All the new products are designed to have as much automation as possible, so they can be used by a less skilled workforce.
The new 1.68x1.27m Kongsberg X20 cutter runs at up to 50m a minute while the 1.68mx3.22m C24 can operate twice as fast. They feature automatic tool adjustment for fast job changeover. The Kongsberg X can also be upgraded to add more cutting, creasing and milling tools as business needs develop.
The Kongsberg C24 is aimed more at short-run production, building on the existing Kongsberg C line, which has been extended with smaller table sizes.
Frank Adegeest, R&D director Digital Finishing, said customers were being increasingly creative in their production of in-store signage and free-standing displays. This had led wide-format press manufacturers to make machines with significantly improved press throughput, with the result that finishing risks becoming the production bottleneck.
Also launching are the CDI Crystal 5080 and the CDI Crystal 5080XPS platemaking system, which are designed to fit together “like Lego bricks” and combine plate imaging and UV exposure into one system.
The company said that this dramatically simplifies platemaking, cuts the number of manual handling steps by 50% compared to similar technology, and slashes the time taken to produce a plate by 70%. These are both 1.27mx2m and take a plate thicknesses of up to 7.35mm.
Vice president of hardware Thomas Klein said the system was “very easy to use", adding that the 5080XPS delivers the best plate consistency by using a standalone UV LED exposure device, with simultaneous UV main and UV back exposure and works in parallel operation with plate imaging.
Esko is teaming up with X-Rite, Pantone and Enfocus in Hall 8B at Drupa, in Dusseldorf from 31 March to 10 June, under the banner ‘Packaging Simplified’ to show how the brands work together for the lifecycle of a product.
Its stand is divided into several ‘inspiration zones’: brands, specification and briefing, design, artwork and repro, flexo platemaking, printing and ink management, finishing, and Enfocus.
Esko president Udo Panenka said the drivers for change in the packaging market were shorter product life cycles, personalisation or more versions of the same product, faster time to market and shorter lead times. Clients want shorter print runs but more of them and at no extra cost.
He said: “In the past you would have possibly 10 jobs a day. Today you have 50 jobs a day. And you’re expected to do it at the same price point. There is a gap of skilled operatives, it doesn’t seem to be the most sexy industry.”
The company has also recently upgraded its software suite, now called Esko Software Platform, and claims to have the largest software as a service (SaaS) platform in packaging with 25 global brands, more than 30,000 users globally and more than half a million uploaded assets. The new version is clearer and mobile-optimised and will be shown for the first time at Drupa.
Esko Software Platform can be used on-site or in the cloud and Esko is also launching Esko Share And Approve Web Centre for sharing, annotation and approval online, which it said would ensure faster approval cycles.
Director of interactive applications Geert De Proost said the company had spent a lot of R&D time on simplification.
“We listened to customers, we’ve simplified it so you don’t need any training.”
It has also released managed content and automated artwork creation in its new Artwork Studio software.
Interactive Application Software product group director Wim Fransen added: We asked customers what the main challenges were and they said 58% were in the text of the pack. We want to get rid of the copy and paste errors.”
He said the new software would remove the need for copy and paste and cut time taken by 50% and the cost by 30%. Other features include ready-made design elements and “new superfast 3D viewer” compatible with popular browsers.
“You can add a library of elements, eg hooks and mounting holes for POS displays. We believe that display design has never been this easy.”
