Midcomp held an HP Innovation Open Day on Tuesday, 16 July, at their Innovation Hub in Randburg. Attendees were given the opportunity to meet with Midcomp’s HP specialists and unpack business growth opportunities with the HP Latex range.
The range’s white ink capabilities and sustainable features were highlighted. Also touched on were HP Latex’s health and safety benefits, high-quality results and versatility across media types and substrates.
Rob Makinson, Group CEO at Midcomp, introduced the HP Latex range and mentioned the industry’s shift from solvent, eco solvent and UV based inks to water based inks. He also discussed Midcomp’s Pay Per Use (PPU) and PPUGRO programmes.
With PPU, users can enjoy peace of mind with no unexpected costs and subscribe to a fixed monthly cost per square metre based on their location. There is no minimum print volume required. PPU covers a user’s ink supplies, printheads, cleaning cartridges, service maintenance kits, labour and spare parts, and is an ideal solution for cost-efficient printing.
PPUGRO gives customers the option of including a printing and finishing system as well as RIP Software, consumables (excl. media), service costs and insurance charged at a predetermined variable rate per square metre that the customer prints.
The Innovation Hub also acts as a disaster relief facility for Midcomp’s PPU and PPUGRO customers who experience machine faults during time sensitive jobs.
Navin Jeewanlall, Director at Midcomp, presented on the HP Latex portfolio. He mentioned the recent upgrade to the Gen 4 models, which has seen an improvement in the hardware capabilities from the previous Gen 3 machines. Jeewanlall focused on the three flagship machines that include optional print and cut capabilities, namely the HP Latex 630, HP Latex 700 and HP Latex 800, each of which have a white ink capable counterpart (HP Latex 630W, HP Latex 700W and HP Latex 800W).
Also on display were the HP Latex 2700W and the HP Latex R2000 Plus, which are mid volume roll to roll printers. The HP Latex R2000 Plus is available in print and cut.
The HP Stitch S500, HP PageWide XL Pro 10000 and the Zünd G3 L-2500 flatbed digital cutter were also displayed.
Jeewanlall discussed what he termed the three S’s of the HP Latex series: stunning, streamline and sustainability. Stunning alludes to the wide and vivid colour gamut of the series due to its white ink capabilities. Streamline refers to the series’ efficiency and output capacity. And finally, the series’ sustainability is due to the use of eco friendly, water based inks that provide machine operators with healthier and safer work environments.
4FC Graphics & Print were the big winners at the Open Day event, securing the media pack prize worth R9000, which included Drytac SpotOn vinyl, gazebo fabric, poster paper and ContraVision film.
Darryl Braithwaite, Sales at Midcomp, commented on the HP Latex series’ white ink capabilities and features, stating, ‘The white ink from HP is the whitest ink you are going to see. Unlike UV inks, which have a slight yellow tinge or solvent inks, which tend to crack, the HP Latex white is flexible and the best white ink on the market. What makes the HP very different from any of the other machines that stock white ink, is that when you are not printing white ink, the HP head is removed and it’s put into a chamber that constantly rotates, so that you are not wasting any white ink. There is also complete circulation of white ink throughout the machine, so there is no coagulation and no drying of the white ink within the system.’
Braithwaite also weighed in on the water based Latex ink’s sustainability features: ‘The HP inks are the most sustainable inks on the market. They are water based, they have zero volatile organic compounds, and they are not harmful to the operator, to the print room or to the environment. The inks leave a zero carbon footprint and are 100% sustainable. This is the future of printing, because very soon customers are going to ask you, ‘What ink are you using?’ And if you’re not using an ink that is sustainable, environmentally friendly, and that leaves a zero carbon footprint, you might not get work that you thought you were going to get. So sustainability is going to be a very big buzzword going forward, especially in our industry.’
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