HP Improves Digital Production of Labels and Packaging with Esko Reseller Agreement

HP will now be a value added reseller for two HP Indigo-optimized digital front-end solutions from Esko: the Esko Optimize Pack and the Scope Pack.

15/09/06 HP today announced an agreement with Esko to become a provider of Esko digital front end products as part of an end-to-end digital printing solution for the label, flexible packaging and shrink sleeve industries.

Announced at Labelexpo Americas, HP will now be a value added reseller for two HP Indigo-optimized digital front-end solutions from Esko: the Esko Optimize Pack and the Scope Pack. Both dramatically decrease print preparation and color management times, enhancing the overall workflow productivity of HP Indigo presses.

During the show, these Esko solutions will be driving live jobs on the new HP Indigo press ws4500 and the HP Indigo press ws4050 in the HP booth, #3223.

“Our successful integration with Esko is a major win for the label industry as HP continues to expand its digital end to end workflow solutions for industrial printing,” said Alon Bar-Shany, vice president and general manager, Indigo division, HP. “We are supporting hybrid environments where analog and digital printing co-exist, enabling converters to choose the right technology for each job. HP will maintain market leadership by offering new products and innovative solutions that enable a smooth transformation to digital.”

“Today’s label and packaging production workflow demands more powerful solutions that dramatically shorten lead time and reduce cost. Our intense cooperation with HP has provided clear evidence of Esko's unique ability to bring tangible benefits to label and packaging converters," said Carsten Knudsen, chief executive officer of Esko.

A faster color matching solution for digital labels

The two digital front end solutions, now available for users of HP Indigo press models ws4000, ws4050 and the new ws4500, reduce color matching time by as much as 50%. Included in these packages are additional products that boost digital printing productivity.

The Esko Optimize Pack enables seamless output to HP Indigo presses and digital proofing systems, even on jobs originally designed for flexography. It also features ICC-compliant multi-color profiling and includes Esko FlexRIP, Esko Kaleidoscope color management, and pre-written profiles of users’ specific HP Indigo press model.

The Esko Scope Pack for HP Indigo has the features and capabilities of the Optimize Pack with the addition of features from Esko’s powerful Scope Pre-Production Workflow Software. With the Scope Pack, users gain automation capabilities and imposition and barcoding tools provided by the Esko BackStage workflow server and Esko DeskPack packaging software, while the Esko’s DeskPack plug-ins for Adobe Illustrator provide production tools on the platform of choice in labels and packaging design.

A history of product integration with real benefits for the future

Today’s announcement builds on a successful relationship between HP and Esko that began at the Drupa 2004 trade show, when Esko first announced solutions designed to drive HP Indigo label and packaging presses. Since that time, customers using HP Indigo presses in tandem with Esko technologies have had the opportunity to gain efficiencies and productivities that enhance the value of digital converting operations.

The new Esko Optimize Pack and Esko Scope Pack are the natural next steps in expanding the successful collaboration between HP and Esko. The companies’ joint efforts will continue to offer benefits to customers with technologies that are currently in development. One such future product planned in the HP and Esko collaborative relationship is a variable-data label printing application being shown as a technology demonstration during Labelexpo Americas.