While drupa 2012 will mark Esko’s (www.esko.com/drupa) biggest trade show presence ever in Hall 8b stand A23, there will be many other places throughout the drupa halls to see the company’s solutions at work. The presence of Esko at dozens of partner booths reinforces Esko’s industry leadership role in the industry for integrated preproduction solutions. This encompasses a wide array of applications, covering the range from packaging over digital printing, signs and displays to commercial print.

"Esko strongly believes that our solutions are most successful when integrated with other leading print and packaging technologies. By working diligently with valued hardware and software partners, we deliver complete solutions to our own customers. The breadth of Esko partnerships all over the drupa halls is a result of strong support of industry standards, and hard work with our partners to seamlessly connect our products,” comments Carsten Knudsen, President and CEO of Esko. “We believe these integrated solutions benefit the industry and help our customers stay competitive and profitable. Together with our partners, Esko is delivering results that make you smile.”

'Lights out’ production integration with HP Indigo and HP Scitex Digital Presses
Esko has a longstanding relationship with HP in digital print development for industrial applications such as labels and tags, with Esko´s color solution embedded in the front-end of HP Indigo Digital Presses. Esko solutions also are available for use with large-format HP Scitex Industrial Presses as co-marketed, integrated workflow technologies in Esko's i-cut Suite, specifically tailored for the sign and display market. At drupa, Esko’s Kongsberg XP24 finishing table and i-cut Suite will be demonstrated at the HP stand (Hall 4, Stand D60-9), showing an integrated, end-to-end workflow – from design to finishing. A dedicated Esko demonstrator will showcase how HP Indigo and HP Scitex presses are driven by Esko solutions.

“HP has worked with Esko to create complementary technologies that offer our customers a complete series of end-to-end tools –- from color management and workflow for HP Indigo Digital Presses to support for preproduction and finishing of displays for our HP Scitex customers,” says Gershon Alon, workflow solutions manager, Indigo Division, HP. “Esko tools help our customers streamline their workflows considerably, match critical brand colors on our digital presses, increase print productivity and grow their businesses profitably.”

Delivering precise color with closed loop color calibration
Esko continues to help technology partners deliver accurate, consistent color along the entire packaging and print supply chain. Following the recent PantoneLIVE™ announcements (see press release), visitors to Esko's partner X-Rite Pantone (Hall 5, stand D23) will discover a new color management workflow that encompasses the entire packaging supply chain, ensuring first-time-every-time color integrity. PantoneLIVE™ lets brand managers see an accurate representation of on-press color early in the design process, while converters can be assured of easy-to-match color on press. Esko's Color Engine is the enabling technology to support the PantoneLIVE™ color management process.

Meanwhile, Esko software solutions along with Epson (Hall 5, stand A01 1-2) digital presses, offer printers the opportunity to provide fast turn-around times and shorter print runs, with versioning and customization. Esko's Color Engine integrated with the Epson digital label press, offers superior control for greater color consistency, predictability and repeatability throughout the process.

Endorsing the relevance of Esko Color Engine for brand color management in the packaging and label industries, Esko and GMG (Hall 4, stand B25 and Hall 7, stand B11) announced (see press release) that GMG ColorProof and GMG FlexoProof have the option to connect directly to the Esko Color Engine. This connection means that a customer using Esko and GMG needs to maintain only one color library, cutting down on duplicate work and reducing the chance of errors.

Also CGS Publishing Technologies International (Hall 8b, stand A66) is integrating Color Engine to offer users a color workflow integration for cross-fleet color consistency (see press release). CGS customers now have access to the Color Engine database of spot color ink profiles directly from the ORIS Color Tuner // Web application providing absolute accuracy and integrity in even the most complex and demanding packaging environments.

Offering wide format and packaging digital finishing solutions
Esko digital finishing technology continues to take a leadership role, as demonstrated by the number of partners who will be displaying Esko finishing products on their booths. The latest addition to Esko's Kongsberg range is the Kongsberg XN, the most versatile, highest performing finishing table available in the mid-range market. Capable of handling the broadest variety of materials, the new table serves all markets from packaging to sign making and displays.

As a result of the cooperation with Esko, Fujifilm (Hall 8b, Stand A25 1-3) will be using the Kongsberg XN alongside their high performance inkjet printers to demonstrate package finishing solutions. The Kongsberg tables and i-cut Suite software perfectly complement Fujifilm’s Acuity, Inca Onset and Uvistar digital inkjet printers for a wide range of packaging, labeling and wide-format applications.

Esko also cooperates with the following companies, assuring that materials from their print systems run effectively on Kongsberg digital finishing tables: Agfa (Hall 8a, stand B64 1-8), Durst (Hall 6, stand B39 & C60), EFI (Hall 5, stand C01), and Xeikon (Hall 8a, stand B44 1-2). Also, Bobst will be demonstrating ArtiosCAD structural design software (Hall 10, stand A04 1-2).

A legacy of digital flexo with DuPont
Since its origin in 1995, Esko and DuPont (found next to Esko at Hall 8b, stand C24) have been driving digital flexo and continue to set standards in flexo quality and productivity for packaging and labels. Combining CDI digital flexo imagers with HD Flexo technology, Esko lifted flexo printing to a new quality benchmark comparable to gravure and offset. During drupa, DuPont will demonstrate the CDI Advance Cantilever 1450, dedicated for imaging mid and wide web sleeves with DuPont ITR — with HD Flexo and Inline UV plate exposure. Digital Flexo Suite will also be on display, automating and improving plate preparation solutions for label printers and corrugated box converters in the flexo plate room and reducing plate waste by at least 15%.

Visitors to the Esko and DuPont stands can see examples of award-winning flexo-printed packaging; results achieved thanks to the close partnership of these innovators of digital flexo.

Esko ArtiosCAD tied to Highcon Euclid digital cutting and creasing machine
Highcon Systems Ltd (Hall 4, stand B28) will demonstrate the integration of Esko's ArtiosCAD structural design software with the world’s first digital cutting and creasing machine, the Highcon Euclid. The Highcon Euclid will process ArtiosCAD designs to be digitally cut and creased.

Accepting digital files directly from ArtiosCAD, Highcon’s Direct-to-Pack solution uses completely new technology to eliminate conventional dies and deliver high quality cut and creased sheets from digital data. With the Highcon Euclid, turnaround times are cut dramatically while run lengths up to 10,000 sheets become attractive and profitable for the converter.

Coordinating MIS with production
Esko preproduction software easily integrates with many industry-leading MIS/ERP solutions to ensure order administration does not become the bottleneck in the production process. Integration between business systems and prepress is game-changing in 3 areas: prepress, structural design (CAD) and web based collaboration (web-to-print or web-to-production). Successful integrations with long standing MIS partners like Aramis and Lauterbach und Partner have put a smile on the faces of several business owners.

Integrated Esko solutions are demonstrated by many software providers, including CERM (on partner stands with HP, GSE and AVT), specializing in JDF automation; EFI/Radius (Hall 5, stand C01), who integrates Esko Automation Engine as part of a total production workflow; Label Traxx (Hall 4, stand D60-6), a print business management software for narrow web label printers and converters, that links to Esko Automation Engine and an HP Indigo press; theurer.com GmbH (Hall 9, stand E77), JDF-Integration of Automation Engine and theurer.com C3 MIS-Software for the printing and packaging industry.

Global knowledge sharing at PrintCity
PrintCity is recognized as the 'connection of competence' strategic alliance across the entire printing, packaging & publishing value chain, promoting the value of print and packaging. The alliance delivers value to customers by leading global knowledge sharing and networking together.

28 world leading companies in the industry — including Esko — are working together to deliver ‘must see’ shared PrintCity attractions and events throughout drupa. Nowhere else at drupa is there such a range of partnering companies sharing their knowledge. The PrintCity Alliance in Hall 6 gives visitors the opportunity to access the latest knowledge in economic, environmental and cross-process best practice. Special hot topic display areas will highlight latest capabilities, business benefits and best practice opportunities. Esko is a PrintCity Alliance Partner in the Value Added Packaging (VAPack) project.