Tokyo-based Kodansha, Japan’s leading manga, book and magazine publisher, has signed a sales agreement for an HP T300 Color inkjet web press, the first company in Japan to buy an HP inkjet web press.
One of Kodansha’s key bookbinding suppliers will install and operate the publishing company’s new press alongside a newly installed SigmaLine bindery system from Muller Martini.
Kenjiro Umezaki, leader of Kodansha’s operations division, says, “We feel very pleased and excited to adopt and introduce an advanced book production system consisting of the HP T300 Color inkjet web press and the Muller Martini SigmaLine to lead Japan’s publishing industry. The main and decisive reasons Kodansha chose HP’s inkjet digital web press are HP’s high-level inkjet technology and the record of good performance seen with HP web presses in many past installations.
“By introducing this latest book production system, Kodansha will be able to produce required volumes for many kinds of books with quick delivery. We also believe Kodansha will be able to reduce production and storage costs while fully meeting readers’ diverse needs.”
HP recently completed the Asia Pacific Japan region’s first HP T400 installation, at Kingsgrove, Australia-based McPherson’s. It says upcoming installations in the region include Sinjin in South Korea, and at Hucais Group, Dongguan, China.
HP produces a suite of digital inkjet presses that can be used for short-run printing—where books are produced in bulk numbers (though far less than an offset run) for conventional distribution—allowing publishers to go back to press quickly and avoid excess inventory. HP also manufactures digital presses for Print-On-Demand production, where typically one to ten books are produced and drop-shipped direct to consumers.
