During the drupa 2016 tradeshow, EFI and Esko have announced that they have signed a letter of intent to bring a combined workflow solution to market that will enable companies to produce packaging with a single seamless and integrated workflow.

This collaboration will connect EFI Fiery digital front ends (DFEs), Esko workflows, and EFI ERP/MIS solutions to provide a unified production eco-system for packaging companies. In addition, customers using the Esko workflow will be able to prepare jobs once for output and use EFI’s optimization tools to route them to their Fiery driven digital production devices with a single seamless experience.

EFI and Esko intend to develop a unified workflow for digital printing of packaging using EFI’s industry-leading Fiery DFE, combined with Esko’s industry-leading workflow automation platform. Commercial printers that want to offer folding carton or label printing to their customers using their digital presses will enjoy the benefits of this powerful solution: a simple and efficient method to get access to an excellent workflow without having to make a significant new investment in specialized software. In addition, this combined offering will be integrated to EFI’s industry-leading ERP/MIS and Web-to-Print solutions to provide a seamless end-to-end workflow from design to delivery for commercial print customers.

“When I learned that EFI and Esko became development partners, it got us very excited,” says Jim Rosenthal, CEO of Paradigm Digital Color Graphics, Inc. “We’ve been considering purchasing a new digital press to offer some folding carton printing to our customers, but we have no experience or tools to manage the preparation of this type of work. A solution from EFI and Esko will not only help me offer new products to my clients, but it will also integrate with my EFI MIS to ensure I’m doing it efficiently.”

Beyond the DFE and workflow integration, EFI and Esko will also enhance their existing integration between Fiery DFEs and the full platform of Esko workflow tools, as well as EFI’s ERP/MIS and Web-to-Print products. “We’ve heard from many of our commercial print customers that their existing workflow tools, most of which were purchased with a CTP device, are just not flexible enough to help them expand the vast opportunity in digital packaging production,” explains Toby Weiss, senior vice president and general manager, EFI Fiery. “Packaging is a key area of growth for EFI and our customers and many of our Fiery partners now offer great digital printers that are suitable for packaging production. We believe a Fiery and Esko combined solution will be the best way to meet this need in the packaging workflow space.”

“By combining the expertise and technology of two undisputed market leaders, EFI and Esko, we believe together we will offer a great solution for companies that want to enter packaging, as well as those packaging companies that already have an Esko workflow and want to get into digital printing,” says Bernard Zwaenepoel, senior VP, Software Business, of Esko.

The first of the new offerings is being showcased at drupa 2016 with integration between Esko Automation Engine, EFI Packaging Productivity Suite and Fiery. This integration is planned for release at the end of 2016. The EFI Fiery DFE, combined with the Esko automation platform and additional integration into EFI’s Productivity Suite, is planned for release in 2017.