4,500 unique covers thanks to Sara Ciprandi’s illustrations, the Mondi Pergraphica paper, and the technology and expertise of PressUP
Creativity, paper, typographic tradition, and the HP Indigo 100K made us (again) unique
Transforming an industry is a concept that many still consider abstract or the result of some spell. Those who have been its protagonists, or active spectators, know that it is instead a very practical activity, made of study, technological choices, investments and hard work to achieve the goal. If this were not so, the pioneers of digital technology would have stopped at the first hurdle, and the biggest imaging brands would not have become key suppliers to our industry. In short, graphic arts would still be an analog industry.
In 2020, which was supposed to be the year of drupa, the whole industry has been wondering whether a decisive step towards the digitization of printing processes was needed, and which technologies could support it. For this reason, by creating an issue of Italia Publishers dedicated to the transformation of the graphic arts, we have, in turn, made a very practical and tangible “transformative” action, hybridizing our magazine’s production process and changing its graphic layout. To do so, we developed an original concept, involving a group of professionals and valuable suppliers. Let’s find out the details together.
Sara Ciprandi, between visual art and digital technology
Since the creation of Density, we have chosen to characterize the covers of Italia Publishers with exclusive illustrations and premium papers. Since 2018, we have commissioned the creativity of our covers to Sara Ciprandi, entrusting her with the arduous task of bestowing her visual art to our technical subjects.
For the issue you are leafing through, we have asked her to develop an illustrative project to emphasize the variability features offered by digital printing. From this briefing was born the cover “Endless Landscapes,” an imaginary journey among the main natural habitats of the planet.
“It’s really exciting to imagine that, starting from an illustration and three different color palettes, 4,500 different covers could be made,” Ciprandi explains.
A breakthrough technology, and a printer with a digital mindset
To implement such a project effectively, we not only wanted to use an innovative printing platform, but we wanted to involve a printer who had chosen, tested, and thoroughly evaluated it. The spark was ignited a few months ago when we learned that Italian PressUP had been the star of the HP Indigo 100K beta program.
Founded in 2010 by its current CEO, Vincenzo Cirimele, PressUP is one of the largest Italian online press operators. The company is based on a solid printing tradition on which Cirimele and his team have grafted a newco with a digital mindset.
“Today’s world is digitized on all levels, from music and video games to clothing. Digitization, along with globalization, has turned our lives upside down and allowed all industries to better calibrate their supply to changing customer demand,” explains Cirimele. “The levers are time-to-market and product customization, but also unexpected factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic. For those who have not yet adapted, it is no longer time for tactics, but time to act and build business strategies. Either you are digital, or you risk extinction.”
On this credo, Cirimele focused his action and laid the foundations of PressUP: a printing company with digital fundamentals, starting with the sales channel — the web — on which almost all orders are placed. Also digital are the processes, supply chain, production methods, and processing phases. PressUP has involved all its suppliers of goods and services in this paradigm.
“Having an agile supplier that provides you with on-demand products and consumables, broadband to move large files, or a logistics service integrated into the workflow, is the key to being competitive,” says Cirimele. “On the print and software front, we have identified HP as the best partner to complete our digital transformation process successfully.”
PressUP and HP Indigo: a special relationship
Inspired by the first online printing businesses, Cirimele developed a new 100% digital offering model able to combine high quality and fair price with fast quotes, guaranteed delivery times, and a rewarding buying experience: a model in which HP Indigo seems to fit perfectly.
“I sensed that — in a global market of hundreds of billions of euros, including publishing, packaging, labels and commercial printing — there were enormous unexpressed opportunities,” explains Cirimele. “Especially in Italy, our industry was static, and, with rare exceptions, customer-supplier relationship models were the same as in the 1990s.”
PressUP introduced its first HP Indigo in 2009, and from that moment, a special and inseparable bond between the Italian printer and the Israeli manufacturer was born: a relationship strong enough to bring Cirimele onto the board of Dscoop EMEA, the European HP Indigo user community.
“Indigo is not just a top-quality printing platform, but a world of end-to-end digital solutions, open to other technology and media providers,” explains Cirimele. “Ten years ago, for example, the ability to print white and special colors made Indigo technology different, especially for a market accustomed to high quality, like Italy.
Offset and digital, two increasingly converging worlds
The HP Indigo 100K represents the fifth generation of equipment released by the manufacturer, but also the beginning of a new positioning strategy. The printing press, which boasts the title of “World’s Most Productive Digital B2,” surpasses the natural evolution of the industry. While the B2+ format was already the hallmark of the HP Indigo 10000 and 12000, the new 100K, with its 6,000 sheets per hour, considerably reduces the gap between offset and digital.
“When I bought the first 7000, which belonged to the Series 3, the distance between offset and digital was stark. The quality was already excellent, but the paper size was a quarter of the 70x100 we use in offset, and productivity was very low,” explains Cirimele. “With the Series 4, the paper size doubled, and productivity increased, but it still wasn’t enough to effectively produce thousands of flyers, posters, or catalogs.”
The turning point came in April 2019, when HP selected PressUP, and a small group of loyal users, for the beta testing program of a new generation of equipment. With six units already installed, and the experience gained between HP Indigo technology and the Dscoop community, the Italian company welcomed this opportunity with enthusiasm.
Protected from prying eyes, HP Indigo 100K went into production within the PressUP fleet, under the coordination of Francesco Marra, production manager of the company.
“It was a good experiment, which allowed us to go into technical and strategic aspects. With the 100K, HP has introduced significant innovations in the printing process, speeded up the workflow, and optimized paper transport,” explains Marra. “With these improvements, we were asked to demonstrate the promised increase in performance and compare the results obtained on the 100K with the same work done on the HP Indigo 12000.”
For nine months, Marra’s team subjected the HP Indigo 100K to all sorts of tests, printing on coated and uncoated papers (fed into the machine both with and against the grain direction) and on several other noncertified substrates. That allowed them to accurately gather data, detect issues and differences from the previous series, and evaluate the overall user experience of the operators.
“The most obvious changes concern some components and their maintenance,” explains Marra. “The new conveyor belt, for example, makes the paper path more reliable. While the new laser head, a sealed monobloc, drastically reduces maintenance requirements and prevents unexpected quality decay.”
In addition to the paper transport system, many other features make the architecture and performance of the HP Indigo 100K radically different from the previous series, with an estimated productivity increase of about 50% compared to the HP Indigo 12000, including, among others, the media feeding system, which allows up to four different substrates to be handled simultaneously; a new inspection system; and a completely redesigned software.
Regarding the performance growth, PressUP has seen it in its daily operations, characterized by frequent changes of job, paper and operator, and intensive use of the equipment over several shifts.
“Already on the Series 4, HP had implemented features that are essential for bigger PSPs, such as pallet paper feeding,” says Cirimele. “On 100K, they introduced new software that substantially reduces calibration time and speeds up the management of queues and test prints. Together with peak speed, these are the elements that make a system truly productive.”
Digital printers grow
“For a digital production model to be scalable, you need fewer printing presses, but more productive ones,” explains Marra. “We could not continue indefinitely to move walls, create infrastructure, or, even worse, find ourselves having to occupy new buildings and hire new operators.”
Topics such as productivity, reliability, and saturation of production resources are central, especially for a company accustomed to operating 24/7, in a context of maximum operational efficiency. Looking ahead, equipment like the HP Indigo 100K will allow PressUP to handle both short and long runs, which are now exclusively managed with offset presses.
“We still receive numerous orders for ten thousand flyers or a thousand posters, but when it comes to quality catalogs and brochures, today’s customers tend to buy a few hundred pieces at a time, reordering them more frequently,” explains Cirimele. “To offer the best possible service to creative agencies that order small, medium and large quantities, it is therefore necessary to be ready to manage thousands of orders and reorders with digital technologies.”
With an installed base including Heidelberg and Komori H-UV offset presses and Scodix digital embellishment systems, PressUP embodies an advanced and efficient hybridization model that the company shares with Europe’s largest online printers. In these organizations, however, digital technology almost always occupies a subordinate position, mainly due to its low performance. HP’s goal to create a more productive and reliable digital machine (the HP Indigo 100K) convinced Cirimele and its team to contribute to its development.
An unusual project that enhances the digital world
By commissioning PressUP to print our cover, we knew we were relying on a supplier who could master complex creative projects and prepress workflows with variable data and layouts. However, it makes sense to wonder how common and easily manageable such a project is for a PSP.
“Variable data printing is a viable opportunity for an increasingly wide audience. To encourage adoption, we organize events for printing companies and designers to show them the potential of digital and the capabilities of HP SmartStream applications,” says Cirimele. “The message, however, stops at the highest level. Those who have to design and create files often get stuck due to laziness or fear of not being able to generate and manage hundreds of different PDFs properly.”
“Crossover” papers, compatible with any kind of printing technology: utopia or reality?
Since the early days of digital printing, the compatibility of substrates with toner, ElectroInk, and (more recently) water-based and UV-curable jetable inks has been considered critical. Some operators have solved the problem by using different papers for offset and digital presses. Others have attempted to unify the media type by purchasing B1 offset paper and then cutting it into smaller formats as needed.
These are compromises that are less and less acceptable for more mature digital PSPs, who consume tens of thousands of sheets every day and feel the need to be able to buy the same paper in reels, reams or entire pallets, printing on offset and digital machines, depending on quantities, machine formats, quality expectations and hardware availability.
As proof of this, PressUP’s fleet of machines has gradually expanded, from B1 offset presses alone to HP Indigo digital systems in A3+ format (first 320x460 mm, then 330x480 mm), and in recent years it has expanded with the new HP Indigo series in B2+ format (530x750 mm).
“It is anachronistic and inefficient to think, or try to explain to a customer, that the use of a specific digital paper may involve an increase in cost. Or to assume that you always have to buy offset paper, and cut it into smaller formats,” says Cirimele. “For this reason, the most sophisticated paper mills have created versatile papers, available in the most popular digital and offset formats, compatible with both technologies, with the required certifications and offered at the right price.”
Pergraphica, the uncoated fine paper we have chosen for our cover, is the ideal answer to these requests. Produced by Mondi at the Austrian paper mill in Neusiedler, Pergraphica is available in different finishes, weights, and whiteness, both in sheets and reels, in a variety of formats. The Pergraphica range has gradually been enriched with colored versions (with three palettes of dark, bright and soft colors) and weights up to 400 g/m². The latest additions include a black version called Infinite Black, designed for packaging and premium creative projects.
