Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen told PrintWeek that the move to digital wasn’t driven by an increase in short-run production.

The company said: "The change is not really in response to any trends in aviation chart production. We made the move in part because technology has matured enough to meet the high productivity and quality requirements of our product. At least as importantly, it is enabling us to in-source production of folded charts, giving us more control over production costs as our customers migrate from paper to digital solutions; and it provides some mitigation against increasing volatility in the global printing business."

In a statement announcing the installation, Jeppesen said it had been outsourcing oversize chart production and CEO/president Mark Van Tine suggested the company had been looking at potential digital solutions for some time.

Jeppesen president and chief executive officer Mark Van Tine said: "For years, digital press providers would say they have the perfect solution for us," Van Tine said. "We would bring them in to look at our production operation, they would leave, and we would never hear back from them again. HP came in, evaluated our needs, and delivered a solution with HP Indigo presses. Now, with the addition of an HP T300 Inkjet Web Press, we have digital printing solutions for our entire aviation chart product line."

Jeppesen has already migrated many of its print based products to electronic, but still sees demand for traditional charts. The T300 can use the lightweight, 27-lb paper Jeppesen uses for its printed aviation charts and, unlike other solutions, HP Inkjet Web Presses include a bonding agent that eliminates the show-through problems often associated with lightweight stocks in high-speed, inkjet production.