Artwork Systems

GENT, Belgium—Esko-Graphics, the global market leader in packaging pre-production solutions, looks back at an excellent 2005 showing a marked increase of revenues and an improved operational efficiency. "Esko is launched on a solid path of continuous profitable growth," states Carsten Knudsen, President and CEO of Esko-Graphics. "Our preliminary results for 2005 indicate a revenue growth of 15 percent over 2004, with an expected EBITDA margin of 7 percent. We are well past the period of merging and restructuring, and are executing on our strategy focused at serving all packaging supply chain partners with value-adding solutions and services." New logo and web address To underscore

LONDON—As part of an ongoing effort to optimize organizational efficiencies that will benefit both companies' many thousands of customers worldwide, Artwork Systems announces today that the company is taking significant steps to integrate Enfocus within its research and development, marketing, and operations.  In addition to combining headquarters in a new Ghent location by the end of Q1 2006, the companies will substantially strengthen technology sharing to support new, market-driven branding and corresponding development plans. Both Artwork Systems and Enfocus brands will continue to co-exist. The Artwork Systems brand will focus on packaging and high-end workflow systems, while the Enfocus brand will continue to

PDF (portable document format) may be the greatest thing since sliced bread (or at least since PostScript), but it takes more than bread to make a sandwich that will satisfy a hungry customer. TODAY'S SHORTER PRINT runs depend on reliable, high-quality print output, delivered with minimal turnaround. The addition of JDF (job definition format) production language to PDF-based workflows increasingly is seen as a way to dramatically reduce print production time and costs while ensuring consistent, reliable output—even when last minute changes are required. In packaging applications, the benefits of JDF-enhanced or JDF-enabled workflows show up in better customer service; faster time to

PRINT 05 & CONVERTING 05 drew an international audience to the Windy City for a week of new technology demonstrations. THE STATISTICS ARE in from the Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC). PRINT 05 & CONVERTING 05, held last month in Chicago, was a big success by many of the reported metrics. Attendance was in the neighborhood of 62,000. The number of exhibitors, 954, was up from the 893 at the last PRINT show in 2001. The international flavor of the show was demonstrated by the more than 7,200 international attendees from 99 countries, up from 75 in 2001. Clearly, the show had the

Extended color printing could be the next best thing to the eye of the beholder in the package-printing industry. PHILOSOPHICALLY SPEAKING, THE exact nature of color may be in dispute forever. As far as brand owners and the package and label printers who work with them are concerned, however, color is a concrete, measurable reality and the most critical component of print quality. If the job of the packaging or label designers is to create shelf appeal and ensure brand recognition, the job of packaging and label printers is to lock in those attributes by reproducing those designs as faithfully, efficiently, and affordably as

VANDALIA, Ohio—Esko-Graphics, the leader in packaging pre-production solutions and world leader in digital imaging of flexo plates, announces its new Design Life-Cycle Management Initiative in North America.  The suite of software and hardware streamlines the package-design and production process - from ideation through design, packaging and production - to produce significant cost and time-savings.  In addition to efficiencies, Design Life-Cycle Management is a strategic tool that can accelerate the development of market-leading packaging innovations.  Esko-Graphic's Design Life-Cycle Management Initiative is designed to be part of a Product Life-Cycle Management (PLM) solution. Complete PLM solutions help to manage product design, packaging design, production and manufacturing. Esko-Graphics

When it comes to packaging, commercial printers could take a page from flexo's book. EXTRA! COMPUTER-TO-PLATE goes mainstream! Granted, it's not much of a headliner these days. The basic principles of computer-to-plate (CTP) are well-established in both the offset and the flexographic worlds, both technologies having come to market about a decade ago. Since then, however, their adoption curves have differed sharply. Offset CTP took off primarily in the commercial side of the business, where concerns about its viability and the expense associated with its adoption were quickly overcome. The same has not been the case in the flexographic market—until recently. According to

With package printers on the hot seat for nimble customer responsiveness at the lowest possible cost, accurate real-time information is a must. WHEN IT COMES to cutting costs and investing in the future, package printers have always had plenty of options on how to spend their money. The list just keeps getting longer, and the opportunities more tantalizing. In recent years, business and production software has been climbing to the top of the list and increasingly winning the fight for the limited capital resources. The reasons for this vary, but ultimately, it boils down to the growing need to run highly efficient and

Automation in prepress can significantly improve time to market through workflow process integration. THE AIM OF workflow automation is to be able to respond to customer requirements quickly. This is accomplished by minimizing or eliminating, as completely as possible, the manual steps that can lead to the costly waste of time, materials, and labor. While developments in workflow automation for packaging tend to mimic those in the commercial printing world, software and equipment vendors continue to develop and refine a variety of integrated tools designed to accommodate the special needs of packaging operations. According to Jan De Roeck, marketing director for packaging

With recent investments in new press and prepress equipment, Macaran Printed Products is enhancing its mission to provide the best value to its customers. SOME OF THE most demanding markets to serve in the realm of package printing include health and beauty (HBA), food and beverage, and pharmaceutical. These markets are highly dynamic and competitive, and demand the utmost in quality and service. These just happen to be three of the key markets served by Macaran Printed Products, a flexo label printer and a division of W.N. Van Alstine & Sons, Inc. Macaran provides high-quality, combination-printed labels on pressure-sensitive films and papers