At Graphics Canada, held at Toronto’s International Center from April 6-8, the focus is on the gamut of printing, from wide format to packaging to commercial print. To support Canadian printers in these efforts, Esko, a sponsor in booth #5500, will be displaying its significant range of solutions intended to help printers benefit from automation.

“Esko is proud to be a sponsor of Graphics Canada 2017,” expresses Marc Raad, Esko account manager, Canada. “It is symbolic investment our company has made in Canada in recent years. In turn, our market growth has been significant. We’re proud that many companies in Canada are successful, in part, due to Esko products.”

Esko Kongsberg tables have been a very popular choice in Canada for finishing wide format signs and displays and short run packaging jobs. On display for the first time in Canada will be a Kongsberg C24 finishing table with its newest option, the Lubri-cool tool, that sprays a light layer of oil to keep substrates cool and assure a good clean cut on difficult materials, like aluminum. The Kongsberg C table is designed to keep up with the faster, wider printers for signage, display and packaging applications. The carbon fiber traverse makes the Kongsberg C equipped for high speeds and fast acceleration, making it possible to maintain consistent accuracy on all materials. It also boasts a 3kW continuous duty high-performance milling unit.

Packaging jobs are getting shorter and are increasing in frequency, while prepress is spending more time manipulating, cleaning, and making files consistent. Customers are demanding faster turnarounds, leading to more overtime and lower profitability. To make a digital press as profitable as possible for packaging, companies need to process, prepare and print a lot of short run jobs.

At Graphics Canada, Esko will show its wide range of design, prepress and workflow/collaboration tools to help companies produce packaging—printed digitally or analog—more efficiently.

Automation Engine automates mundane, repetitive prepress tasks and limits the editing work to specific tasks and quality checks. Files are checked for errors and entered into plate production with minimal operator intervention, resulting in maximum production uptime. Rush jobs can be slotted in as necessary, and additional separations can be added onto plates and plate waste is minimized. Interfaces between order administrative systems and prepress production further reduce manual interaction. Automation Engine integrates seamlessly with any existing infrastructure, accepting a wide range of desktop publishing formats, supporting all industry standards. For those interested in a special, bundled version for wide format printing, there is Automation Engine Avant.

Automation Engine is available with Esko’s new Device Manager. This software communicates job status and helps manage jobs based on cutting time and material. Operators use an intuitive drag-and-drop interface to prioritize table queues, insert rush jobs and even balance workloads between tables. Precise production planning and prioritization of digital finishing jobs becomes easier to manage. Operators can prioritize table queues, insert rush jobs and balance workloads between different tables, even at different sites. With the new Estimating software module within Esko Device Manager, better job quotes and accurate forecasts are easy.

Packaging designers often think in 3D but must draw a structural design on a two-dimensional “drawing board.” Designers can create packaging designs in 3D with ArtiosCAD, popular structural design software for packaging design. With dedicated tools specifically designed for structural design, product development, virtual prototyping and manufacturing, ArtiosCAD increases productivity throughout a company, creating a variety of 3D models of common packaging products like cans, bottles, glasses and bags.

Studio 3D is a fast and easy way to turn ideas into beautiful 3D images for creative development or to impress a client. There is no more need to produce physical mock-ups all the time. Users can view an accurate and technically correct package on the screen. Store Visualizer lets people see and touch virtual stores like never before. The result is an extremely realistic way to view products on a store shelf.