Esko will offer print providers ideas to differentiate their businesses while making them more productive and efficient at booth 622 of the Graphics of the Americas (GOA) Expo & Conference, February 27-March 1, Miami Beach Convention Center. GOA is a premier event for the graphic communications industry in North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean.
“We find that Graphics of the Americas is a wonderful venue for our customers,” explains Tony Wiley, president, Esko North America. “People from the U.S. welcome the show because there is a less chaotic environment. I personally enjoy GOA because we can talk with people comfortably, and be more engaging.”
“Graphics of the Americas is well attended by printers from Latin America, where the adoption of print technology is still growing quickly,” adds Ernande Ramos, Esko vice president, Latin America. “Everyone is hungry for knowledge about how to improve business and make customers happy. At GOA, we see a lot of excited, energetic business owners, particularly from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and the islands.”
Kongsberg tables: Finishing signs, 3D displays, short run print, and packaging
Kongsberg tables are extremely versatile. They cut, score, crease and perforate offset print, flexo packaging and digital press output. Two of the highlights of the Esko booth are the Kongsberg i-XE 10 and Kongsberg i-XP 24 digital finishing tables. Kongsberg tables can cut and finish prototypes, labels, short run packaging, and wide format jobs.
The Kongsberg i-XE provides an efficient and versatile finishing solution for short-run production of articles for visual communication, labels, signs and displays. The wide range of specialty tools automatically handle a wide variety of materials, such as papers, labels, folding carton, thin styrene or polypropylene, and a long list of popular stocks for digital presses.
“The Kongsberg i-XE10 finishing table is used by a lot of printing companies in the southeast US who work with commercial offset, digital wide format and a combination of different processes,” says Rick LeBlanc, Esko Digital Finishing specialist. “It has been very successful because you get can jobs in and out faster and, of course, increase revenue.”
The Kongsberg i-XP24, made especially for handling the combination of corrugated board and other rigid or roll materials used in POP products and product displays, offers exceptional productivity and throughput. It is one of the fastest digital cutting devices in the world. i-cut Vision Pro registers the actual dimensions and positions on the printed result to assure finishing is adapted to the graphic’s shape.
“When commercial printers have an offset or digital press and need to produce a small job, it is much easier to finish a pocket folder on a Kongsberg table than to spend a few hundred dollars on a die and wait for it to arrive at the printing plant,” comments Wiley. “Some of these projects can be intricately designed. A digital cutter is easier to use than making a steel rule die.”
“We are finding that many printers in Latin America are very interested in our recently introduced Kongsberg C Series, the first fully-featured super-wide digital finishing systems,” remarks Ramos. “The Kongsberg i-XP24, on display on our booth, has the same functionality—just on a smaller bed. We look forward to showing printers how all of our tables can help printers finish short run work, whether it’s signs and displays, packaging and prototypes, or small commercial print jobs.”
Many of these companies also use i-cut Suite, which lets companies that drive digital printers and/or digital finishing systems streamline their workflows. i-cut Suite components include i-cut Preflight, handling efficient preflighting and editing of incoming PDF files; i-cut Layout, to build and edit sheet layouts; i-cut Vision Pro, registering the actual dimensions and positions on the printed substrate for accurate cutting; and i-cut Automate, automating all these functions into the workflow.
Suite 12.1: the most integrated software suite for packaging, labels and displays
Esko will showcase the latest version of its Suite 12 software. While the complete, wide range of design, prepress and workflow applications will be on display, Esko will focus on a few primary solutions:
Studio turns ideas into beautiful 3D images for creative development. There is no more need to produce physical mock-ups all the time. Users have an accurate and technically correct package on the screen.
ArtiosCAD is the world’s most popular structural design software for packaging design. With dedicated tools specifically designed for packaging professionals for structural design, product development, virtual prototyping and manufacturing, ArtiosCAD increases productivity for all corrugated, folding carton and POP/display designers.
Automation Engine is a modular workflow server with dynamic workflows that are easy to set up and operate. It is, by all standards, an exceptional answer to the daily challenges of print professionals who need to increase quality, reduce errors and drive cost out of the process.
Equinox, Esko´s solution for extended gamut printing, standardizes printing presses on any set of 5, 6, 7 or more inks. Users save on inks (and plates) for packaging work and printers save time as the press workload between jobs is reduced to merely changing printing plates.
Full HD Flexo: Flexo plate quality causing printers to reconsider how to print jobs
Visitors can also learn more about HD Flexo and Full HD Flexo through real-life production samples that demonstrate the quality and extended color gamut produced with these flexo plates. With HD Flexo, many printers have moved jobs from offset and gravure presses to flexo. Full HD Flexo delivers very high quality print with impactful solids and smoother highlights. The plates print more consistently than standard digital flexo plates. Full HD Flexo also eliminates manual steps traditionally associated with flexo platemaking, including back and main exposures.
“There is an overabundance of competitors and many printers are trying to differentiate themselves. Some printers are venturing into different facets of printing. Others have invested in digital presses to complement their traditional presses,” observes Wiley. “We are finding that upper-line printers are turning to digital finishing because they believe digital printing will help differentiate themselves. But, they are also exploring more efficient workflows. For example, screen printers who have installed digital printing devices now want 3D packaging software. The people who are serious are looking to diversify, because those businesses are less affected by the ups and downs of the economy. Esko has many of these answers for printers.”
