Technology from HP and Koenig & Bauer comes together in what is being billed as the biggest digital inkjet web press in the world.

This HP PageWide T1190 - the first to be installed in Asia - is at Rengo Co in Japan and will print packagiong, but gives an idea of the technology's potential.

The start-up was celebrated with a grand ceremony in August. It is also the first time that the widest digital printing press in the world had been supplied in a six-colour version.

Rengo general manager for technical development Junjiro Watanabe says the cooperation with the two technology partners was "absolutely flawless" and the press has been fulfilling all prior expectations in terms of performance.

Rengo was founded in 1909 and now employs almost 17,000 people at 100 different companies and 170 production facilities worldwide.

The six-colour PageWide T1190 Press boasts a web width of 2.8 metres and a production speed of 305 metres/min. It uses water-based inks which were developed specifically for liner pre-printing for corrugated packaging and comply with global legal requirements.

The press was supplied with a K&B Pastomat reelstand, Patras A reel handling, a pre-coating unit and a rewinder with automatic removal.