HP and KBA Collaborate to Develop High-Volume Inkjet Solutions

CHICAGO—September 29, 2014—At GRAPH EXPO 14, HP and Koenig & Bauer Group (KBA) announced a collaboration to develop new roll-to-roll inkjet solutions for the high-volume corrugated packaging market. The co-developed solutions will be marketed under the HP brand and will help packaging converters increase productivity, scalability and versatility.

With an addressable market of $2.5 billion, the corrugated package printing industry is steadily increasing worldwide due to brand globalization, population growth and a resurging economy. In parallel, trends such as stock keeping unit (SKU) proliferation, micro-segmentation and shorter product lifecycles are driving demand for the shorter run lengths enabled by digital print.

To help corrugated converters and print service providers (PSPs) take advantage of these trends, HP and KBA intend to deliver high-speed roll-to-roll thermal inkjet solutions that provide value chain cost savings while meeting brands’ rigorous quality and volume requirements

Continued packaging innovation using complementary solutions
This year, HP announced its intent to enter the corrugated packaging segment with its inkjet web press technology, followed by its first offering, the HP High-speed Inkjet Corrugated Packaging Solution, and the solution’s first customer installation at Obaly Morava, a.s. The agreement with KBA demonstrates HP’s continued pursuit of corrugated packaging opportunities and intention to broaden its portfolio of inkjet products and solutions.

Noel Ward, editor in chief of packagePRINTING, said, "This alliance is important for both companies and the industry. The ability to use inkjet technology for corrugated applications changes the landscape for what can be done with corrugated materials. The combination of KBA's expertise in the folding carton and corrugated printing and HP's expertise in high speed production inkjet offers up a lot of new opportunity and positions both companies to do more in the packaging segment. Stay tuned for more details."

Source: HP and KBA.