NEWS

Beith Digital celebrated becoming the first printing business in Africa to have installed the HP Scitex FB7600 Industrial Press with an open house event at its Sandton premises on 11 September. The event offered the opportunity to hear about the difference the HP Scitex FB7600 is making to Beith’s large format printing operations. Senior HP GSB managers were at the event and gave presentations on HP’s strategy for digital transformation.

Devyn Wagner, MD, Beith Digital, said that the HP FB7600 has replaced a large portion of their traditional screen printing work and is the next step in efficiency. 'Eighty percent of jobs done on screen printing have moved over to digital - we've shut down half of our screen printing machines. It now takes us three and a half hours to run 4500 panels digitally whereas it took 4-5 days to run this amount on our screen printers. The machine has been running 24/7 for the last three weeks.'

'We can offer our clients quicker turnaround times and better quality and service. A particular benefit is that clients will be able to get prototypes or 'real-life' proofs with no additional set-up charges. We no longer have to do a mock up on one technology and then have to explain to the client that the final product may have variations when we produce the live production run. What you present to the client will be exactly what the actual finished product will look like,' said Wagner.

Nachum Korman, Sales Industrial Director, EMEA Large Format Sign & Display, HP, said, 'We have more than 90 installations of the FB7600 machine in EMEA alone. It's a great moment to be in South Africa and to celebrate the first flatbed installation of the machine in Africa. The machine is very versatile, it can print on both flexible and rigid media - this is a huge advantage for our customers.'

Manel Martinez, Vice President & General Manager, EMEA Graphics Solutions Business, HP, outlined the company's strategy and vision: 'We have a portfolio of solutions that cover the needs of the different industry segments and we have the broadest portfolio of digital solutions for the graphic arts industry. Our aim is to lead the transformation from analog to digital technologies.'

The new HP Scitex FB7600 is also cost effective on large or small projects and delivers exceptional quality and brilliant colour prints with quicker turn-around times. Variable data printing offers affordable, customised campaigns for focussed marketing. Environmentally conscious customers will benefit from GreenGuard approved inks. The HP Scitex FB7600 also gives clients flexibility for rush jobs and urgent proofs. A production run can now be interrupted, an urgent sample printed instantly and the proofing process shortened.

The versatile loading mechanism enables the use of a wide range of media. Together with in-line media sensors, a media thickness indicator and an automatic alignment procedure, the loading system helps minimise the impact of operator error.

The investment in the HP Scitex FB7600 is part of Beith’s philosophy to keep up with the latest digital technology and create a dynamic environment where they are able to offer clients the best possible large format print solutions.