The charismatic father of digital offset

Thirteen years ago Benny Landa, the father of digital commercial printing, burst on the drupa scene with a message that has had the printing industry in a spin ever since: “Everything that can become digital will become digital – and printing is no excep­tion.” While the company he founded, Indigo, had introduced the digital offset colour press and its ‘run-length-of-one’ concept two years earlier, it was at drupa 1995 that it became clear print would never be the same again.

It began 30 years ago when Indigo set out to develop the world’s fastest photocopier using charged liquid ink instead of toner. But soon after Landa invented ElectroInk he asked himself: “If this ink can replace the toner copiers, perhaps it can also replace the ink used in presses.”

With that, Indigo began development of the world’s first digital offset colour printing press. Ten years later the E-Print 1000 was unveiled and shook the industry to its foundations.

The 10-year development of the digital press was funded by the copier industry as copier manufacturers needed an Indigo patent licence, which funded the project. Indigo has perhaps the most fortified patent estate in the industry. Landa alone has been granted over 500 patents worldwide – and is the industry’s most prolific inventor.

Partnership

In 2002, the company became the Indigo Division of Hewlett-
Packard, but Landa continues to be very much involved and continues to be held in high esteem across the industry, and,when HP recently unveiled its line-up of new products to analysts and key customers at a pre-drupa event in Israel, it was Landa who delivered the opening address. Landa has personally unveiled and presented Indigo’s products at every major trade show.
Over the years, Indigo has become a huge draw at drupa – a must-see exhibitor – the biggest attraction being the Indigo theatre presentation, each show hosted by Landa. Five times a day, for 14 days, Landa’s charismatic style, combined with bold theatrical innovations, filled Indigo’s 300-seat theatre – with dozens more cramming aisles.

But the real draw of these shows was neither the pyrotechnics nor the entertainment. It was the vision. For Landa gave each participant a sense that they were participating in a historic event. At drupa 1995, Indigo’s theatre presentation included live digital photo printing of beverage cans. At the end of each presentation, Landa would invite the audience to each take their own printed can as a souvenir. “But don’t drink the soda,” he cautioned. “Keep it as a memento. For one day you will say to your children: ‘Do you see this can? I was there when Indigo launched the digital print revolution.’”

Critical mass

The inexorable march of digital printing and statistics about the explosive growth of digitally printed pages point to the fact that the critical mass, after which a technology becomes accepted and the way is clear for rapid take up, has been achieved. “The products in the market really do enable companies to make money,” Landa says. This is important as shrinking margins and over-capacity are putting traditional business models for printers under pressure. Digital colour printing has enabled entirely new types of products – digital photo books, for example – that were simply not possible before the arrival of digital cameras and digital printing. “Digital print, in short, contributes to higher margins because these personalised pages are higher value pages.”

Landa has much to be proud of. The father of digital commercial printing and his company, Indigo, have spawned today’s multi-billion dollar digital print industry – which appears destined to fulfil Landa’s prophecy: Everything that can become digital will become digital – and printing is no exception.