The new machine is targeted at the sign and display, corrugated and retail-ready packaging markets.

The 10000 is capable of 312sqm/hour in ‘Sample Mode’ rising to 625 sqm/hr in "sellable" ‘PROD 125’ mode and has a bed size of 1,600x3,200mm. It can handle products  up to 25mm thick.

It features HP’s HDR (High Dynamic Range) technology, which is a combination of new HDR300 printheads, of which there are 312, coupled with new software algorithms for droplet placement and a new pigmented, high adhesion inkset, HDR240.

Xavier Garcia, general manager of HP Scitex Wide Format Printing Solutions, said: "We’re are now able to control drop size, drop by drop and that creates a tonal range that replicates very closely high resolution systems like offset and flexo. This is the ‘magic of what the 10000 represents."

The new heads use what HP says is a patented technology that can apply different sized drops, 15, 30, 45 pico litre drops simultaneously by merging 15 Pico litre drops ‘mid air’.

According to Garcia, this offers an equivalent resolution of 150 lines per inch (lpi).

Shipping of the FB10000 will begin in November, although it is commercially available immediately on a "restricted basis".

The machine will initially be available as in six-colours (CMYK and Lc, Lm), but Garcia said that an upgrade path had been built into the system – suggesting more colours could be added. He said that white might also be a future option, depending on customer requirements.

The 10000, which is running live on HP’s stand at Fespa, has been in development for three years and has been in beta testing at KL Druck in Germany for two months.

The 10000 will be sold alongside the HP Scitex FB7600, but the features on the 10000 will not be retro-fittable to it.

"Basically to introduce the 10000 technology we had to re-engineer the entire press. Architecturally it may look similar to he 7600, but the accuracy required for all the components mean you can multiply by 10 the complexity involved in its construction," said Garcia.