The galloping inevitability of commoditisation in just about every type of printing weighs on the whole industry. Certainly Alon Bar-Shany, boss honcho of HP Indigo, (pictured below) is under no illusions that even the company’s most innovative presses and processes cannot but be eventually swallowed up.
The difference from most industry acitivists is that not only does he recognise the threat and the phenomenon, but he has a strategy for HP Indigo and its customers to stay at least one step ahead for the foreseeable future.
This seems to me to encapsulate the thrust of the company’s development as it welcomes more than 300 people from all over the world to a three-day event in Israel. Less than a year out from drupa, we're unlikely to see too many new product releases, but it is an opportunity to take a deep dive on how the business is going. At an opening event on Monday night, the instantly recognisable Bar-Shany, tried to put the commoditisation threat to printing into perspective.
In no small way he attributed it as the driver of HP Indigo’s dive into industrial printing – labels and packaging. Since it launched the new big presses, the 10000, 20000 and 30000, in 2012 it has grown to be almost 25% of the company’s manufacturing production, slightly more of its revenue. Over the next three days I look forward to discovering more about how one of the industry leaders in innovation is attempting to stave off the big C menace with R&D into workflow, inks, formats and importantly, encouragement of its customers to tackle the problem of market differentiation.
With more than 4000 customers in 120 countries around the world, the company represents a remarkable growth achievement since I attended the first launch of an Indigo at a kibuttz here in 1993. More impressive indeed when you consider the fate of the offset behemoths durng that turbulent period.
First stop this morning is Kiryat Gat, the company’s manufacturing and research facility in the south of Israel, not far from Gaza. I’m told it has gone through a huge growth spurt since my last visit just before last drupa. With over 200 of its industry-defining B2-size 10000 presses sold since the launch in 2012 and with packaging white ink representing its single fastest product growth, I’m more than curious to see the ‘new’ HP Indigo.
More later.