Heidelberg Asia and Esko Asia Pacific have entered into a reseller agreement enabling Heidelberg Asia to distribute Esko's Scope packaging software modules DeskPack, Plato and ArtiosCAD and the popular Kongsberg XE10 folding carton cutting table (pictured). Heidelberg will target its folding carton converter customers in China, India, Korea and Malaysia with these Esko products. Heidelberg will provide first line support to its customers, backed by Esko's Asia Pacific support organization for second line support.

‘Heidelberg has developed a clear focus on the packaging and label market. In Asia we launched a packaging initiative around Ipex 2006, and have since organised two PrintScape Open Houses in Kuala Lumpur and Shenzhen focused on packaging - each time with Esko as a partner. We identified a need to partner with other suppliers to bring optimal solutions to our packaging customers. Esko is the leading provider for packaging pre-production, and as such adds perfectly to our strategy,’ said Bent Mortensen, president of Heidelberg Asia.

‘This agreement opens new perspectives both for Esko and for Heidelberg to gain momentum in the packaging industry in Asia. Heidelberg is the absolute leader in offset printing worldwide and a formidable force in Asia, especially in China,’ added Jean-Pierre De Moor, Esko's vice president Asia Pacific. ‘We are convinced that Heidelberg's excellent and extensive sales and service organization combined with the packaging prepress expertise of Esko builds a sure recipe for success.’

Esko products for folding carton converters
Heidelberg has selected some of Esko's most popular packaging prepress solutions to create the right fit for folding carton converters.

DeskPack is Esko's affordable solution turning Adobe Illustrator CS2 into a full-fledged packaging design and prepress production tool; Plato is a smart, Adobe-Certified step-and-repeat application for folding cartons and labels; and ArtiosCAD is the world-leading structural design software environment for folding carton, corrugated and display materials. DeskPack, Plato and ArtiosCAD all are part of Esko's broader Scope suite of software tools for packaging pre-production. Heidelberg will use the selected modules to configure a dedicated packaging front-end driving its range of Suprasetter thermal and Prosetter violet CTP systems.

With Esko's Kongsberg XE10, Heidelberg will offer a small-format, die-less cutting table to its folding carton customers. The XE10 can be used to produce mock-ups, samples and short-runs of boxes, as well as to cut varnish blankets.

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