Digital presses have revolutionized the packaging industry, delivering high-impact color and creating a new paradigm for versioning and customization. Despite its innovations, digitally printed packaging has not always offered solutions across the full spectrum of sizes and quantities. With the launch of Hummingbird digital packaging solutions, Georgia-Pacific is overcoming that barrier by producing digital pre-print for a full range of customer needs, from specialty versions to everyday large runs and beyond.

Hummingbird is the first packaging supplier in North America to provide 110-inch wide web capability for digital pre-print at lengths limited only by converting capability. The technology delivers high-quality, digitally printed corrugated packaging that gets products to market up to 80 percent faster than traditional methods and provides a new range of marketing and supply chain management opportunities for brands. The size, quality and speed of the press also dramatically increases the cost effectiveness of digitally printed packaging, even at high volume.

"There's no question the future of corrugated packaging is digital," said Sergio Morales, general manager of Hummingbird. "Hummingbird's digital inkjet printing enables even the largest brands to deliver consistent and timely marketing messages across all platforms, including their physical packaging. Innovative companies looking to create a true omni-channel customer experience have a new, unmatched tool at the ready with Hummingbird."

Hummingbird is the next evolution of Georgia-Pacific's digital pre-print service that began with the company's 2015 investment in the HP PageWide Web Press T400S. After experiencing strong demand and confirming the value of digital pre-print for its customers, Georgia-Pacific expanded the offering to create Hummingbird. As a result, the new digital print service combines in-house print expertise and Georgia-Pacific's extensive convertor network with the technical capabilities of the HP PageWide Web Press T1100.

Hummingbird gives brands a competitive advantage by enabling quick, easy packaging updates for seasonal promotions and other marketing messages. It also provides new solutions for retailer-specific packaging and private label, and can print the precise lines required to facilitate interactive marketing and augmented reality.

"The possibilities are nearly limitless," said Morales. "We can print half a million of the same design as quickly and easily as half a million variations. That level of flexibility makes Hummingbird a cost-effective solution for a wide range of customer applications."

With more than 40 Georgia-Pacific plants across the U.S. and relationships with other convertors, Hummingbird has the geographic coverage for efficient delivery to customers' destinations. The service can also provide pre-printed rolls directly to plants and converters, enabling suppliers to offer customers the benefits of digitally printed packaging without the need to invest in a digital press.