New HP print strategy simplifies choice

When replacing their next ink cartridge, HP would like customers to think in terms of three basic colours: blue, green and red. Making the announcement in Ireland last month, Vincent Vanderpoel, vice-president and general manager Supplies Business, HP's Imaging and Printing Group for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the expanded portfolio of supplies gave customers better choice and value, dramatically simplifying the shopping experience, both in-store and online.

Print cartridges with the blue colour code are for customers who print in low volumes relatively infrequently. These are primarily interested in low price, so the standard cartridges in this range start from as little as €9.99.

Print cartridges with the green colour code are for those who tend to print more frequently in higher volume and so want a lower price per page. These value print cartridges yield these higher volumes with savings of up to 55 per cent.

The red line, similar to the red carpet in Cannes today, offers advanced print technology that enhances printer performance in specialised print jobs, such as home photo printing.

Speaking to me after the official presentations, Grant Kinsman, director, Research and Development, Hewlett-Packard (Manufacturing) Ltd, Ireland, told me: "We have been listening very carefully to the feedback we have been getting around our portfolio, whether it be the value, the charge or simplicity (ease of use).

"We are clearly making a landmark change in our consumable portfolio today to try to provide the value that certain categories of customers are looking for."

Mr Kinsman said HP recognised that some customers, who print infrequently, want a lower point of purchase; others who print more want a lower cost per page and a lower intervention rate.

"Through the research we have done both internally and externally that's one of the key reasons for making these changes - to give the consumer the control to choose," he said. "One of the things they are going to benefit from is the value."

The quality, reliability, ease of use continues throughout the range. Those opting for the red range may either want to print photos at home or want more photo permanence, so they are willing to pay a little bit more for that feature.

"It is going to be much easier for a consumer to make a choice around which cartridge best suits their needs and affordability."

I asked Mr Kinsman about the latest technology, and he asserted that HP is continuing to scale and expand its inkjet technology based on what the company has already learned.

"HP has been in ink jets for a long, long time," he stressed. "Edgeline is a really good example of how we scale the technology into a much higher end device that can (print) 50 to 60 pages per minute. So, this is high throughput. It is using our most sophisticated print-head technology. It's a fixed head - the print-head is no longer moving.

"So, the paper path is moving around a drum. That is a very high-speed way of moving paper and that would be consistent with analogue presses. They have a high density nozzle; the firing frequency is 36 kHz.

"We are using the latest Vivera inks, so we scaled essentially what used to be in the desktop of multi-function printers and moved into a space that is high throughput multi-function printing and it will probably take some pages away from traditional copiers (and) other traditional analogue devices because it has got that flexibility."

Mr Kinsman agreed that inkjet printers are now offering stiff competition to laser printers - "HP is not trying to hide that fact. We think we've got some perfect laser printers that compete very well in the office and the enterprise. We think there is a niche here for this particular printer for those who print 50,000 pages a month and that is where you are going to see some of the trade-offs. We intend to keep scaling inkjets into more markets that we can capture."

Another example he mentioned is the Edgeline thermal inkjet printer, which he said is very easy to use, has very low maintenance, has a really good user interface, and a cartridge that is easy to switch.

Another new application of relatively old technology is piezo inkjet technology, which Mr Kinsman said HP looked at piezo in the Sixties. At the time, he explained, it had some constraints, including firing frequency, prohibitive cost structures and some nozzle health problems - the nozzle tended to clog - HP could not quite get the print quality it was looking for.

"So, we went with thermal," he explained. "That is what we pioneered." But now, with HP's acquisition of Stipex, world renowned for large format industrial applications, including outdoor signage, it is using the technology to 'fire' solvent inks.

This produces prints that are durable, permanent, and light and water fast. "It's not new technology but it's getting perfected to the point where it's very viable technology. And we're coming up with new applications for the technology, like outdoor signage and outdoor posters."

There is an equivalent technology that is emerging within thermal inkjets, he pointed out. "It's what we call UV inks. Those ultra-violet inks are different to dyes: pigments, with different dispersion but with the durability characteristics solvents have. So, that's another vector HP's pushing on in terms of new ink technology.

"Pigment inks tend to be larger particles: 150 nanometres. That's still a very small particle but compared to dye inks, which are one to two nanometres, that's an important difference. Pigments are suspended in the dispersion versus dyes that are dissolved in solution or dissolved in the solution.

"As a result, you tend to find that pigments sit on top of the paper and dyes get absorbed into the paper. Depending on your application and needs, you may want to choose one versus the other. The pigment is on the left and the dye is on the right in the slide."

HP, Mr Kinsman said, has a history of developing both. "We are not saying one is better than the other. We recognise that both are very valid ink technologies but we have different applications. Applications may require different substrates, different print quality and image quality attributes."