Booth 427 showcases Must See Em products Kongsberg XN finishing table and Studio 12 tools for 3D package design; along with the wide format i-cut Suite, a 2012 InterTech Technology Award recipient

At booth 427, Esko (www.esko.com) will participate at Graph Expo 2012 (October 7-10, Chicago), with demonstrations covering a wide range of products and services that offer printers 'Results that make you smile' – the company's campaign theme launched at drupa. Among many of those products, the Kongsberg XN finishing table and Studio 12 have been tagged Must See Em products for Graph Expo 2012. i-cut Suite - a workflow for wide-format printers - is a 2012 InterTech Technology Award recipient. Esko offers software and hardware that allows commercial printers to maintain their current businesses while exploring new market opportunities, such as packaging and wide format printing.

"Esko has a wide range of hardware and software that can help companies make the jump from commercial printing to other market opportunities," comments Mark Quinlan, President, Esko Americas. "Many of these products, as evidenced by our Must See Em and InterTech Technology Award recipients at Graph Expo, are elite solutions. We look forward to working with printers to help them successfully meet a wide range of challenges and explore new opportunities."

The most recent set of Esko workflow solutions for prepress
During Graph Expo, a series of new solutions launched earlier this year at drupa will be shown. Visitors can work with a wide array of software solutions addressing artwork, management, design and prepress, color management, workflow automation and process integration - for commercial print, wide format and packaging. Esko Suite 12 adds value for the user by introducing new productivity and efficiency benefits. This is done by closely integrating all flagship tools and engines, by adding rich 3D functionality for a holistic experience, and by enabling mobile collaboration and web-based packaging management.

Featuring WebCenter 12, Automation Engine 12, Color Engine 12, Studio 12 and the version 12 editions of flagship editors ArtiosCAD, PackEdge, ArtPro and DeskPack, Suite 12 raises the bar for process integration from design to press, involving all players in the supply chain. It provides a complete answer to the challenges of a modern label preproduction workflow.

Why work in a flat world if packaging isn't? Highlighted is Studio 12, is a unique set of tools for 3D packaging design made specifically for packaging artwork professionals - and designated a Graph Expo Must See Em product. Studio helps produce better artwork, by allowing users to virtually hold packs in their hands. Studio also lets companies create exciting 3D visuals to show to clients, ranging from PDF files with 3D content to movies, or virtual packshots.

Sharing colors throughout the print supply chain
At Graph Expo, visitors can learn about PantoneLIVE support within Esko's workflows. PantoneLIVE delivers an end-to-end color management and color communication solution that, for the first time, addresses the needs and requirements of every single discipline within the print supply chain. The brand manager will see an accurate representation of on-press color early in the design process, while converters can be assured of first-time-right color proofing and easy-to-match color on press. Experience with beta sites that have been testing the solution show very positive ROIs.

X-Rite will be present at a workstation on the Esko booth showing both their color measurement tools as well as PantoneLIVE.

i-cut Suite, InterTech Technology Award recipient, highlights focus on wide format
Many print companies have successfully diversified to wide format. i-cut Suite lets companies that drive narrow or large format digital printers and/or digital finishing systems to streamline their workflows. Introduced in 2010, and a 2012 InterTech Technology Award recipient, i-cut Suite has seen rapid popularity throughout the world.

i-cut Suite components include:

i-cut Preflight handles efficient preflighting and editing of incoming PDF files, ensuring that jobs will RIP and print correctly. It also lets users make any corrections working within the PDF file.

i-cut Layout is a module to interactively build and edit sheet layouts, ensuring that jobs make the optimum use of the substrate through intelligent true shape nesting and tiling.

i-cut Vision Pro makes sure that die-less cutting contours match printed images perfectly. Often, slight distortions between printed graphics and contour cuts may cause unacceptable results. i-cut Vision Pro registers the actual dimensions and positions on the printed result.

With i-cut Automate, all of these functions are automated in a single workflow, with less operator intervention and fewer potential manual errors.

The Digital Finishing highlight of Esko's booth at Graph Expo-a Graph Expo Must See Em-will be the new Kongsberg XN: a highly versatile and productive digital finishing table that can be configured easily for the widest range of applications from kiss-cutting to packaging mockups, heavy-duty milling and simple to complex flexo plate cutting with ID marking. This new table comes equipped with the impressive milling spindle MultiCUT-HP, boosting overall milling productivity by as much as three times.

New effort with CHILI Publish highlights Esko partnerships at Graph Expo
On the Esko booth and the CHILI Publish booth 971, Esko will be demonstrating the recently announced integration of the online editing technology of CHILI Publish, the Belgian developer of the 'hottest online editor', into its WebCenter web-based packaging platform. Esko will also develop a new plug-in for Adobe Illustrator, enabling users to open packaging designs in WebCenter to create, edit and modify the packaging content. With this new integration, a designer or artwork creator will be able to publish an Adobe Illustrator document to a WebCenter project. Content like barcodes, nutrition facts, regulatory compliance data and other can then be provided by the brand owner simply by going online, opening and editing the document using the CHILI Editor within the WebCenter browser window.

Other partners include PriscoDigital (booth 201), who will feature an Esko i-cut Suite front-end workflow, preparing files for print while creating cutting instructions for the finishing table. Xpedx (booth 1646), a partner in flexo prepress, imaging and finishing equipment, as well as for wide format applications will also be supporting Esko's extensive product line. Both partners will be displaying Kongsberg i-XN24 tables, which include i-cut Vision Pro, for accurate registration of finishing, even with contour cuts.

"Print companies need to explore new opportunities, and Esko and our partners provide a number of solutions that cover a wide variety of alternatives," adds Quinlan. "We look forward to working with attendees and educating them about ways, in this tough economical environment, that they can maintain business vitality."