At booth 5202, Esko will be
displaying its complete preproduction solutions for label production at
Labelexpo Americas, held from September 9-11 in Rosemont, IL. Highlights
include the first official North American viewing of Suite 14, along with
Equinox and Full HD Flexo, technologies that have recently received
industry-wide acclaim.
“At Labelexpo Americas 2014, Esko
will be able to show label manufacturers a complete preproduction workflow,
from file to plate,” explains Rory Marsoun, Esko VP, Flexo Business
Development. “This includes a wide range of applications, from exceptional
expanded gamut software to 3D design tools, to outstanding flexo plate imaging
to collaborative workflows that can ultimately drive any press, including
flexo, offset and digital.”
Suite 14: The most complete
collection of preproduction software tools for labels and packaging
A major emphasis of the booth
will be Suite 14, an update of the world’s most complete collection of
preproduction software tools for packaging and sign & display production.
It supports and manages the packaging and print processes at brand owners,
retailers, designers, packaging manufacturers and print service providers.
Suite 14 focuses on five key directions supporting the future of packaging
workflows:
Superior quality: The prepress
operator’s focus shifts entirely to quality checking: once to obtain customer
design approval and again just before the press starts. Interactive tools
dedicated to check quality simplify the task.
Task driven interactive editing:
Quality checking, exception handling and building smart templates are the
prepress operator’s main tasks. New cross platform software apps provide a
task-driven user experience. Intelligent wizards guide the operator through
expert processes.
Improved workflow automation:
Smart workflow tickets route designs automatically to a press-ready printing
plate. Workflow automation stretches beyond printing and finishing and
integrates with logistics. Operator interaction is limited to exception handling
and quality checking. Open industry standards enable integration with business
systems and data silos, regardless of location. Cloud based packaging
management systems interface with prepress workflow servers openly and
transparently.
Smart templates: The basis for a
lights-out workflow, smart design templates separate content from creation: the
designer determines the looks of the pack “by example” and within a brand
guidelines framework. Critical content resides securely in the cloud-based
packaging management system of the brand owner. No more ‘copy and paste’ in
Adobe Illustrator but linking smart objects to secure and approved content in a
database. This guarantees brand consistency and legal compliance at maximum
productivity and shortest time to market.
Online supply chain integration:
Smart templates and workflow tickets connect prepress to all stakeholders.
Operations run virtually anywhere in the world. Integrated packaging-savvy
production and asset management systems dramatically improve time to market and
reduced cost.
Equinox: Printing more efficiently with expanded gamut
Equinox Expanded Color Gamut
(ECG) Technology - a 2014 FTA Technical Innovation Award and PIA InterTech
Technology Award recipient -is Esko’s patented technology for converting
packaging graphics from CMYK and spot color to seven-color process. Converting
entire files results in extremely close matches to spot colors, improved
pictorial images, and the ability to print more colors than available ink
stations on the press, resulting in improved image quality and brand impact.
The major benefit, however, is realized in the pressroom as jobs print more
economically and consistently. The ability to create an infinite number of
colors from seven process colors promotes “gang” press runs – and the economic
savings can surpass a million dollars per press per year. Customers using
Equinox ECG technology report that they use 7-color process profitably in a
production environment for labels as well as flexible packaging. This has
enabled many of the world’s largest consumer product companies to convert
entire product lines to expanded gamut.
Full HD Flexo for Labels
Esko will be showing examples of
Full HD Flexo for Labels. Full HD Flexo is the recipient of a 2014 PIA
InterTech Technology award. Full HD Flexo for Labels features adapted screening
and standard operating procedures for the label and tag industry, and delivers
very high quality with impactful solids, smoother highlights and expanded color
gamut. Full HD Flexo for Labels delivers enhanced print stability as well as a
reduction of gear marks when using gear-driven presses.
At the Esko booth, will be
exhibiting an Esko CDI Spark 4835 flexo plate imager - the most popular flexo
plate imager in the industry - with inline UV and Full HD Flexo. Visitors can
learn about HD Flexo and Full HD Flexo through real-life production samples
that demonstrate the quality and extended color gamut made possible by
incorporation of Esko solutions.
Along with Full HD Flexo will be
Esko Digital Flexo Suite, offering significant cost savings through the
automation of the flexo plate production. The flexo plate is cut into smaller
patches to reduce waste. Automatically, instantly and accurately, as a job is
sent to the imager, files are created for cutting and data files are made for
mounting. The Digital Flexo Suite will be demonstrated with The Kongsberg XN,
easily the most versatile digital finishing device ever introduced. It is
available in seven different sizes from 66” x 50” to 87” x 258”. The Kongsberg
XN comes with a wide range of specialty tools. These tools offer speed, power
and flexibility to automatically handle a wide variety of packaging and plate
materials, including flexo plates and coating blankets.
Esko on the floor with other partners
On Esko’s booth will be CHILI
Publish, featuring its professional online document editor. CHILI Publish will
also be sponsoring a breakfast on September 10 at the Hyatt Rosemont. Esko is
one of the scheduled presenters. Esko partners DuPont and Agfa will be sharing
booth 5403 and exhibiting an Esko CDI 2530 plate imager - a perfect size for
smaller, narrow web presses that produce labels.
Labelexpo will also see the
unveiling of a new proofing solution, utilizing an Esko front-end system
featuring FlexProof and an HP Designjet printer, at HP booths 3226 and 3429. HP
customers can benefit from simple, accurate color management via Esko Color
Engine, which is integrated into both FlexProof and HP Indigo presses. The
wizard-based user interface of Color Engine makes it easy to set up an accurate
color match on both the press and proofer, without the need to involve color
experts to maintain the system.
Esko participation in educational programs
As always, Esko will be involved
in educational programs during Labelexpo. The Inkjet Trail is a program where
digital press manufacturers will be challenged by receiving identical source
files for food, personal care and industrial labels, with the requirement of
using identical substrates to produce them. During scheduled booth visits each
day, the inkjet press manufacturers will show printed results for comparison.
Esko has been asked to prepare the files from its Suite 14 workflow, showing
the work they did on these files for the “Trail”, each day, from 1:00-1:20pm.
Digital printing technology and
techniques have expanded the possibilities for label and package creation.
Eye-catching designs and value-adding materials are now cost-effective and
vastly increase the potential for customer engagement and brand
development.‘Brand engagement through packaging’: a printing technology master
class at Labelexpo Americas 2014 is a series of presentations that will help
educate attendees about label and package printing. On Thursday, from 10:45-11:05am,
Jan De Roeck, Esko Director, Solutions Management, will present ‘Exploring
digital visualization to workflow’. During the session he will discuss
reinventing the artwork creation process and making it possible with 3D
Visualizer software; virtually creating packaging to show a range of
substrates, printing techniques and finishes; providing visibility to concept
teams in remote locations; and improving approval time.
“Esko looks forward to educating
attendees about how they can create high-quality labels while maintaining
cost-effective workflows,” concludes Steve Bennett, Esko VP Sales, North
America Central. “Whether on our booth, partner booths, or during seminars,
Esko hopes to be a helpful presence.”
