Barry Page from DCS shakes hands with Martin Williams from Papergraphics' installation and training team
Diversified printing business Digital Creative Services (London) Limited (DCS) has become the first company in the UK to invest in and install an HP Latex R530W hybrid printer to support its aim of offering customers access to truly sustainable printing services.
Located in London’s Royal Victoria Dock, on the same complex as the Excel Exhibition Centre, DCS offers a wide range of services across digital and lithographic printing. The company works with customers across various sectors, including global beauty brands, financial institutions, sports clubs and educational settings.
Overseeing operations at DCS is Managing Director Barry Page, who, along with his business partner and Co-Owner Dave Gibbons, purchased DCS in June 2020. Over the past five years, the company has gone from strength to strength, integrating several other businesses to expand its offering and investing in new machinery on a regular basis to support this ongoing expansion.
This ethos led to the first UK investment in the new HP Latex R530W hybrid printer, which was purchased through approved HP distributor Papergraphics and installed at the DCS site in April 2025.
Running at a top speed of 24sq m/hr in indoor mode, the machine can print on media up to 1.6m wide and as thick as 5cm. It runs 3-litre ink cartridges across both colours and white, with DCS opting for the white ink model to help meet the ever-changing demands of its customers.
The compact HP Latex R530 can be seamlessly switched between rigid and flexible applications, delivering consistent, high-quality output – up to 1200 x 600dpi – across various media types. It enables print service providers (PSPs) such as DCS to tap into new markets and expand into new print applications. Such are its far-reaching capabilities that the printer can be used to produce applications such as indoor and outdoor signage, wall coverings, vehicle wraps and graphics, POS and packaging
Features such as automatic recirculation and printhead cleaning enable businesses to bolster uptime and reduce maintenance costs, while an intuitive touchscreen makes it easy to operate, and a single-phase power system enables effortless installation. In addition to this is the ability to streamline workflows with remote production control through the HP PrintOS Production Hub.
As is the case with all HP Latex printers, the new HP Latex R530W runs water-based inks, which have much less impact on the environment than solvent, eco-solvent and UV inks. Working with HP Latex inks also improves the recyclability of printed applications, whereas using other ink types can prove a major stumbling block for printers.
With many DCS customers having a strong focus on the environment and reducing their impact on the planet, Barry Page said the HP Latex R530W will fit in perfectly at DCS to help deliver sustainable printing to clients.
“The decision to purchase the HP Latex machine was in part driven by our clients’ needs to ensure they reach their sustainability targets, plus our own ethos of buying the most environmentally friendly equipment in the market in line with our ISO 14001 Environmental Management system,” Barry said. “Our objective is to help our customers achieve their ever more sustainable goals, which are aligned to our own.
“We have carried out a lot of work to be able to offer ever improving environmentally responsible operations and the range of recycled and recyclable materials that we offer. We clearly see this investment as the next step of this ongoing process.”
As to the type of work DCS will be running on the new printer, Barry said the machine will mainly be used for producing freestanding exhibition display boards, with the company having identified this as a key growth market. It will also increase capacity for other printed work such as office décor and window manifestation.
“We will have an improved offering to our existing clients as well as attracting new ones thanks to the quality and sustainability we can now provide,” Barry said.
With DCS clearly not a company to rest on its laurels, Barry said the business is constantly on the look-out for ways to further enhance production and could soon return to HP for another Latex investment.
“If we meet our objectives for the business over the next 12 months, we will then consider the HP Latex FS50 as our next investment,” Barry said.