To reinforce its lead in the sector, HP took prospective customers to see the first web press in action at O'Neil Data in Los Angeles last month. It was a treat to see it run alongside front-end and finishing kit from partners including Impostrip, Hunkeler, ETW, MBO, Muller-Martini, Timsons, CMC and Pitney Bowes.

O'Neil's press was different to the Drupa launch with several design tweaks on the 30in-wide (762mm) installation. Notably, the machine has no covers, making the arched paper path clearly visible. This optimises the paper to printhead distance, while minimising wet paper cockling and marking as the printed surface doesn't touch a roller before drying.

The press has six banks of two printbars. The first two bars print a bonding agent, the next two are unoccupied and then the following eight are K-Y-M-C.

A bonding agent is applied where ink will fall, reducing ink penetration into the paper to minimise strikethough and improving optical density on standard offset paper. The two rows of dual heads for each colour provide redundancy, with image process monitoring stations checking output across the web, highlighting print defects and alerting the operator in the event of a head failure on either side. Each printbar contains seven Edgeline inkjet heads that can be swapped in under 20 seconds, the replacement being aligned accurately by software.

Successful testing
The press has been in beta-testing for around four months and O'Neil is changing an average of one head per week. There are 10,580 nozzles on each of the 140 heads, arranged in dual rows at 1,200dpi resolution, jetting at a maximum rate of 24,000 drops per second (dps) per nozzle. The press can deliver over 35bn dps. This needs a lot of data and the scalable HP front-end is powerful, with 48 servers providing the 144 RIPs. Pages are processed in a quarter of a second and data transfer is 0.5GB per second.

For the bonding agent and C,M and Y, dropsize is 6pl with 9pl for black, with the water-based pigmented ink supplied in 200-litre barrels. It has a compact warm air drier, so customers can specify drying depending on print application with minimal paper stretch.

Even if there is distortion, the image processing capability can make corrections in software to maintain register and back up. The press delivers into a rewind that can slit into narrow reels if needed. O'Neil has MBO folders that sheet and fold into sections for stitching variable-pagination booklets, while a CMC folder/inserter delivers inserted and single-piece mailers. With no fixed click charge, O'Neil will use it to add colour capability to products currently printed in mono, with the colour priced "by the square inch".

There's no doubt the HP inkjet press will push digital print significantly, particularly with specialist automated finishing. The systems ordered by CPI and Courier use Timsons finishing to gather sections or deliver a finished book block. With Muller-Martini's Sigma binder, the system can deliver different format books without manual intervention. This pushes the break-even against litho to 3,000-plus copies.

The productivity of high-quality digital printers is increasing, changing the comparison with conventional print as single-pass printing and finishing becomes economic for higher quantities. The speeds now available are allowing volume production to be considered. As technology further improves, printers will consider digital printing as part of a manufacturing process, not just an alternative printing method.

From all technology perspectives, the inkjet press is very impressive. Even the most die-hard conventional printer should take notice. It prints A4 at 2,600ppm, the equivalent of a B1 perfector running at 10,000sph, but with no plates and faster makeready time. So, it's no wonder that HP claims this is a new digital reality for the industry.

30-second briefing on HP web press

• The HP web press has been operating as a beta-test at O'Neil Data, in Los Angeles. HP is very pleased with the progress, claiming the 2,600ppm machine represents a "new digital reality"
• The technology is impressive, very good quality onto uncoated stock is fine for transactional, book and newspaper production and will be used in direct mail. In production, O'Neil is pleased with the performance and reliability for transactional and direct mail applications and some books. Registration is especially tight
• HP is using its skills as a $118bn IT company with its scalable front end, image processing, inkjet heads, ink, media and transport as core technologies it has developed, using partners for imposition and complex finishing solutions
• HP High Speed Inkjet division stresses the breadth of its expertise with scalable front end and image processing, inkjet heads, engineering, inks and media and media transport that HP claims to be leaders in each. Presses will be built in the HP facility in Corvallis, Oregon, where future versions that will be faster and wider with higher quality for even coated stocks are currently on the drawing board