HP and Hucais combine for mono inkjet web

Hucais Printing Company has completed the world’s first installation of three HP T260 mono inkjet web presses to help power its new publishing business model in China.

HP says it initially developed the presses to meet the demands of the China publishing market through a joint effort between itself and Hucais.

Chen Chengwen, chairman at Hucais, says, “As an innovative industry leader, our vision is to bring personalised printed material, whether it is photo books, books or other personalised items, to every home in China. Specifically customised to our business needs, the HP T260 will help us achieve our goals and grow the business by taking on more short-run printing and out-of-print books while embracing new business models.”

Hucais says it will establish a network of digital printing centres in China in order to reduce delivery time for short run printing and minimise logistics costs for its customers. It adds that it will develop a new business model that is open, innovative and provides win-win outcomes for the company and its publishing customers for on demand printing of niche books and other personalised print jobs.

The business model comes from around out-of-print or long-tail books using an e-commerce platform and production network. Once an order it receives an order through the e-commerce site, Hucais will print the book on demand at the location closest to the customer’s delivery address. The company says that readers will receive the books they want to buy and publishing houses will reduce inventory while still generating profit from out-of-print books.

The companies made the announcement at Hucais’s open house to mark the official opening of its second digital printing centre in Dongguan, China, which will serve customers in the south of China. This site joins the first digital printing site in Beijing. The company also plans to have a third site up and running very soon in Shao Xing. The HP T260 mono inkjet web press will operate at each of these facilities.

Hucais expects to place a further double digit order of HP T260 Mono Inkjet Web Presses. HP says it will make the new press available globally before the end of the year.

Established in 1988, Hucais entered into digital printing in 2011 with the purchase of an HP Indigo 7500 Digital Presses for its consumer photo and packaging proofing business. In 2012, Hucais added its first HP T300 Color Inkjet Web Press to start digitally printing books. Today, Hucais uses a variety of HP printing solutions including the HP T410, T300 and T350 Inkjet Web Presses as well as the HP Indigo 7500, W7250 and 10000 Digital Presses to provide one-stop-shop printing services to its diverse set of customers.

The new HP T260 mono inkjet web press prints on a range of media and offers a 66cm paper width. HP says the press prints at speeds of 244mpm with three-up A4 and four-up 152.6mm by 228.6mm impositions. It has a duty cycle of 123 million A4-sized or 211 million 6-inch x 9-inch images per month. Similar to existing HP inkjet web presses, the HP T260 offers 1200 nozzles per inch and eight times nozzle redundancy. It also features HP Bonding Agent and automation for operator ease of use.

Aurelio Maruggi, vice president and general manager for inkjet high-speed production solutions at HP, says, “The publishing market is rapidly changing and digital print technologies are key to business success in this industry. The HP T260 mono inkjet web press demonstrates customer-led innovation with a solution designed specifically to enable forward-thinking customers like Hucais to print books on demand and bring their vision to life.”

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