The beta model running on the HP stand (Hall 4, stand D60), will be installed at the group’s St Louis, Missouri plant in autumn.

A further 10 machines will be installed across its network, which comprises 70 sites in the US, Canada and the Czech Republic, as well as joint ventures in the UK and Japan.

Ric Davis, executive vice-president of operations at Consolidated Graphics (CGX), was at the Messe Düsseldorf to sign for the major HP haul, which will accelerate its migration to digital.

"Customers like Indigo quality. There used to be a difference, but now it is virtually indistinguishable from offset," said Davis.

He said CGX had grown from owning two Indigos in 2007 to now running 68 machines, including the 32 Indigos it signed for at drupa 2008.

Davis wouldn’t be drawn on the cost of the B2 investment, other than to say it represented a "large expenditure", though not as high as CGX’s 2008 spree, which remains HP’s largest-ever single digital printing sale.

The 10000s, which reach 3,450 sheets per hour in four-colour mode, were chosen for their short-run, on-demand capabilities as well as variable-data, said Davis.

"Because all of our presses are networked electronically we can take a customer file and push it out to several CGX companies that are geographically diverse and produce the product near where it is going to be used."Tweet