Gent (Belgium) – May 2003. Esko-Graphics, the market leader in CtP and packaging solutions, announces its participation as Platinum Sponsor in the Seybold PDF Summit in Amsterdam, June 12 till 13. “Esko-Graphics identified the need for Packaging Supply Chain Optimization as the main focus of its customers.” says Jan De Roeck, Marketing Director Packaging Software at Esko-Graphics. “Today and in the immediate future, many developments of packaging specific tools and applications are designed to help our customers cater for the needs of the Brand Owner. One of the means to accomplish an overall performance improvement in a packaging pre-production workflow, is the use of industry accepted standards. Esko-Graphics therefore acknowledges the growing importance of PDF for data exchange in the packaging industry, and has committed to the Platinum sponsorship at the Seybold PDF Summit.” The use of industry standards is not limited to the data container (PDF). Embracing standard desktop applications as full-featured clients of the packaging workflow and the acceptance of JDF for the exchange of workflow parameters occupy a prominent place in today’s product portfolio. Esko-Graphics offers a number of innovative packaging solutions, fully supporting industry standards like the PDF file format.” The Seybold PDF Summit wants to bring a timely PDF-and JDF-focused conference to the industry. Following the release of a new version of Adobe Acrobat, and with the surge of PDF popularity, Seybold Seminars PDF Summit intends to offer a platform for different approaches towards PDF. Jan De Roeck will present two sessions on the role of JDF and PDF in packaging environments, on Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th of June. As PDF becomes more standardized in all kind of prepress environments, Esko-Graphics has chosen to integrate this file format within its workflow solutions. An excellent example is DeskPack, a packaging solution adding a series of powerful plug-ins to Adobe Illustrator, combined with a plug-and-play server box hosting the trapping application. The user can select either PDF or Illustrator’s native file format for job input, storage and interchange. DeskPack offers excellent prepress functionalities for the packaging design. Combined with digital flexo platesetters and thermal or violet Offset platesetting, it allows a complete digital workflow for packaging production.