Under the terms of the agreement, HP will use BDT's Tornado system, which uses impellers and transport belts to separate and move sheets of varying weights and sizes, in its Indigo 10000 and 30000 B2 digital presses.

BDT’s program and market manager Jürgen Weber said the deal would show the world how Tornado Technology could be used. "This year and next we are going to concentrate on feeding units like the ones that will be used in the 10000 and 30000. But we’re also looking at using it in stackers, alignment and transport systems," he added.

Weber claimed that BDT's fully automated feeding process was ideal for digital printers such as the HP Indigo 10000 and 30000. "We’ve built the first completely automatic feeder that works with a range of formats and materials with no manual adjustments. The user only has to enter the paper size and format and the feeder adjusts automatically and starts feeding," he said.

HP Indigo’s director of strategic marketing Simon Lewis said the technology would become essential to digital print because it allows users to move freely between different substrates without losing any time on makereadies.

"We chose Tornado technology because it allows complete automatic feeding with different sizes and weights of substrates without any need for intervention or callibration," he said.

HP Indigo currently has no plans to use the technology in other machines. "But who knows what the future may hold?" Lewis added.

Over the past year, BDT has supplied Tornado Technology to Swiss manufactuer Bograma and German paper converting equipment supplier ECH Will.

Weber said the company was now hoping to cement further deals for the device. "We are talking to many famous print and post press manufacturers right now and the deal with HP Indigo will prove to them what we can do," he said.