The trade printer spent over a million dollars on the new digital line, which includes an HP Indigo 5600, Horizon PUR binder and a Horizon 5500 StitchLiner.

The machinery is being housed in a new site a stone’s throw from its existing Melbourne hub.

Trent Nankervis, managing director of CMYKhub Melbourne, said the investment had followed increasing customer demands for digital jobs.

The digital division will focus on runs of up to 500 for perfect bound and saddlestitched jobs and 250 for flat sheet work, said Nankervis.

“When you look at the cost of high-end digital equipment such as the Indigo and Horizon finishing gear, it makes sense to centralise this equipment within an easily accessible hub environment.

“This concept takes financial pressure off small print shops while still giving them the ability to sell a larger range of print products to improve the bottom line.”

[Related: CMYKhub adds next-day despatch]

He told ProPrint he was also impressed with the new HP Indigo’s ‘One Shot’ technology, which allows it to print in four colours onto synthetic substrates, such as transparent plastic, with perfect registration, as well as white ink on black substrates.

CMYKhub Melbourne is one of four sites across the country, including Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.

HP’s One Shot technology was previously only available on its reelfed label presses, but at Drupa 2012, it rolled out the capability to its sheetfed Indigo 5600 press.

According to HP, the technology works by accumulating all the colour separations on the blanket, which are then transferred to the substrate in a single pass, ensuring perfect colour registration.

The Indigo 5600 can print at up to 68 pages per minute in four-colour mode or up to 90ppm in ‘Enhanced Productivity Mode’, using three colours instead of full CMYK.

[Related: Printers make the switch to digital]

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