Blue Star orders pair of region's highest-spec inkjet colour presses

The trans-Tasman group has ordered two HP T300 inkjet webs, with the first due to be installed at its Silverwater site in July and a second machine to be added in the following quarter. 

Blue Star has not given away any details on the sectors it will target with the new technology. Beyond general commercial work, it has a significant footprint in direct mail through its Blue Star DM division, based in Homebush.

HP has aimed the web series at high-volume mail work, such as transactional materials, and it is also sold as the Pitney Bowes IntelliJet 20, where a T300 is linked inline to mailing technology.

The manufacturer has also pitched the technology at the on-demand book sector, with a B&W T350 model on order at Griffin Press in South Australia, and another installed at Hong Kong-based book printer CTPS.

According to HP, the T300 has a monthly duty cycle of up to 70 million A4 four-colour pages and delivers "high productivity at a breakthrough cost on a range of applications including books, direct mail, transactional printing, and newspapers".

It can churn out full-colour work at up to 122 metres or 2,447 A4 pages per minute.

Blue Star managing director Chris Mitchell said the machines would allow the group to offer customers a new level of flexibility in the delivery of print services.

The company hailed the move as the latest step in its 'Agile' strategy, which Mitchell called an "IT-driven transformation of our business model and workflows for our main sheetfed businesses".

He said that supported by HP technology, Blue Star's Agile strategy "could revolutionise printing in Australia".

"The group believes [the agreement], in association with its proprietary 'Agile' software, will fundamentally reconfigure the commercial printing industry.

"The Agile software will be linked with HPs high-speed inkjet technology to provide customers with a new level of flexibility in the manner in which print services can be delivered, better matching the emerging customer needs evident in the market."

Blue Star's extensive digital fleet already includes HP Indigo machines as well as Fuji Xerox presses.