No Limits: EskoWorld 2012
NEW ORLEANS—This year’s EskoWorld 2012 for Esko customers in the Americas was held in historic New Orleans at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. Esko adopted “No Limits” as the slogan for this year’s event, and offered what it called a total print experience, covering packaging, labeling, commercial print, digital finishing, digital flexo, ArtiosCAD, and color. While last year’s EskoWorld drew a record 350 attendees, this year’s event topped that, with more than 400 attendees supported by close to 100 Esko personnel.
Many of the large number of presentations and training sessions focused on Esko’s product introductions and enhancements that were presented at drupa in May. Jan De Roeck, director solutions management, reported drupa 2012 was Esko’s largest presence ever at the global trade show event. “We know that it is getting harder to travel to Düsseldorf for drupa, so Esko is bringing May’s drupa to EskoWorld in June—all of Esko’s new products, all the most recent and greatest enhancements to existing products, and reports of all the latest printing trends,” remarked Mark Quinlan, Esko Americas president. “As always, the user conference will provide invaluable information about Esko solutions to help print providers squeeze productivity from their print operations and explore new revenue-building opportunities. We particularly look forward to hosting a number of guests from Latin America. A special feature this year is that more than 20 sessions will be presented in Spanish.”
EskoWorld mission: Share ideas and knowledge
EskoWorld brings together customers, industry partners, product specialists and support staff, encouraging the exchange of ideas and product and application knowledge. “EskoWorld is one of the most important events on our calendar, and the organization of EskoWorld and preparation of relevant content is always a collaborative process between Esko and the EUGI leadership,” explained Simon James, Esko vice president marketing. “Users participate in training sessions, roundtable discussions, seminars, and hands-on labs, designed for novice, and journeyman, as well as advanced users—providing them with information to add even more value to their Esko solutions. Esko also receives a wonderful opportunity to learn more about our customers’ evolving needs while, concurrently, getting feedback from them on our development plans. Their views about our technology, service, and support provide critical input for future product and business planning.”
At a presentation for trade journalists, Esko personnel highlighted some recent key product developments. Bernard Zwaenepoel, senior VP software development, covered the launch of Suite 12 at drupa. It includes a wider range of tasks for the supply chain, including what he called packaging-rich workflows and prepress tools; a focus on color management, including color simplification and standardization; and enterprise software, with WebCenter 12 designed to further integrate brand owners into the supply chain.
Jan De Roeck highlighted the introduction of CDI Spark 4835 Auto and Esko’s HD Flexo technology. The CDI Spark 4835 Auto includes digital inline UV back-exposure and automated loading. De Roeck noted it is a continuation of Esko’s focus to improve print quality and automation of the plate manufacturing process that has evolved continually since the CDI introduction in 1995. The new HD Flexo Pixel+ includes an optical and software update with plate-specific screening to further enhance solid ink density. De Roeck reported more than 400 HD Flexo installations worldwide from 175 customers.
Esko’s digital finishing products were discussed by Steve Bennett, VP, digital finishing business. He included a demonstration of the new Kongsberg XN finishing table with cutting and creasing a folding carton sample. It can handle a wide range of applications from kiss-cutting of mockups to heavy milling with its new MultiCUT HP 3kw spindle.
The French Quarter
Esko hosted a novel team building event by renting out the original House of Blues in the French Quarter. Attendees went to the event as part of a traditional New Orleans funeral march. Once there, both Esko users and Esko personnel showed off a wide array of talents at a Karaoke contest.
