This is a pretty big deal. especially if you look at it over the next few years. At the 30,000 foot view it shows progress in the previously announced relationship between two industry leaders, HP and KBA. That deal will ultimately give both companies credibility in areas (and with customers) they might not ordinarily have. HP is a digital-only company, just as KBA is conventional print focused. Having a press that uses both companies' technology gives each a way to sell to customers they might otherwise not reach. This is great for both moving forward.
Closer to the ground, this shows the scaleability of HP's high speed full color inkjet technology and how it can be used in more ways and for more applications. Basically, the T1100S uses a wider array of HP's proven inkjet heads to print a much wider web of paper. This has been a promise of HP for some time but machine is the proof, and it gives HP another onramp to gain market share in packaging, an area where company already has a serious presence.
There are naysayers who will point out that the T1100S is really for corrugated top sheets and that the typical volume for corrugated containers is too high for digital to make sense for all but small segment of the market. And that's somewhat true--for now. But corrugated packaging is subject to the same market requirements as labels, folding cartons and flexible packaging, including SKU proliferation, demand for shorter runs, unique branding, and even regionalized packaging. For now, brand owners have worked around these needs by spraying small bar codes or placing labels on mass produced containers, but the T1100S changes the game. Now corrugated containers can be produced in lower quantities, be regionalized, have bespoke branding, and have store-specific SKUs without additional steps or processing. This is a win for the brand owners, and print providers such as DS Smith (the first US install of the new machine), will be quick to take advantage of it. I'm predicting that 5 years maybe 15% of large corrugated box shops will have a HP T1100S or whatever comes along on its heels. Brand owners will come to expect converters to have this capability and be asking for it. And shops without digital technology will be at a disadvantage.
Is that the delusion of a confessed fan of digital printing technology? You may think so, but consider how digital is reshaping conventional label and package printing. Some label and folding carton converters are presently seeing RFPs that ask about the converters' digital print capabilities, even if the job being bid on doesn't necessarily require a digital press. Digital printing is out in the landscape of packaging, and corrugated is just the next segment being addressed.
Noel Ward | Managing Director | Brimstone Hill Associates
