HP is unveiling new features for its Indigo WS6600 Digital Press at Labelexpo Americas 2012 this week and has signed up five beta customers to trial its Indigo 20000 Digital Press.

The manufacturer has lined up UK-based Shere Print, Zurich’s Wipf Group, US firms Innovative Labeling Solutions and Belmark, and a company in Isreal. The five firms will begin the Indigo 20000 beta phase in September 2013, with the press itself due to go on sale in February or March of 2014.

The 72.2cm-wide width Indigo 20000 was recently announced by HP and extends the company’s offering into wider format presses. It boasts a printing speed of 45 linear metres-per-minute.

HP is also in the process of signing up five beta testers for its forthcoming Indigo 30000 Digital Press for folding carton production.

Meanwhile, HP is using this week's Labelexpo Americas (11-13 September) to showcase its Indigo WS6600, a high-speed press for medium-run label and packaging printing, with its Enhanced Productivity Mode and optional inline priming (ILP) unit.

It will use the show to demonstrate new features, including an additional primer for the press’s ILP Unit and a SecurePack System that extends the press’s range of applications.

Using the ILP Unit, converters can run the same standard, non-treated media used in conventional production on the HP Indigo Press with the no offline substrate preparation. This makes it possible to deliver last-minute jobs faster to customers.

A new Michem ILP040 primer has been developed by water-based barrier and coating developer Michelman. It extends the ILP’s media compatibility from paper-based substrates to synthetic media, allowing the WS6600 to support a broader range of applications.

Both the ILP and the Michem ILP040 primer are backwards compatible with the HP Indigo WS6600.