The machine, which was installed at the Brentwood, Essex-based firm’s premises last week, has replaced a WS6000, which was part exchanged. As an HP customer for the past ten years the company, which also operates a WS6600 and a WS4050, did not consider any alternative machines.
HP launched the WS6800, which prints at speeds of up to 40m/min, earlier this year. Its features include on press colour profiling & colour matching for reprints and the Automatic Alert Agent, which spots any errors in the print & can be set to warn the operator or stop the press.
“The digital market is becoming more competitive each year so the need to take advantage of every available improvement has moved from ‘nice to have’ to essential,” said managing director Steve Baker.
“Minutes saved per job on set-up, less stops for checking scaling and auto-colour correction can make a huge difference to daily output. One of the main advantages for production will be the improved speed at which jobs can be sent to press. The new Gen 8 & V4.1 RIP is mind-blowingly fast.
“We ran a test on a large VDP job that we had produced previously. We had to split the job into 18 files and each one took over an hour and a half to normalise and RIP. The new RIP took just three minutes.”
The business has also upgraded its existing WS6600 to match the features of the WS6800 and upgraded the digital front-end (DFE) of its WS4050 to Gen 8 & V4 RIP.
The company also runs a Nilpeter FB3 flexo press, a Roland SolJet XC-540 wide-format printer and a range of folding, packing, reeling and slitting equipment.
The firm said that the WS6800 investment also represents a commitment to the environment as HP Indigo has established a program in collaboration with Good Energy Initiative, a project for environmental learning and leadership, to offset carbon emissions associated with the manufacture of the press.
Baker Labels, which was established in 1973, has around 60 staff and a turnover of £7m. It produces a wide range of bespoke self-adhesive and non self-adhesive labels for trade customers.
