Hybrid Software, a Global Graphics company that develops productivity software tools for the graphic arts industry, has announced that it has reached its milestone tenth anniversary.

The company’s original focus was order lifecycle management based on MIS and Web2Print integration. Two years later, the company pivoted with the birth of Packz, a revolutionary application—with native PDF support, color separation, trapping, screening, quality control, and much more—that made high quality editing of packaging and labels accessible to small, medium and high production volume professionals. In 2013, the company also introduced Cloudflow, a modular production workflow suite for file processing, asset management, soft proofing and workflow automation. With these two products, Hybrid Software became the prepress and workflow company people are familiar with today.

In just ten years, Hybrid Software says it has enjoyed a series of achievements, notably:

• The company made its industry premier appearance during Labelexpo 2011, attended by a number of executives who are still with the company today: Guido Van der Schueren (chairman of Hybrid Software), Christopher Graf (Chief Marketing Officer), Jan Ruysschaert (Chief Commercial Officer) and Mike Rottenborn, who now serves as Chief Executive Officer, Global Graphics PLC.
• Over the years the company has built a network of partners supported by offices based in Belgium, Germany, France, the UK, Italy, China and the Americas.
• The acquisition of Hybrid Software by Global Graphics PLC was completed in January 2021, creating an enterprise software supplier for digital printing, as well as for traditional label and packaging market segments.
• Most recently, the company received a 2021 FTA Technical Innovation Award for its new product, Intelligent Flexo. Along with its award last year for Clouflow Patchplanner, Hybrid Software became the first company ever to win this award in two successive years.

HYBRID Software’s 124 employees work with thousands of customers—including some of the industry’s largest—around the world. Hybrid Software’s mission is to be a driving influence for innovation in the industry. HYBRID Software has been able to distill the prepress craft into software, creating a repeatable manufacturing process that is truly intelligent. And in keeping with its open systems philosophy, they built a solution that would work with any flexo workflow, not just their own. The company believes that everyone should have the freedom to choose any system that offers true quality or productivity benefits.

For example, many existing workflow systems are restrained by outdated core technologies or architectures, but Cloudflow was built from the ground up as a web-based enterprise solution, with no inherent limitations in functionality or flexibility. Because Hybrid software is based on the foundation of industry standards such as native PDF, HTML5, and other technologies, it is much faster to implement innovative systems that resolve today’s customer challenges, the company says.

“Ten years ago, I realized that the packaging industry was looking for more customer-driven innovation, and I brought this DNA to Hybrid Software. We have always operated on the three pillars of prepress automation, customer collaboration, and tight integration with customers’ systems and processes. We know that this takes hard work and—even more significant—the loyalty and trust of our customers. Hybrid's biggest strength is our ability and willingness to listen to customers and act upon their feedback. Our successes would not be possible without them,” comments Guido Van der Schueren, Chairman of Hybrid Software. “It’s exciting how far we have come in just ten years. The acquisition with Global Graphics is a continuation of our strategy for innovation. We hope, and expect, that this will bring another decade of exceptional innovation that truly serves our customers.”