Digital Label Printing From Esko And HP at Drupa

Esko-Graphics has launched a complete printing system, including HP Indigo digital printing presses and Esko-Graphics Scope front-end workflow, for digital label printing and converting.

Esko-Graphics has launched a complete printing system, including HP Indigo digital printing presses and Esko-Graphics Scope front-end workflow, for digital label printing and converting.

The workflow is on display during Drupa2004 on the Esko-Graphics stand (Hall 4, Stand C40) and, combined with a digital press, on the HP stand (Hall 4, Stand C23).

The companies believe that by aligning their resources, HP and Esko-Graphics create significant added value for their common customer base.

Using an Esko-Graphics Scope workflow system, a single prepress system drives both conventional and HP Indigo digital printing presses.

That is said to allow the user to decide at the end of the workflow to which press the job will be sent.

"Digital and conventional printing are complementary technologies.

With an Esko-Graphics Scope pre-production system, both workflows are now supported and tightly linked," said Ren? Delbar, Esko-Graphics senior vice-president of marketing.

"The advantage is that printers that own HP Indigo presses can invest in one prepress system for both analogue and digital printing.

What HP finds most exciting is that now, with the Esko-Graphics Scope workflow, the printer can significantly improve the efficiency of his total operation.

The pre-press department will be able to process small and large jobs more economically and route them to the appropriate press," commented Danny Dams, program manager industrial printing at HP.

Esko-Graphics believes its Scope pre-press workflow offers the ideal environment for producing sophisticated labels, packages and tags - complete with Packedge to edit packaging designs, Plato to create print-ready sheet layouts, Backstage as the digital workflow server solution and the Flexrip, a multi-purpose RIP.

Flexrip offers in-RIP separation to the HP Indichrome multicolour printer using Kaleidoscope, Esko-Graphics colour management software.

Flexrip RIPs to all devices: HP Indigo digital press, plate or film.

Digital asset management (DAM) links are supported via Esko-Graphics' Webcenter software.

The Esko-Graphics Flexrip outputs a file in JLT (the HP native print format) that is ready to go on the press loader of the HP Indigo press ws4000 or HP Indigo press ws2000.

HP believes the Indigo presses give printers a competitive edge in the labels market by enabling them to produce short-run, high quality colour labels - quickly and on demand.

"It's Faster, better and smarter.

For Eshuis, the cooperation between HP and Esko-Graphics results in higher throughput, as well as better predictability and reproducibility on HP Indigo presses," said Mr M.Oude Nijeweme, ICT manager at Eshuis, of Dahlsen, the Netherlands, and beta site for the new system.

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