McArdle Pushes the Limits of Commercial Printing with the HP Indigo 7600 Digital Press

Maryland-based McArdle has offered consistent print quality and timely delivery for more than 65 years. When it was founded in 1947, the company focused exclusively on printing. Today, McArdle is a multifaceted communications company that offers its high-profile customers a complete solution to any marketing challenge.

Magazines, annual reports, brochures, calendars, and other printed items remain a top priority at McArdle. However, with so much content going digital, the company must constantly innovate to demonstrate the value of print. It has added design, content development, data analytics, and more to its services roster so that clients can depend on McArdle for more than just conventional print runs.

“It’s difficult to stay relevant in the digital age,” says Lisa Arsenault, McArdle’s President. “Everyone has been affected, but we happen to be in an industry that’s extremely challenging.”

The HP Indigo 7600 Digital Press (Booth 1241), a recent upgrade from the HP Indigo 7500, helps McArdle tackle this challenge. The company runs the machine 24 hours a day and uses it for variable data short runs that used to be prohibitively expensive. “Our clients wouldn’t have done this kind of work 10 years ago because it wouldn’t have been affordable,” says Arsenault.

The HP Indigo press also serves as McArdle’s go-to tool for showing customers what digital printing can really do. With up to seven colors and special effects capabilities, the HP Indigo 7600 Digital Press delivers a wow factor that reinforces the power of print. “The Indigo is a game changer in terms of what we can achieve in print,” says Arsenault. “Certain products—our internal marketing magazine, for example—would never look as good if they were done on another printer.”

McArdle needed a tangible way to show customers how digital printing can help them communicate with greater impact. The company decided to create a calendar, called “Details Matter”, to demonstrate various special effects and paper choices in digital printing. The HP Indigo 7600 Digital Press, which enables the use of raised ink, embossing, and white ink, and accommodates more than 2,500 substrates, was up to the job.

“We use the calendar to tell a story about how digital printing is allowing us to do things that aren’t possible in the offset world,” says Arsenault. “It gives our clients a taste of how this technology can help them run their business in a more modern, meaningful way. They get to see what happens to imagery when you put it on a really great piece of paper.”

In deciding on a digital press, McArdle was sold on the print quality of the HP Indigo 7600. However, the company was looking for more than just a high-quality printer. It wanted a support and business development partner it could rely on.

HP provides ramp-up and peak-season support, color management, workflow services, and other support systems to McArdle—increasing uptime and maximizing productivity on the HP Indigo 7600. “At the end of the day, it’s the people within an organization that make a difference,” says Arsenault. “We really needed that HP connection.”

McArdle collaborates with HP on an ongoing basis to push boundaries and explore new opportunities in digital printing. Beyond just increasing print orders, McArdle is committed to adding value to those orders, through variable data, QR codes, and other strategies.