HP has opened an 11,000-square-metre ink manufacturing plant in Kiryat Gat, Israel, which will produce ink for the new generation of HP Indigo Digital Presses announced in May.

The HP Indigo Division is expanding its facilities in Israel to accommodate strong growth, driven by an accelerating market transformation from analogue to digital printing. HP Indigo achieved record revenue in Q4 FY2012 and continued its two-year-plus track record of consistently growing quarterly page volume by about 20 per cent over the previous year. HP Indigo also recently increased its leading share of the worldwide commercial press market by 13 points year-over-year to 71 per cent.

As part of HP’s commitment to environmental responsibility, the new HP Indigo plant is the first industrial building in Israel and first HP manufacturing facility worldwide built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. It was designed to achieve high performance in sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. LEED Certification is the most recognised global standard for buildings that are efficient, cost-effective, and better for occupants and the environment.

With the addition of the new facility, HP Indigo’s Kiryat Gat campus now includes 56,000 square metres of building space with room to expand for future growth. The campus also serves as the center for training and for final application testing and qualification of each press before shipment. HP Indigo also manufactures ink at its facility in Singapore.

“HP Indigo’s customers constantly demand that we push the boundaries and innovate in our product portfolio as well as in our manufacturing operations,” said Alon Bar-Shany, vice president and general manager, Indigo Division, HP. “With an additional plant supplying ink for the rapid ramp-up of our new family of Indigo presses, we can support our customers in growing their businesses and increasing their profitability in the highly competitive printing market.”

Inks produced at the new plant will begin shipping with the HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press, the first offset-quality digital press in a larger format suitable for printing nearly any size commercial job.  HP Indigo has completed early installations of the HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press at customer sites in the United States, Europe and Middle East, with general commercial availability scheduled for the spring of 2013.