June 12, Mark Andy co-hosted a special event with Esko at its European headquarters in Warsaw, Poland. The event, which attracted 50 representatives from printing companies around Eastern Europe, included live demos of Mark Andy presses and Esko prepress solutions, the most important of which highlighted label printing using Esko Equinox software.

Lena Chmielewska, responsible for marketing at Mark Andy in Poland, stated: “Our goal is to be not only a supplier of state-of-the-art, innovative presses, but to observe the market and utilize our partners’ technology to meet our customers’ needs and expectations.  By delivering added value solutions to our customers, we enable them to become more successful.”

Events like this, the first of its kind with Esko, are a key part of the OEM’s strategy and commitment to complete workflow solutions.  The primary focus of the meeting was to present Mark Andy & Esko’s response to market trends, such as smaller runs and shorter delivery times.  Chmielewska continued “Mark Andy has co-operated closely with Esko for many years – in fact we distribute its technology in the U.S. through our Mark Andy Print Products division.  In Europe we act as partners with a common goal of offering solutions that bring benefits to our common customers.  This way, we increase the number of possible users of our presses, especially the newest machines in our portfolio, the Digital Series HD and Digital One.  I’m sure that by presenting the whole process, printers gain more value than by showing only a part of it.”

Esko tools are used in the prepress area, where the entire production process begins.  When implemented, the software system is known shorten job delivery times and bring crucial savings.  This is important for every printer, and was highlighted by one of Esko’s solutions, its Equinox software.  Participants were shown how to prepare jobs using Equinox, which were then printed ‘live’ on a Performance Series P7 high-tech flexo press, offering a wide color gamut.

“Customers demand shorter run lengths,” said Mariusz Geras, Sales Manager Eastern Europe at Esko.  “By contrast, the number of job variations increase.  So, the printing presses must meet ever more demanding needs, while simultaneously offering time and money savings.  By converting special, or spot colors, to process colors, we can shorten downtime and increase productivity on every press, which clearly meets market expectations.” 

Equinox enables this kind of conversion as well as offering a wider gamut option.  Depending on application and the brand owner’s needs, the CMYK process ink set can replace several or even all special colors, which results in shorter press set-ups and downtime.  Using the same ink set for all jobs, wider gamut technology eliminates the need to clean the press between printing different jobs.  Additionally, it shortens make ready time, and reduces cost.

The demonstrations were warmly appreciated by those who attended the event.  Esko’s representatives gave several presentations that offered specific information on the Equinox software and other products from the company’s portfolio.  Afterwards, the participants were each given their own special name-label, as well as other labels containing pictures taken during the event and printed on-demand.

Lukasz Chruslinski, Sales Manager at Mark Andy Poland presented an outline history of the company and its current situation.  He explained: “Mark Andy employs more than 600 people worldwide and offers the most comprehensive portfolio of narrow-web presses on the market.  We now successfully combine digital and conventional technologies, which enables us to achieve higher levels of press sales and a dominant position in the market.”  He went on to present three of the company’s flagship presses: the Performance Series flexo line, the Digital One toner-based hybrid, and the latest development, the Digital Series – a UV inkjet solution that offers even more productivity and profitability for label producers.

Chmielewska concluded, “It was great to see how the event’s participants were equally interested in the Mark Andy presses and Esko’s prepress solutions, and we hope that many of our guests will consider them in their future investment plans.  The information we presented and demonstrations we gave showed the benefits available and what can be achieved.”