Israel Diary Day 5: HP Indigo Plant in Kiryat Gat (+photos)

Today’s agenda is scheduled from start to finish by HP, and is focused on events at the Kiryat Gat Indigo plant.  At 7:45, a bus picks us up to take us on an hour’s journey.

On the bus, I meet Frank Hood, who runs InfoVine in Houston, Texas.  We have a great conversation, and end up seeing quite a bit of each other over the next few days.  Frank is working on his second company, having built and sold the first a few years back.

At the plant, we are scheduled to see various parts of the facility, demonstrating the enormous amount of innovation and engineering that goes into supporting the Indigo.  We start by hearing from Alon Bar-Shany, who runs the entire Indigo Division.  After Alon, we hear from various parts of the organization, and I pick up a lot of interesting ideas.

For example, I learn that HP has a support mechanism called “shared support,” which Frank explains to me is devised to motivate clients like him to invest in training their press operators to a designated level of competency.  When the operator reaches that level, the support fees charged by HP drop considerably (something like 60%).  The idea resonates with me, and I immediately think about how we might be able to apply that to our multichannel marketing automation.

In the evening, HP arranges for dinner at Reading 3, which is at the Tel Aviv port.  We have an enjoyable dinner, and are treated to a show by a local group of entertainers.  Plenty of laughs ensue!

We arrive home around 11:30, and although I’m a bit wound up, sleep is necessary, as tomorrow is filled with more HP activities.

Here are some photos from the day; click to enjoy!

Arriving at the HP plant!

This is Lisa, one of our Clients, taking a picture of me as I take a picture of her 🙂

Alon giving everyone an update.

Most of the presentation focused on the HP Indigo 10000

Simon discussed the history of the 10000’s development and led a customer panel discussion

Alon’s presentation included many interesting stats

Inside the plant, there was a visual history of Indigo, stretching back to the start in the late 70’s

Many of the buildings I was in had a shelter like this one

A beautiful facility

We got to tour the plant, and hear from various people about how the Indigo is built

This is where the ink is made

The entrance to the building