Jeppesen Takes Chart Printing Digital with HP Inkjet Web Press

PALO ALTO, CA—May 22, 2012—HP announced that aviation chart, data and operational tools provider Jeppesen completed its transformation of chart-printing from analog offset to digital production with the installation of an HP T300 Color Inkjet Web Press.

Jeppesen installed the new HP T300 at its Englewood, CO, headquarters facility, bringing in-house production of oversize charts that had been outsourced to local firms.

“For years, digital press providers would say they have the perfect solution for us. We would bring them in to look at our production operation, they would leave, and we would never hear back from them again,” said Mark Van Tine, president and CEO of Jeppesen. “HP came in, evaluated our needs, and delivered a solution with HP Indigo presses. Now, with the addition of an HP T300 Inkjet Web Press, we have digital printing solutions for our entire aviation chart product line.”

“The HP T300 Inkjet Web Press is the perfect addition to Jeppesen’s production operation,” added Dan Olivas, director, Global Navigation Services, Jeppesen. “The high quality, reliability and productivity achieved by it will enable us to in-source all of our global folded chart production for the first time in our history and allow us greater control over our costs as our customers make the transition from paper to digital navigation solutions.”

Jeppesen, a subsidiary of The Boeing Co., has used digital presses to reduce waste and supply chain costs related to aviation chart production since purchasing its first HP Indigo press in 2004. Jeppesen added six roll-fed HP Indigo W7200 Digital Presses in 2010.

Transforming the supply chain
Jeppesen prints new aviation charts when there is an official change to procedures, airspace or other information for a particular airport. The previous analog offset production required a large amount of manual assembly of new pages. With digital printing, Jeppesen can print new charts in sequential order, eliminating the collation of hundreds of millions of new charts produced each year.

Digital printing also significantly reduces waste. In the past, Jeppesen stored up to tens of thousands of each offset-produced chart to accommodate new orders, and then discarded the inventory when a chart was revised. HP digital presses allow Jeppesen to stop producing overruns of new customer orders by providing a cost effective print on demand solution.

“HP solutions reduce the cost and time associated with aviation chart printing, while providing the same, high-quality end-product, printed on the exact same paper Jeppesen used on its analog-printed products,” said Aurelio Maruggi, vice president and general manager, Inkjet High-speed Production Solutions, HP. “This HP Inkjet Web Press installation brings a new level of flexibility and productivity to a customer operation that already stands as one of the industry’s most remarkable examples of supply chain efficiency driven by digital print.”

The 30˝wide HP T300 press uses proven HP Scalable Printing Technology to provide full-color variable-data printing at speeds up to 2,600 letter-size pages per minute.

The press prints on inkjet coated stocks, as well as nearly all standard uncoated papers – including the lightweight, 27-lb. paper Jeppesen uses for its printed aviation charts. Unlike other solutions, HP Inkjet Web Presses include a bonding agent that eliminates the show-through problems often associated with lightweight stocks in high-speed, inkjet production.

More information about HP Inkjet Web Presses is available at www.hp.com/go/inkjetwebpress and through the HP Graphic Arts Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/hpgraphicarts and YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/hpgraphicarts.

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