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REVIEW NEWS

Me & My: HP Indigo 100K

Six years have passed company to all-digital by Heidelberg SM 74 litho per-
since Crescent Press 2018 and its website slogan fector press. It started mov-
adopted its first B2 format is now “The future of digital ing into digital in 2013, with
digital press, an HP Indigo print”. an SRA3 Ricoh, and the
12000 (often written as Edwards says: “We offer
12K). As reported by all types of products across introduction of the B2 HP
Printweek in 2018, this rep- flat-sheet digital and wide- Indigo 12K in 2018 marked
resented £1 million out of a format production – 98% of the end of B2 litho for the
total £1.5m investment that orders are completed in company. It still has a Ricoh
also included five Horizon house with the other 2% Pro C7100 dry toner press.
finishing lines. managed using an approved Wide-format work was ini-
Just a year ago the 12K was list of trade finishers.” The tially outsourced to Kings
replaced by an HP Indigo Team work: Crescent staff with the 100K press company currently employs Norton-based Abstract, but
100K, which is not only a 20 people and has a £3.5m
newer model but it has a dif- The company’s website wallets, A4 landscape bro- turnover, with a goal to hit as volumes increased it
ferent emphasis on produc- points out that sheetfed B2 chures, stitched and PUR £4m over the next 12 decided to acquire Abstract
tivity, according to customer digital is still relatively rare bound, broadsheets and months. and move its equipment to
service manager Paschal by comparison with SRA3, posters above A3, all benefit It was founded in 1997 by Solihull. Abstract had an
Edwards. but there’s much more to from considerable cost Andy Matthews, who older Agfa Anapurna UV
“When the opportunity the format than simply dou- reductions when compared remains managing director. hybrid printer, but this was
came to upgrade to the HP bling-up A3 jobs. “The with traditional and main- It was originally in replaced by first an HP
Indigo 100K, along with our Indigo 100K is ideal for pro- stream digital production Birmingham, as a one- and Latex L28500 and then two
other HP Latex machines, it ducing awkward sizes at methods.” two-colour litho printer,
was an easy decision to allow small to medium run vol- During the past decade before moving east a little of the then-new 1.6m-wide
us to keep building and umes,” Edwards explains. Crescent Press has progres- way to Solihull in 2010, Latex 360s, all roll-to-roll. A
enhancing our reputation “Products such as personal- sively switched over from which gave it the space to 3.2m Latex 1500 was later
and growth,” he says. ised calendars, document being an all-litho printing install a 10-colour added.

Me & My: Inkcups Helix ONE

Like many businesses, the which was requested by one was the entry-level Helix
machines at The Branding of The Branding Lab’s most ONE, a compact bench-top,
Lab’s premises in Sutton important customers, was cylindrical UV inkjet
Coldfield, Birmingham, the personalised and cus- machine.
were particularly quiet dur- tomised drinkware market.
ing the Covid-19 pandemic. In October 2023, Nick
So, Elliot Sampson, manag- However, the business only Macfarlane, UK and Ireland
ing director of the company, had a flatbed UV machine, sales rep at Inkcups, visited
which offers a trade print which wasn’t capable of The Branding Lab and took
and embroidery service to printing 360 degrees around Sampson through a virtual
promotional merchandise an object. demo of the machine.
distributors, reached out to Sampson started research-
his contacts in the industry ing machines capable of Sampson was impressed by
that ran similar businesses Production assistant Toni Capper operating the Helix ONE undertaking such work and what he saw, but he wasn’t
and asked if it could do their T-shirts and polos, and the became clear their was appe- came across Inkcups’ cylin- able to justify the invest-
own branding work to keep business has gone from tite from The Branding Lab’s drical inkjet machines, the ment at that time. However,
its machines ticking over. strength-to-strength from customer base for a wider in January the following year
“I recognised an opportu- Helix and Double Helix. he saw the machine running
nity to help businesses with there,” says Sampson. While range of branded products to These particular models
their own garment brand- the company started out choose from. were not in the company’s at the Promotional Services
ing, mainly printing and printing and embroidering A potential growth area “price range at the time”, but Institute (PSI) show in
embroidering onto company onto garments, it quickly identified by Sampson, what was in its price range Düsseldorf.

www.printweekmena.com March 2025 PrintWeek MENA 17