HP Indigo 15KDiscontinued

The 15K is the successor to the Indigo 10000 and 12000 — the machines that created the B2 digital category — and it remains the volume leader in that class. It prints 3,450 B2 sheets per hour in 4/0, 4,600 sheets per hour in three-color EPM, and duplexes at 1,725 sheets per hour 4/4, on a maximum sheet of 750 x 530 mm. Resolution is 812 dpi at 8-bit with 2438 x 2438 dpi HDI addressability, and an optional 15K HD imaging system pushes definition further for photographic work.

The big sheet changes the business case entirely. A duplexed B2 sheet carries six A4 pages per side, which makes the 15K a genuine short-run book and photobook engine, while media handling from 70 to 400 gsm — and thicker with optional kits — takes it into folding-carton territory. Up to seven ink stations cover white and premium white, fluorescents, invisible yellow and blue, light inks, Vivid Pink and Green, and Pantone-mixed spot colors, so premium brand work stays in gamut.

Production insurance is built in: the Automatic Alert Agent scans every single sheet for defects and can automatically reprint flawed ones, and One Shot mode handles synthetics and metalized media. The platform is designed for several hundred thousand up to about a million-plus B2 sheets per month. A new configured 15K runs roughly USD 1.0-1.5 million, but there is a well-trodden value path: used Indigo 12000s on the same chassis trade at USD 300,000-700,000 and can be field-upgraded with the 15K Value Pack.

In Southeast Asia the 15K sits at the top tier of trade and packaging printers — the shops that already proved the model on a B3 Indigo and need more sheet real estate. In Vietnam that means the leading photobook factories, publishers experimenting with book-of-one, and carton converters offering short-run premium packaging to FDI brands.