Esko has announced that Xerox is to become a European distributor for some of Esko's packaging software and hardware, as part of an end-to-end digital printing solution for the packaging industry. The Esko products will be sold in all countries where Xerox Europe operates, with Esko providing post-sale service and support.

The agreement between the two companies incorporates a series of digital front end products from the Esko Scope software family, that will operate as a complement to the Xerox iGen3 Digital Production Press and the Xerox DocuColor 8000/ 7000/ 500 family of digital presses to produce short run packaging.

The Esko suite of solutions for Xerox features DeskPack, its prepress environment that turns Adobe Illustrator CS2 into a full packaging design and pre-production tool. DeskPack allows the designer to visualise the packaging or carton being modeled in three-dimensions. Also included are Plato, an Adobe certified step-and-repeat application for folding cartons and labels, and BackStage, Esko's workflow server. Additionally, Xerox will distribute Esko's Kongsberg XE10 and i-XE10 (pictured above) digital cutting and creasing tables, used for mock-ups, sample making and converting short packaging runs.

This new partnership combines the strengths of Esko's packaging experience with the variable data capabilities of the Xerox iGen3 print engine, together with finishing possibilities that include an in-line ultraviolet coater applying a permanent, scratch-free coating.

With Esko's Scope software modules and the Kongsberg XE10 and i-XE10 die-less converting tables, Xerox now can provide the pre- and post-print packaging capabilities, enabling the iGen3 and the DocuColor family to operate in short-run packaging environments. Producers of consumer goods and pharmaceutical companies face ever increasing pressure to optimise their supply chain from design to finished product. Test marketing, for samples of consumer goods or trails of test drugs, is expensive and time consuming using traditional print for short runs.

Using Esko's DeskPack modules, designers can create professional packaging on their desktop with Adobe Creative Suite, the most popular design tool for packaging developers. By printing digitally on the iGen3 digital press or the DocuColor presses, cartons and packages can be produced in short runs or customised editions, and then creased, cut and folded offline on Esko's Kongsberg XE10 or Kongsberg i-XE10 converting table. This short run packaging solution results in a significant reduction in both cost and delivery times.

Digital print customers with the Xerox iGen3 or DocuColor 8000/7000/5000 family are rapidly developing new business opportunities for short run digital printing and finishing. In the packaging market, the Esko Kongsberg XE10 converting table makes it possible to quickly and efficiently explore business expansion opportunities for personalised short run and just-in-time delivery.

‘Our agreement with Esko demonstrates our strategy of opening new business opportunities through working with our partners,’ said Valentin Govaerts, senior vice president Production and Graphic Arts, Xerox Europe. ‘The Xerox iGen3 is supremely positioned to print new test marketing applications for products for example in the pharmaceutical, toy, and health and beauty sectors. The variable data print capabilities make the iGen3 a valuable tool in creating many variants of package designs required for test marketing.’

‘With Esko, Xerox digital press customers now will have access to the most advanced technologies for packaging pre-production,’ said Carsten Knudsen, Esko's president and CEO. ‘This will enable them to become more efficient and professional in their operations, and to optimise their workflow by taking time, cost and risk of errors out of the process.’

The Esko software and hardware has been available across Europe from the end of November 2006 onwards through the Xerox sales network.

To areas other than Europe, what the new alliance does illustrate of course, is that Esko packaging solutions software and Xerox software offerings are absolutely compatible, and can easily enable exciting new added-value digital services to be offered - wherever the equipment is sold and supported.

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