Esko Phoenix, the award-winning AI-driven preproduction software for packaging and labels, is now fully available for roll-to-roll label converters across flexo, offset and digital printing. Phoenix reduces waste by delivering AI-powered nesting and imposition for sheet-fed and roll-fed print production across flexo and offset applications.

“Phoenix is an advanced software for optimizing sheet and web layouts,” says James Mason, general manager for Print Optimization & Planning at Esko. “We are delighted that after a successful showcase at this year’s drupa, the latest Esko software release now includes this advanced planning and estimation tool that has applications across packaging, flexibles, wide format and commercial print.

“With Phoenix, we are empowering customers by streamlining print workflows, optimizing resources, and delivering high-quality, cost-effective production solutions,” adds Mason. “It introduces an innovative method for planning and imposition processes by considering the real-world capabilities of printing and finishing equipment on the production floor. This allows users to perform quicker and more efficient combination planning, minimizing press changeovers and setup times.”

He continues, “Phoenix enables users to fully automate their planning and early estimation processes, replacing formerly time-consuming manual steps that were also prone to error.”

Featuring intelligent algorithms for sheet layout, estimation and planning, Phoenix is the industry’s first and only AI-driven preproduction software for packaging, labels, commercial and wide format customers. Esko was crowned winner in the Printing and Digital Technologies category of the 2023 packaging innovation awards for Phoenix, and the team will be presented with its award within the Innovations Space at the 2024 ALL4PACK Emballage exhibition, held in Paris, November 4-7.

“At the click of a button Phoenix carries out the production estimation, AI analysis of the design and equipment needed for the job – then calculates the most efficient way to produce this quantity using factors such as number of labels per reel, equipment availability, multi-reel width substrate comparison, inks and foils. It is even possible to specify whether splicing is allowed, and if so, how many reel splices might be deemed acceptable.

“Additionally, using custom fields we can ensure that rewind direction, core size or any technical specifications are used to correctly identify and match lane ganging candidates,” says Mason. “We are absolutely thrilled that after successfully proving itself in its pre-release phase, and after a successful showcase at this year’s drupa global expo, we have now made this intelligent planning system available with specific roll-to-roll functionality for all customers as part of the Esko software suite.”

Esko Phoenix now has the capability to dynamically create ‘repeat templates’, simplifying and de-skilling the template creation process and moving it upstream. These repeat templated solutions not only maximize across the width but continues to gang horizontally and vertically throughout the entire length of the reel.

“Delivering intelligent distribution, a simple drag and drop interface, out-of-the-box integration via the REST API and a user-friendly interface as part of an application built specifically for packaging professionals, by packaging professionals, the artificial intelligence in Phoenix drives to the results that reduce overall costs by discovering combinations that humans could never consider,” Mason says.