HP, the world’s leading provider of printing solutions, is considering building a press in India in the near future. This is part of the company’s expansion plan in one of the fastest-growing economies in the world as revealed in a press briefing in Mumbai in the first half of October.
Haim Levit, senior vice-president and general manager of HP Industrial Print, said the company is initially planning to move some of its sub-assemblies to India and the end goal will be building a digital press here. The press that HP plans to build in India is likely to be one of its mainstream products.
“We are thinking about plans to start manufacturing a press in India. We will first move some sub-assemblies to India and ultimately start building a press here. When we talk of building a press here, we talk about one of our mainstream products, a sheetfed press catering to the commercial print space,” Levit said.
HP already has a big spare parts refurbishing hub in India. It also works with its two channel partners, Reddington and Technova, to distribute HP Indigo presses in the country. Reddington distributes HP Indigo presses for the commercial market, while Technova distributes the digital presses for the labels and packaging market.
HP’s Industrial Print team, which included Levit, Nachum Korman, vice-president of worldwide industrial print GTM; and Arnon Goldman, general manager of industrial print GTM – Asia Pacific & Japan, were recently in India to meet the company’s customers and its Indigo experts.
Levit said that the Indian market has great potential, especially in the commercial and label printing segment – “India is a market that is moving to the next level.”
Global printing market in recovery mode
Levit threw some light on the status of the global print market and said it is now in a robust recovery phase. He said the commercial, label, and packaging segments are all recovering well. “We are excited about the rebound in the market. Our expectation is that 2024 will be much better than 2023,” Levit said.
Looking forward to drupa 2024
At drupa 2024, which will be held in Dusseldorf from 28 May to 7 June, HP will showcase the V12 press, the HP Indigo 200k digital press, and HP PageWide Advantage 2200 press. The company will also talk about sustainability and automation.
Talking about the HP PageWide Advantage 2200 press, which is aimed at the commercial market, Levit said it has received a very good response. He said there are already multiple presses running in the market.
Levit said the beta testing of the V12 press has been very successful. There are five betas running at the moment. “The response from the market to the a2200 press has been very good. There are already 12 presses in the market. In the case of the V12 press, we are now ending beta testing of the press. Five betas are running at the moment in Europe and the US. The beta testing has been very successful,” Levit said.
