At drupa 2012, HP showcased the Indigo 20000 digital web press engineered specifically for flexible packaging applications. Built on the same platform family as the B2-format Indigo 10000, the 20000 offered approximately 736 mm (30-inch) web width with repeat lengths from 546 mm to 1,116 mm—dimensions suited to a broad range of food and consumer flexible formats.
HP positioned the Indigo 20000 alongside the Indigo 30000 sheetfed press for folding cartons as part of a packaging expansion beyond the company's established narrow-web label installed base. Industry observers noted the 20000 was among the first drupa 2012 packaging digital announcements moving from concept to beta customer installations.
Ultimate Packaging's Shere Print division, a Grimsby-based flexible packaging converter running multiple CI flexo presses, signed for beta testing of an Indigo 20000 at drupa 2012 while also purchasing a Bobst F&K 20SIX flexo line—illustrating hybrid analog-digital investment strategies among growth-oriented food packaging suppliers.
Digital flexible packaging advocates cited advantages in job versioning, reduced cylinder and plate inventory, and faster time-to-market for promotional and regional SKUs. Skeptics noted substrate range, ink cost economics, and integration with lamination and pouch-forming lines remained validation priorities before digital could displace CI flexo on high-volume barrier laminate work.
HP indicated commercial availability would follow beta completion and field support infrastructure development, with drupa 2012 serving primarily as a technology proof point for brand owners and converters planning five-year capital cycles that would increasingly include digital modules alongside conventional CI flexo capacity.