Service company goes green with eco-friendly HP printers

MANILA, Philippines - 11FTC Enterprises Inc. is a print service provider that prints predominantly, if not only, in “green.”

Green because 11FTC has invested in a wide range of eco-friendly digital printing solutions from Hewlett-Packard (HP) so that even if they do print in all colors that their clients require, the prints still turn out “green” given 11FTC’s choice of printers, inks and media.

At 11FTC’s plant in Novaliches, Quezon City one would find several HP Scitex and HP Designjet printers that are huge not just in size but also in possibilities. Those are the workhorses that 11FTC uses to help consumer brands achieve stronger retail presence with high-quality signage and customized merchandising media that are produced in an environmentally responsible manner.

“Our use of HP’s large-format printers is a testament that we are leading the industry toward a solvent-free future. HP digital printers also allow us to enable our clients to go green and help build a sustainable planet,” said John Gilbert Madarang, 11FTC’s general manager.

The HP DesignJet L65500, HP Scitex XL1500, HP Scitex FB6100, and HP Scitex XP2300 printers that 11FTC invested in make use of HP Latex printing technology and water-based HP Latex and UV inks. This allowed the company to push for more environmentally sound digital print options and shift away from solvent inks to low-solvent ink technology.

The water-based inks do not produce ozone emissions during printing and do not contain hazardous air pollutants, according to HP executives, who also described the HP Latex printing technology as a “disruptive technology” that’s changing printing trends around the world.

It’s a technology present in a machine like the HP Designjet L25500 that 11FTC uses to handle a variety of outdoor and indoor large-format applications. HP says the Designjet L25500 is also ideal not just for a big print service provider like 11FTC, but also for small and medium digital print and sign shops as well as copy shops and photo labs.

11FTC also designed an original media that is 100 percent recyclable, which the company offers to eco-conscious clients.

Progressive, profitable printing

Investing in HP large-format printers not only lowered 11FTC’s environmental impact but also helped create different revenue streams while reducing operations costs, said Madarang.

“With our huge investments in HP large-format printers, we are able to offer superior time to market, green initiatives, and mass customization at a very competitive price. And with our end-to-end offerings, we are able to provide a one-stop-shopping experience and a very compelling value proposition to our clients,” he added.

11FTC’s unique and fast services include customized printing directly on rigid substrates like glass, corrugated plastic, metals, wood or foam board PVC.

11FTC’s clients include multinational companies from industries such as consumer goods manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, beverage, tobacco, fashion, health and beauty, real estate, banking, mining, and hotels.

During a tour of 11FTC’s facilities, HP officials also showed videos of other entrepreneurs in the region who used Scitex and Designjet printers to differentiate themselves creatively while keeping the environment in mind. 

In Malaysia, for example, a building called Milk Club was entirely wrapped in eco-friendly materials with designs printed on HP Designjets.

The same creative printing was done by a restaurateur who had images of quirky characters printed from an HP large-format printer plastered all over the walls, floors and tables of his restaurant. The owner said the use of odorless HP Latex ink allowed quick “painting” of his Im Mhee P Mun Restaurant in Thailand without subjecting workers and diners to the strong smell of real latex paint.

11FTC and its partner service bureaus can do the same here. They can do prints to cover entire rooms, buildings, vehicles, furniture and other things that people don’t normally send to a printer — until now.