HP inks mega deal with Lightning Source

Global print on demand company Lightning Source has penned a multi-million dollar deal with HP, with HP delivering 24 new HP PageWide T240 HD colour and mono digital web presses to five sites in three continents, including its Melbourne operation.

It is not known how many of the digital printers will be coming to Melbourne. US based Lightening Source operates a print on demand business model, it opened its Melbourne operation five years ago, it is the world’s biggest digital book print and distribution operation.

The book industry in Australia is well on the way to digital transition, with Opus running a fleet of digital presses and Griffin Press last year creating what is described as the world’s most advanced book printing facility with its new end to end digital book manufacturing facility.

Both Opus and Griffin have reason to be wary of Lightening Source, which has global buying and dsitribution power.

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The 24 press deal is the biggest ever signed by HP. It says with its new fleet of HP PageWide Web Presses, Lightning Source will be able to produce high-quality inkjet colour and monochrome printing on coated stock, deliver faster printing at speeds of up to 500 feet a minute, and offer digital productivity and volume growth to their publishing clients all over the world.

Shawn Morin, CEO and president of Lightening Source parent Ingram Content Group says, “Our mission is all about helping content reach its destination, while providing our customers with the highest print quality, speed and proficient printer models. By adding HP’s PageWide Web Presses to our global facilities, we will be able to serve our customers with even more options.”

HP says the new order underscores the print industry’s transformation from analogue to digital print technologies, as HP and Lightening Source owner Ingram continue to empower publishers to connect with their customers in new and innovative ways.

Enrique Lores, president, imaging and printing business, HP says, “This incredible deal shows that the momentum behind the renaissance in digital printing is not only continuing—it is accelerating. Last month we announced a five year deal with Shutterfly, the leading manufacturer and digital retailer of high-quality personalised products and services, and today we are announcing a seven year deal with a leader in the content distribution space. Our collaboration will enable Lightning Source to deliver higher-quality digital printing for their customers at the next level of scale, productivity, and efficiency.”

HP says it is leading the analogue-to-digital revolution with HP PageWide customers currently printing 5.5 billion pages in aggregate every month. Year-over-year customer page growth in 2017 was over 15%.  HP PageWide customers have printed a total of 250 billion pages worldwide since inception.

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