital transformation in which an HP Indigo 100K digital press and a PageWide Press sit next to every offset press on the production floor. We see this phenomenon especially in the commercial segment which overall has been in a slow decline in terms of total output for the past few years. However, when we look at the commercial segment from a digital first point of view, there is clear growth as PSPs are leveraging the advantages of digital which delivers the quality of offset while allowing for productivity and cost reduction by running the high volumes that only digital provides. When we adopt a digital first mindset, we see all segments are gaining market share.


Ink World: Along those lines, do you see digital printing making significant inroads in packaging?

Haim Levit: Traditionally, larger converters have dominated packaging focusing on high volumes, long runs, and a lengthy go to market time The advancement of digital print has created an untapped market of small and medium size brands to enter the marketplace with short runs, no minimum order threshold, and fast turnaround times. Innovative label converters have identified this untapped market and used their digital experience and Indigo solutions to make significant inroads in packaging.

Earlier this year, ePac Flexible Packaging purchased the largest single order of flexible packaging presses in HP Indigo’s history. What’s truly exciting is that Indigo and ePac have opened up opportunities for start-ups and small businesses to bring their goods to market with the same high-quality packaging used by large consumer goods manufacturers. Our solutions allow small orders of flexible packaging that were previously unavailable to start-ups. We’re very proud to be enabling new businesses, especially during challenging economic times.


Ink World: How did digital printing fare during the supply chain disruptions, and is digital printing benefiting from the interest in nearshoring?

Haim Levit: One of the most important things the industry learned from market conditions over the past few years is the need for PSPs to have continuous and agile supply chains. The ability to stay competitive and relevant in the global ecommerce market hinges on print service providers’ ability to be fast and flexible, without increasing operational costs. One of the most effective ways to do this is by adopting workflow automation tools which is a pillar of digital print.

What our customers love most about HP software is that we help them to reduce the friction of hiring and managing low-skilled labor by automating many of the rote processes, freeing up their high-skilled labor to create higher value output. Additionally, as we move towards a more self-service society, their clients are gaining higher satisfaction by being able to have greater control and visibility over job input, job status, and delivery all managed through HP software portfolio. Our cloud based – production management system, HP Site Flow, digitizes and standardizes processes for efficient operation. It is optimized by AI for increased productivity, and interconnects with both suppliers and customers to ensure flexible, agile and efficient inventory management throughout the supply chain.

Labor shortages and lingering supply chain issues have definitely given rise to the trend of nearshoring or glocalization in which international brands are seeking onshore production closer to the point of consumption to save on expensive shipping costs. Because HP has the largest installed base of digital label presses worldwide, it is easy for brands to replicate their label requirements consistently around the world.


Ink World: Does digital printing have a good story to tell in terms of sustainability?

Haim Levit: For sustainability to be widely adopted, it needs to be cost neutral or cost saving, and preferably the latter. Digital print is designed to eliminate excess packaging waste by printing only what volume is needed when it is needed and using lower energy print technology.

Sustainability is no longer optional today for any major industry. The urgency around climate change combined with consumer demand for sustainable solutions means that PSPs and brands must deliver end-to-end solutions with a lower environmental impact that includes sourcing of environmentally friendly materials. Right now, the ongoing energy crises is forcing business to save on costs, and many PSPs are realizing the energy-saving advantages of moving from flexo to digital print.

As leaders in the digital print industry, our vision is to revolutionize the world of industrial print and drive regenerative activity that results not only in a smaller footprint, but a net positive impact. All HP digital presses are designed to integrate sustainable solutions at every step from design through production to recycling at the end of life. Not only are they manufactured carbon neutral, but they also reduce production waste, increase energy efficiency, support eco-certified materials, and meet circular packaging and food packaging regulations. We design our presses to print on recycled, recyclable, or compostable media and employ technologies like mechanical recycling, wash off and deinking.

Converters that invest in HP digital print technology will command a strong market position when it comes to sustainability.

Ink World: What is your outlook for digital printing for the next five to 10 years?

Haim Levit: All the inherent benefits of digital production and printing across HP’s technology platforms are being amplified as a result of the COVID-induced changes that were adopted by the print industry. Non-negotiable requirements now include presses that use less labor, minimize waste, expand applications, while being easier to operate with greater transparency for both operators and customers alike. These requirements are encouraging PSPs to shift volume from conventional print to digital print because of the unparalleled production flexibility and application versatility offered by digital print. The rise of mass versioning, sustainability and automation are significant tends driving a digital first mindset.

As our footprint and innovative technology continues to expand around the world, we see our industrial print business empowering businesses to empower others in this digital transformation. Over the past twelve months, we have received unprecedented consumer demand across our portfolio, and as evidenced by the new deals and partnerships. HP has invested billions of dollars to help our customers profitably innovate their business and we will continue to lead the Industrial Print industry to help answer this demand and lead the digital print transformation with creativity and resilience.