In this way, the manufacturer seeks to give greater coherence to its offer and to its commercial, marketing, and also product development actions aimed at the graphic arts. According to HP, its goal is to conquer the graphic arts sector to transform it into digital, as it has done in recent years with office and home printing.
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The new division will be led by Santiago Morera, vice president for the graphic arts market for Europe, Africa and the Midwest. At the presentation of this new graphic arts division at Graphispag, Eduard Simó, Director of Large Format Marketing, who replaces Pedro MartÃnez, and Marcelo Akierman, Marketing Director of HP Indigo, were also present.
Santiago Morera: “We want to present the client with a single division for a type of client that is different from the traditional HP client”
On the occasion of the presentation of the new division, Macworld has been able to talk with Santiago Morera, its head for Europe, who has explained some of its keys.
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Q: HP has had a healthy business in graphic arts for some years now without having a dedicated business unit or department. What is the goal of this new division?
A: The truth is that HP has had a presence in graphic arts for years now with Designjet lines, intended for architecture, but also for the world of graphic arts, creatives, etc. Then, a few years ago, we acquired the technology and the Indigo line of printers to promote commercial and industrial printing and a year and a half ago we acquired the Scitex company. At the time, when we looked at the growth potential of the printing world in general, we saw that commercial and industrial printing had very good growth prospects. Thus, this division helps to unite and give power to all this investment that has been carried out.
This unification also means presenting the customer with a single division and not several product lines, and targeting sales and marketing resources towards a type of customer that is different from the traditional HP customer.
Q: And technologically, this should pay off, as has happened with the new Edgeline high-production inkjet printing technology …
A: Yes, Edgeline is a technology that we know well, which is inkjet, which has now arrived for the office, but by definition we can understand that it is a technology that can definitely be applied to graphic arts. Thus, in short, we have various printing technologies available such as injection, laser, electrostatic ink, piezo technology as in the Scitex range, and we can apply all of them and make them evolve in any segment of graphic arts.
Q: One of the problems with new printing technologies such as digital printers has been that it has not been possible to make printers or customers see all the possibilities and how to take advantage of them. Don’t you think that this is where you have to make an effort?
A: Well, I would say that all industrial transformations have their cycle: there are those who first adopt the new possibilities, who are usually those who take advantage of them more, and then there are those who go a bit in tow and enter later. We are immersed in the transformation of the printing industry from analog to digital and that means two things: there is a part that is more efficient for certain uses, but it is also true that there are many new applications that were not available in the past due to a cost issue that is now open. And we see that it begins, but as always in this cycle there are those who dare and make personalized mail, unique signage … This role is being done by advanced printers and from HP we try to promote these applications through marketing and business development actions , working with our partners, and going to the corporate world to explain what digital printing enables today. Thus, there is a part of the industrial cycle itself and there is another part that is what HP is promoting through commercial and marketing actions.
