Fresh off of drupa 2016, Esko, a graphic arts leader specializing in prepress and finishing solutions, welcomed visitors to EskoWorld 2016. The event, featuring over 75 educational sessions, took place at the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate in Orlando, FL, USA, from June 21-23.

Udo Panenka, Esko president, and Jan de Roeck, Esko’s director of solutions management, kicked off EskoWorld’s 25th year with an industry update. The event featured roadmap sessions, academies, presentations, and plenary sessions. EskoWorld 2016 was designed to provide hands-on training, tips and tricks, product information and networking opportunities.

Following EskoWorld 2015 in Phoenix, AZ, the company took its customers’ feedback and constructive criticism to improve upon its prior offerings. Panenka also explained how his company conducted a sleep tracking study during last year’s event. He tied this experiment to the company’s desire to find solutions to its customers’ dreams.

“We want to thank all of our customers for their business, because without them there would be no Esko,” said Panenka. “I can tell you that our entire team and I are personally committed to making sure that our customers can also sleep well in the future. We were actually classifying this whole thing experiment into bad dreams and good dreams.”

Brands today require answers to SKU proliferation, tighter deadlines and increasing quality requirements. In Germany, a chocolate company produced 11 unique labels to match each player on the country’s national soccer team for the UEFA Euro 2016 championship. This endeavor–and countless ones like it–must capitalize on a faster time to market.

“I think it all goes without saying that brands today have figured out that better packaging helps them sell more products,” added Panenka. “It helps make their products more successful, but how does this link to the bad dreams? If I think about my favorite American cookies, we now have a situation that three different cookies are packaged in more than 100 SKUs.”

As the packaging process has become more complex, Esko has emphasized its motto for drupa 2016 and EskoWorld 2016: “Packaging Simplified.” According to Panenka, the event’s goal was to simplify the information flow, as well as focus on quality control, integrated workflows, packaging preflight, and how to handle content management. In addition, Esko is striving to reduce the learning curve associated with its prepress products. A simpler process results in increased flexibility, quality and productivity.

“That brought us to the good dreams,” explained Panenka. “We realized that we will not change the complexity of the process, and the key question is how do we master it? Packaging Simplified is a positioning for Esko that describes our strategy pretty well.”

EskoWorld 2016 highlighted the company’s latest innovations, including an upgrade of the company’s entire software platform–a shift from Esko Suite to Esko Software Platform. New flexo plate imagers and exposure units were highlighted, as well as a new, fully automated cutting table series. Esko emphasized the integration of hardware into its workflows.

In keeping with its theme of “Packaging Simplified,” Esko highlighted its features in full automation. Plate movement (loading and unloading) has become automated, and there is an increased throughput of digital solutions. Esko’s next-generation platemaking and imaging features simultaneous exposure, where an integration of production steps leads to increased quality.

According to Bernard Zwaenepoel, senior vice president of the company’s software business, the new updates are delivering packaging 25% faster. WebCenter 16 is mobile friendly, and the Packaging Content Management module will help support complex initiatives like the Nutrition Labels update. Esko continues to improve operational reporting with an enhanced dashboard, and further promote its integration with MediaBeacon. MediaBeacon 8 was recently released on June 8, 2016.

Additionally, ArtiosCAD 16, which is highlighted for structural design, offers new functionality and an integration with Cape. WebCenter and Automation Engine are also automatically downloaded in Adobe Illustrator for assisted editing. By using Equinox for Extended Gamut printing, Esko is reporting 25% ink savings, a 53% reduction in job changeover times, and 34% savings in waste reduction.

Esko has already seen positive feedback to its newest upgrades. In an attempt to gain faster time to market–a prevailing theme at EskoWorld–AstraZeneca has invested in Esko Studio to create 3D models of its pharmaceutical packaging.

AstraZeneca executives can quickly and easily review virtual 3D models that have been developed by its teams of designers. The company creates its packaging designs within Adobe Illustrator software and Adobe InDesign for leaflets and brochures. According to Esko, its software will help Astra Zeneca with all its medical applications, but particularly for folded boxes.

“We had heard about Esko through packaging events,” said Lígia Arzenares, AstraZeneca artwork development coordinator. “Esko was able to offer Studio, an excellent plugin tool used within Adobe Illustrator. It was what we were looking for: speed and quality, along with an easy way to create 3D artwork. Esko’s team also provided us great service and training.”

Esko Studio Designer is an Illustrator plugin. Therefore, AstraZeneca is able to work within the familiar Adobe Illustrator design package. Any company computer with an Adobe PDF Reader is able to view and rotate the 3D artwork.

“It would be very interesting if we could eventually invest in ArtiosCAD software so we could create technical structural files for the complete package of all Esko tools for creating packages,” added Arzenares. “Esko Studio quickly and easily creates exceptional 3D images to review, without the additional costs to our agencies. It optimizes our approval process for final art, and extends the productivity of our designers.”

Esko meets the press
On Wednesday, June 22, 2016, Esko management met with members of the media to discuss the event and further explain the company’s newest product improvements. In addition to updated Adobe Illustrator templates and the extended Packaging Content Management module on WebCenter, Esko launched several platemaking products.

“The change of the name from Software Suite to Esko Software Platform is a signal of the new generation of software tools, where the Cloud is making a really big difference in terms of deployment,” explained de Roeck. “Customers have choices. Not everything is Cloud-based yet, but we’re clearly moving in that direction.”

Esko has released the CDI Crystal 5080 XPS to simplify the process of flexo platemaking. The XPS 5080 also combines UV main and back exposure in a single operation. These controlled platemaking operations are now integrated into the workflow with the Device View module in Automation Engine, leading to error and waste reduction. The company’s strides in platemaking have reportedly led to 73% less operator time.

Additionally, the company released the Esko Kongsberg X20 with an Auto Tool Adjust feature. The cutting tables utilize camera inspection and digital image processing to adjust the tool in the machine at the start of each job. When a new job requires a different tool, the automated function sets up that tool for the selected substrate.

“There is an untapped opportunity for Esko beyond what we do on the packaging management side and how we can better design packaging,” said Panenka. “We want to think about turning primary packaging into secondary into tertiary, then loading packages onto pallets. There’s so many opportunities still out there with brands, and we’re positioning ourselves to show the true value we can bring to the table.”

Esko management highlighted its desire to provide its users with a “holistic view” of the supply chain from design to production, with the ultimate goal being the limitation of potential errors. In keeping with its theme, Zwaenepoel added that the company is investing in its user training tools. Esko will feature a unique user ID to log in to the portal and gain access to the entire training environment. The company’s goal is to reduce training times and streamline the e-learning process, and EskoWorld 2016 offered new e-learning modules to visitors in the event’s Interaction Room.

For more pictures of the event, click here for a slideshow.