While Esko announced its updated software solutions under the umbrella brand name Esko Software Platform, it said the details of the new hardware products will be disclosed in the first week of April.

 

Esko’s Software Platform include: more software modules made available as Software as a Service (SaaS) and subscription; improved 3D support especially viewing objects in WebCentre and on mobile devices; a new content management module for WebCentre; ArtPro+, a totally new platform-independent native PDF pre-press editor; New tools and libraries for multi-part POP design in ArtiosCAD 16; Planogram interface for Store Visualizer 16; new set of automated quality assurance tools in Automation Engine; and Esko hardware integration in the workflow (automation engine device view).

 

Making the announcement at the pre-Drupa event held in Bruge, Belgium, on 16 March 2016, Esko’s president Udo Panenka, said that the Esko Software Platform will take the course from ideation to finished product ready to go on the shop. Importantly, Panenka also indicated that it will reach out to the non-customers by allowing them to pick and choose the modules in the workflow that will suite their requirements, which would not require them to make a huge investment in the whole package. “There are definitely non-users out there, people who do not use products from Esko. I think, we can make it easy for those non-users to improve their current business by providing specific solutions,” he said.

 

Paneka said we have been listening to the voice of the customers. They need a faster time to market to meet the demands of shorter buy and more print production runs. “The number of jobs per shift continues to increase. Today, label and packaging converters, signmakers and display manufacturers often spend more time setting up their printing presses and converting equipment between jobs than in the actual printing and converting itself.”

 

Visitors to the stand at Drupa will experience how Esko solutions can inspire them to improve their operations and to face these pressing challenges.

 

“Press changeovers have to be faster to ensure margins are maintained. And the same is true for design, artwork creation and making jobs print ready: short lead time requirements demand higher throughput for these processes and better control of the entire operations,” said Panenka.

 

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Drupa 2016 will take place from 31 May to 10 June 2016 at Dusseldorf, Germany. PrintWeek India is a cooperating media partner at the show. The team led by Noel D’cunha, Rushikesh Aravkar and Monica Rohra will be present on all days of the show.