First HP T400 Inkjet Web Press in Europe Installed at Symeta

PALO ALTO, CA—Dec. 14, 2011—HP announced that Symeta, part of Colruyt Group, one of the leading retailer and supermarket chains with operations in Belgium, France and Luxemburg, has installed the first HP T400 Color Inkjet Web Press in Europe to help drive production of personalized, targeted communications.

Symeta is a full service print and document management company. Its main objective is to make customers’ business communications more efficient by offering tailored solutions that enhance incoming, internal and external information channels and can increase return on investment (ROI).

“Our HP T400, installed in October 2011, and the soon to be installed second HP Inkjet Web Press, the HP T200, are real breakthroughs in printing technology,” said Philip D’hooge, general manager, Symeta. “Both presses will provide the ideal solution to help drive targeted communication forward due to their high productivity and cost-effective, high-quality output.”

The speed of the HP T400 enables the production of almost 5,000 letter-size pages per minute. This high productivity, coupled with color quality that closely matches that of offset and data-driven technology enabling 100 percent personalization, make this solution unique.

“This combination creates a powerful and effective tool that helps drive a higher response rate from the recipient, which can result in increased ROI,” said D’hooge. “Targeted communication such as this also can cut down the unnecessary wasted paper, ink and postage costs associated with receiving irrelevant or unwanted information.”

With the new HP technology up and running, Symeta aims to expand the applications it provides.

“Our vision for the future is to work with our customers and HP to grow our one-to-one solutions in Europe and achieve new levels of targeted direct marketing and transactional communication,” D’hooge said. “It’s about sending the right message to the right person through the right channel and at the right time. That’s the concept. By combining the strengths of the latest digital printing technology from HP with bespoke, high-quality print and document management solutions, we’re able to simplify and improve the way our customers receive, manage and send communications.”

Choosing HP Inkjet technology

The HP T400 press has been installed at Symeta’s brand new and state-of-the-art 161,400 square foot production site in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, near Brussels. This latest HP Inkjet Web Press is designed for high-volume, high-speed production of customized materials, making it the ideal fit for Symeta. With a scalable print width of up to 41.75 inches, the HP T400 prints up to 600 feet per minute and its advanced web tension controls and dryer systems help provide reliable, fast and consistent productivity.

Symeta also plans to install the HP T200 Color Inkjet Web Press this month to support smaller, shorter-run applications. The HP T200’s print width is up to 20.5˝ wide. It has standard duplex speeds up to 200 feet per minute in color and 400 feet per minute in monochrome.

Additional features of both presses that were of particular interest to Symeta include the high-quality imaging, which enables reproduction of sharp text and images, uniform area fills, and the HP Bonding Agent, which allows Symeta to print on low-cost, uncoated offset media with outstanding quality and durability.

“We have an extensive customer base that includes a number of high-profile brands,” D’hooge said, “so consistent, high-quality products and a forward-thinking approach is paramount to ensuring customer satisfaction. Therefore, to follow the trends and meet the future needs of our customers, we found that investing in inkjet technology would be the next logical step. However, our new alliance with HP brings more than cutting-edge technology to our business. HP offers training, inspiration and they engage themselves in the development of new applications, supporting us in the growth of our business.”

About Symeta
Symeta was established by Colruyt Group in January 2011 to consolidate the merger between marketing and mailing house, Mitto, offset printing company, Druco and the dematerialization (scanning and e-archiving of incoming mail) and reprographic departments of Colruyt Group. Symeta’s objective is to make the business communication of both the Colruyt Group and outside customers more efficient, using numerous printing and document management solutions to optimize information flows. Now a major force in the Benelux market, Symeta has some 310 staff. In the course of 2011 all services have been centralized on two sites close to Brussels, creating a 30,000m² combined production facility.

About HP
HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems.

Source: HP.