The 5500 is the successor to the 5000, which was launched two years ago. The £285,000 press targets direct mail, books, manuals and photo merchandising.

Enhancements include the inclusion of light cyan and light magenta for six-colour photo-imaging, as well as the ability to change individual inks on the fly.

Stephen Nigro, HP senior vice president for graphics and imaging, said: “It covers all the markets that the 5000 covered. But there has been no compromise on quality.”

He added that the 5500 had improved productivity by 15%.

Sheffield-based ProCo was the only UK firm to beta test the 68 A4 four-colour page per minute (ppm) 5500. According to the company’s sales director, Jon Bailey, the press helped it win a £200,000 contract.

“The light cyan and light magenta gave us a difference in quality,” he said.

HP also launched the entry-level 3500 digital press, which can print at speeds of 68 A4 four-colour ppm and features a new version of HP’s Ink Mixing System software.

HP has branched out into digital post-press for the first time after launching the HP Indigo UV Coater. The machine can apply gloss, matt and satin UV finishes. It can coat media from 115gsm to 450gsm at speeds of up to 4,000 A3 sheets per hour.

“We couldn’t find a strong partner, so this led us to go ahead and build the product ourselves,” said Nigro. “Finishing is an area of opportunity and the UV coater will begin shipping in the summer.”

On the wide-format front, DesignJet launches included the DesignJet T series for CAD and architectural work and the DesignJet Z6100.

The latter uses HP Vivera pigment inks and targets firms producing high-quality fine art reproductions.