Greg Hrinya, Associate Editor06.29.15
As part of the EskoWorld user conference that took place from June 14-16 in Scottsdale, AZ, USA, attendees had the opportunity to partake in over 70 presentations, open labs and technical roadmaps. While Esko employees accounted for a number of presentations, brand partners also explained why their companies have chosen Esko products to help with solutions in the packaging and supply chain.
Esko also set up workstations for their employees to give visual software demonstrations.
The event’s presentations included prepress software and digital asset management, overcoming color challenges and the benefits of digital printing presses.
Streamlining the workflow
In order to help customers in their workflow, Esko must first identify areas for improvement and a roadmap to fixing them. Stephanie Graham, solution architect product manager at Esko, discussed how brands could use discovery workshops for value stream mapping.
“The first thing we look for is a discovery workshop,” said Graham. “We will prepare agendas and do an onsite workshop, as well as analyzing the output. During this workshop, what we’re doing is looking at a high level analysis of your business process. We’re also looking at recommendations to help you achieve your business objectives.”
The overall goal is to provide faster turnaround times, reduced costs and higher-quality output. The company will explore automation tasks and standardized work practices to reduce repetitive steps, which ultimately will save time and reduce waste. Since each customer’s workshop will vary based on needs, no two are exactly alike, although they may follow similar roadmaps.
“During this process, we’re planning, analyzing and recommending new work processes,” added Graham.
After the discovery phase, Esko will work on implementing the design details. According to Graham, these processes reduce wait times from seven days to 2.5 days. “We’ve also seen a lot of improvement with WebCenter, with the online calibration and approval processes,” explained Graham. “All of this together has streamlined the process and improved people’s workflows.”
MediaBeacon and Digital Asset Management
MediaBeacon is an asset management company that provides brands with media management, search, and re-use solutions. Its goal is to facilitate automation in the digital supply chain and maintain cost-effectiveness.
When Esko acquired MediaBeacon in March of 2015, it appointed the company’s CEO, Jason Bright, to chief technical officer. Bright was on hand as EskoWorld 2015 to give an in-depth look at Digital Asset Management (DAM).
“Digital asset management allows you to do semantic searches and have absolute distribution control and rights management,” said Bright. “DAM is the center of the media world; it’s the way that you control print and broadcast and web and social. It gives brand owners a center place to look in this continually integrated society where a mistake in China is a mistake in the US.”
He also explained how packaging is emerging as the newest form of communication and the benefits MediaBeacon’s software offers in package creation. “What we hope to do at MediaBeacon is bring brands and the packaging world together,” Bright said. “We expect packaging to be every bit the part of the experience of a brand owner, as much as print, broadcast and social. Packaging is going to be a new media to communicate to their clients. Packaging is now faster than it’s ever been in the past and will be the way that the customer perceives your brand. It is the last step to that purchase.”
Bright also listed five keys to DAM: Ease of adoption, consider the source, capture and associate, strongly attached metadata and semantic search.
Overcoming color challenges
Amanda Webster, prepress manager at Century Label, talked about how her company found success with Esko’s prepress software. Century Label is a custom-printing converter that specializes in pressure sensitive labels and shrink sleeves. Webster’s presentation highlighted the color challenges and solutions often faced in labels and packaging.
The Bowling Green, OH-based converter conducted a case study to increase efficiency and productivity with its color matching. Century Label went through three steps when diagnosing inconsistencies with its color: hiring a color management professional, consulting with HP for services, and researching solutions and tools that included Esko software.
“We could not run color consistently, and we’re a printing company, so we should be able to run job after job consistently,” said Webster. “You never knew who was adjusting what and what kind of state the press was in. We also had no kind of press maintenance. It was very irregular and infrequent.”
Two of the main problems that converters face are evaluating their color schemes and repeating work that took place prior to the newly installed business practices. According to Webster, proofing is a critical step, and value can be added with the extender color gamut. The extended color gamut can be used for accurate spot color simulations, and metallic effects are possible with software like ElectroInk and various other plugins.
The process provided Century Label with several outcomes. It created organization, as the company established a proactive maintenance schedule and used the proper tools for prepress. The converter was then able to implement color strategies that allowed for the measurement of SID (solid ink density) and TVI (tonal value increase, or dots).
“Yes, it does work,” explained Webster. “We went through years and years of not having any kind of color management, and today, we are in such great shape, there are rarely any issues in the pressroom.”
These outcomes led to repeatable results, including color matching between flexo and digital. Century Label was also able to create spot color books for its customers. The company utilizes a HP Indigo 6600 and 6000 presses at its facility.
Going digital
Gary Bernier, a strategic business brand manager at HP, explored the benefits of digital printing in a presentation entitled, “The Next Big Thing in Product Decoration.” In comparing digital to flexo, Bernier admitted that the two technologies are like apples and oranges. Bernier compared the two printing processes to a car: one that can go exceedingly fast on the highway may not be the best option for off-roading.
According to Bernier, digital and flexo provide different values. A converter will need to analyze several factors, including the required volume of printed labels, the frequency and relevance. “These are the three big values of digital printing: printing what you want, when you want and how you want it,” said Bernier.
“There are no minimums,” added Bernier. “The first value your customer will understand is that I can work with the quantities that I want and not the quantities you tell me your minimums are. Suddenly it starts to open up a different conversation.”
Digital printing allows converters to deal with increasing market challenges, including SKU proliferation. Due to varying flavors, scents, colors, etc., there are more SKU’s than ever before, Bernier proclaimed.
Additionally, HP Indigo’s digital presses feature sharp text, no dot gain and an expanded and a 7-ink expanded color gamut. Bernier also highlighted digital’s ability to reproduce colors accurately. Once a color has been manufactured, it becomes part of an advanced color library.
“We all know how difficult that is to do with conventional printing, and it usually requires a reformulation of that color,” added Bernier. “Once it becomes part of the library, I can now reproduce this color with digital printing.”
For more pictures, click here for the slideshow.
Esko also set up workstations for their employees to give visual software demonstrations.
The event’s presentations included prepress software and digital asset management, overcoming color challenges and the benefits of digital printing presses.
Streamlining the workflow
In order to help customers in their workflow, Esko must first identify areas for improvement and a roadmap to fixing them. Stephanie Graham, solution architect product manager at Esko, discussed how brands could use discovery workshops for value stream mapping.
“The first thing we look for is a discovery workshop,” said Graham. “We will prepare agendas and do an onsite workshop, as well as analyzing the output. During this workshop, what we’re doing is looking at a high level analysis of your business process. We’re also looking at recommendations to help you achieve your business objectives.”
The overall goal is to provide faster turnaround times, reduced costs and higher-quality output. The company will explore automation tasks and standardized work practices to reduce repetitive steps, which ultimately will save time and reduce waste. Since each customer’s workshop will vary based on needs, no two are exactly alike, although they may follow similar roadmaps.
“During this process, we’re planning, analyzing and recommending new work processes,” added Graham.
After the discovery phase, Esko will work on implementing the design details. According to Graham, these processes reduce wait times from seven days to 2.5 days. “We’ve also seen a lot of improvement with WebCenter, with the online calibration and approval processes,” explained Graham. “All of this together has streamlined the process and improved people’s workflows.”
MediaBeacon and Digital Asset Management
MediaBeacon is an asset management company that provides brands with media management, search, and re-use solutions. Its goal is to facilitate automation in the digital supply chain and maintain cost-effectiveness.
When Esko acquired MediaBeacon in March of 2015, it appointed the company’s CEO, Jason Bright, to chief technical officer. Bright was on hand as EskoWorld 2015 to give an in-depth look at Digital Asset Management (DAM).
“Digital asset management allows you to do semantic searches and have absolute distribution control and rights management,” said Bright. “DAM is the center of the media world; it’s the way that you control print and broadcast and web and social. It gives brand owners a center place to look in this continually integrated society where a mistake in China is a mistake in the US.”
He also explained how packaging is emerging as the newest form of communication and the benefits MediaBeacon’s software offers in package creation. “What we hope to do at MediaBeacon is bring brands and the packaging world together,” Bright said. “We expect packaging to be every bit the part of the experience of a brand owner, as much as print, broadcast and social. Packaging is going to be a new media to communicate to their clients. Packaging is now faster than it’s ever been in the past and will be the way that the customer perceives your brand. It is the last step to that purchase.”
Bright also listed five keys to DAM: Ease of adoption, consider the source, capture and associate, strongly attached metadata and semantic search.
Overcoming color challenges
Amanda Webster, prepress manager at Century Label, talked about how her company found success with Esko’s prepress software. Century Label is a custom-printing converter that specializes in pressure sensitive labels and shrink sleeves. Webster’s presentation highlighted the color challenges and solutions often faced in labels and packaging.
The Bowling Green, OH-based converter conducted a case study to increase efficiency and productivity with its color matching. Century Label went through three steps when diagnosing inconsistencies with its color: hiring a color management professional, consulting with HP for services, and researching solutions and tools that included Esko software.
“We could not run color consistently, and we’re a printing company, so we should be able to run job after job consistently,” said Webster. “You never knew who was adjusting what and what kind of state the press was in. We also had no kind of press maintenance. It was very irregular and infrequent.”
Two of the main problems that converters face are evaluating their color schemes and repeating work that took place prior to the newly installed business practices. According to Webster, proofing is a critical step, and value can be added with the extender color gamut. The extended color gamut can be used for accurate spot color simulations, and metallic effects are possible with software like ElectroInk and various other plugins.
The process provided Century Label with several outcomes. It created organization, as the company established a proactive maintenance schedule and used the proper tools for prepress. The converter was then able to implement color strategies that allowed for the measurement of SID (solid ink density) and TVI (tonal value increase, or dots).
“Yes, it does work,” explained Webster. “We went through years and years of not having any kind of color management, and today, we are in such great shape, there are rarely any issues in the pressroom.”
These outcomes led to repeatable results, including color matching between flexo and digital. Century Label was also able to create spot color books for its customers. The company utilizes a HP Indigo 6600 and 6000 presses at its facility.
Going digital
Gary Bernier, a strategic business brand manager at HP, explored the benefits of digital printing in a presentation entitled, “The Next Big Thing in Product Decoration.” In comparing digital to flexo, Bernier admitted that the two technologies are like apples and oranges. Bernier compared the two printing processes to a car: one that can go exceedingly fast on the highway may not be the best option for off-roading.
According to Bernier, digital and flexo provide different values. A converter will need to analyze several factors, including the required volume of printed labels, the frequency and relevance. “These are the three big values of digital printing: printing what you want, when you want and how you want it,” said Bernier.
“There are no minimums,” added Bernier. “The first value your customer will understand is that I can work with the quantities that I want and not the quantities you tell me your minimums are. Suddenly it starts to open up a different conversation.”
Digital printing allows converters to deal with increasing market challenges, including SKU proliferation. Due to varying flavors, scents, colors, etc., there are more SKU’s than ever before, Bernier proclaimed.
Additionally, HP Indigo’s digital presses feature sharp text, no dot gain and an expanded and a 7-ink expanded color gamut. Bernier also highlighted digital’s ability to reproduce colors accurately. Once a color has been manufactured, it becomes part of an advanced color library.
“We all know how difficult that is to do with conventional printing, and it usually requires a reformulation of that color,” added Bernier. “Once it becomes part of the library, I can now reproduce this color with digital printing.”
For more pictures, click here for the slideshow.