HP yesterday opened its expanded Scitex Regional Solutions Centre in Hong Kong, as part of a renewed push to cater to the growing Asia Pacific print signage industry.
The centre will showcase the Scitex range as well as hosting training and seminars for printers, engineers and machine operators.
Martin Carballo, director of the Scitex Graphic Solutions Business in HP Asia Pacific and Japan’s Imaging and Printing Group, helped open the centre, which had added a second storey and doubled in size to 880sqm.
The expanded training offering will particularly advantage Australian companies, said Andrew McDuffie, business manager for high-end soutions, LFP commerical and industrial at HP Scitex Asia Pacific and Japan.
McDuffie said the Hong Kong facility would now be able to offer training that was only available in HP’s Israel facility.
“When you’re coming from Australia, it’s 36 hours to Australia and it’s 36 hours back. It makes more sense to bring one technician from Israel here than flying everyone over there,” he added.
The centre includes “the first media testing facility” in the region. This facility allows printers and media suppliers to submit certain substrates to HP, where they will be tested for printability and durability.
The design of the centre itself showcases creative applications possible with HP’s wide-format range, such as printed floors and printed toilet doors produced on devices such as the Scitex FB6100.
‘It’s not a sticker,’ McDuffie pointed out. ‘We actually took the door off, put it on the flatbed, printed it, and put it back on.’
The expansion is part of a push to catch a greater share of the growing large-format printing market.
The vendor cited a Pira International report that said the value of the printed signage market in Asia Pacific and Japan will grow by 11.4% by 2013.
“By 2013, 58% of all wide-format output in Asia will be produced with digital printing technology,” Carballo claimed.
Daniel Fitzgerald travelled to Hong Kong as a guest of HP
Comment below to have your say on this story.
If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.
Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter
