LabelExpo Europe is the world’s largest event for the label and packaging print industry. Held every two years, this year’s expo took place in its brand new venue in Barcelona, Spain, after a residency in Brussels since 1985.
Kemtek’s digital labelling and packaging gurus, Sanjay Maharaj and Wendy McLoughlin, attended the spectacular event and were suitably impressed. “Amazing,” Sanjay says. “The magnitude is absolutely mind-blowing!” Wendy described it as “electric…a mechanical festival!”
Sanjay and Wendy, however, were not there to admire the optics of LabelExpo in general. Rather, they were guests of the vanguard digital print solutions manufacturer HP Indigo, for whom Kemtek is proud to have been official exclusive distribution, installation and customer support partner since the OEM’s arrival in South Africa.
Their mission was to witness the very latest in HP Indigo digital print innovations and products, with an eye on opportunities for Kemtek label and packaging customers in South Africa and the wider SADC region. Taking pride of place at the Indigo stand were the HP Indigo V12 and the enhanced HP Indigo 6K+.
About HP Indigo V12
The HP Indigo V12 Digital Press is the first press to utilize the latest industry-altering LEP technology. This narrow-web label press prints at 120 linear metres per minute with all the capabilities of HP Indigo label production technology.
Print services can use the powerful input of the HP Indigo V12 to replace multiple flexo presses and their overheads.
To quote Sanjay: “The V12 is a flexo eater.”
Cutting-edge LEPx printing technology elevates your operation with breakthrough efficiencies built on proven HP Indigo capabilities. This technology is a force multiplier that places ink on digital plate at 120 Lm/m for full graphics.
The V12 boasts 2 colour stations per imaging engine for endless colour combinations, with 12 ink stations (one automated ink replacement revolver per station). High resolution LED-based writing heads deliver HD quality at 1600 dpi, while HP Indigo Electroink colour gamut enables 97% of Pantone colours.
Watch this short informative video:
About HP Indigo 6K+
The HP Indigo 6K has long been considered the industry standard for digital label production, meeting the demands of the most imaginative brands with its creative capabilities on any job, every day. Now, this market-leading label press just got better in the form of the Indigo 6K+, which made its debut at LabelExpo 2025.
The Indigo 6K+ allows converters to further maximise productivity and boost uptime with its updated touchscreen panels for more accurate control, easy-to-use automation and new AI-powered tools.
It delivers increased profitability with the HP Indigo versatility and print quality standards powered by exceptional scaling. Leverage offset-matching print quality to enable seamless conversion from analogue to digital jobs. Benefit from a high-mix job basket and reach up to 97% of the colour gamut with the widest range of specialty inks. Offer smart labels – embedded with a variety of brand protection elements, and powered by the HP PrintOS Creativity Power Pack for variable data designs.
Watch this short informative video:
Hot Takes from LabelExpo Barcelona for SA & SADC customers
In keeping with their mission to glean valuable and practical information for existing and prospective customers, Sanjay and Wendy returned home with invaluable lessons from Barcelona. Their specific focus was on profitability, new business opportunities and enhanced revenue streams for South African and SADC label and packaging specialists, by virtue of switching to HP Indigo presses. Their conclusions be can be found in the fascinating new Kemtek GT Connect podcast, available below.
Listen Up: Unmissable Insights in the Beyond the Booth Podcast!
In this flagship podcast, Kemtek’s own Kitty Mhlongo hosts Sanjay and Wendy to discuss the importance of their LabelExpo adventure and what it means to customers, with a focus on HP Indigo affordability, customer profitability and the CPO programme. Here is a foretaste of what they say.
Sanjay: “I want to evangelise to all customers in South Africa and SADC: don’t first think that HP Indigo is expensive! That’s a myth. Allow Kemtek and HP indigo to sit down with you to look at your business, and do a cost analysis.”
Feeding into this, Wendy states: “It’s about proving to a customer that your business will be profitable from day one.”
Also covered is the HP Indigo CPO programme (Certified Previously Owned). As Wendy explains, HP purchases customers’ used presses, fully refurbishes them and releases them back into the market, at very affordable prices and under HP warranties.
In addition, the podcast confirms Kemtek’s promise that the sale is just the beginning, due to ongoing technical back-up by factory-trained specialists and superb after-sales support.
And the parting message about future LabelExpos? “Every label and packaging producer has to be at LabelExpo!”
Listen to the Podcast on the Youtube link below, or on Spotify by clicking here.
Now contact us!
Contact Kitty Mhlongo at marketing@kemtek.co.za or call her at +27 (0)11 624 8000 to arrange a cost analysis meeting for your business, showing how your operations can be profitable from day one with HP Indigo.
