“My press runs continue to get SHORTER!”
“I need to create and produce things FASTER!”
Wait, was that an echo? Does this sound like something you are saying or hearing more and more? The pressures of short runs and faster turnarounds have many converters looking to move prepress in-house. But then maybe you begin to wonder, “Can I do it as well as my prepress supplier?” and “Do we have the personnel to do it?”
This is where All Printing Resources can help. Many turn to us for guidance through the process of bringing prepress and platemaking capabilities in-house. Not only does our team offer extensive experience in new prepress implementations but also in prepress updates, helping to improve existing departments by taking their capabilities and efficiencies to new levels. To top it off, APR partners with Esko, THE market leader for packaging prepress solutions. Esko has the vast majority of the market share for prepress editors and over 70% of the platemaking market and continues evolving with more prepress updates. What does this mean?APR + ESKO = Superior Support and Vast Solution Offerings!
Common prepress challenges cited by Esko:
- Generate more jobs - faster & cheaper (a reality that never seems to change)
- Quality of artwork received seems to be declining
- Skilled People are hard to find (same problem we hear for the pressroom too!)
- Failure to Standardize on Best Practices (operators doing it manually or “their way”)
2018 Esko Prepress Updates
- Operators are spending upwards of 20% of their time with manual preflighting tasks. Esko already offers excellent preflight solutions which allow operators the choice to either QC incoming artwork in their native Illustrator workspace, or QC as a fully automated task. This year they are releasing a solution for AE Color Preflight to evaluate digitally printed jobs and to optimize so they can be produced cheaper and faster. For example, a job produced with just CMYK vs CMYKOG could save a digital printer 17 hours on press and 122,000 clicks. WOW!
- Many prepress operators spend as much as 6-hours trapping jobs! Esko will be releasing a faster and improved PowerTrapper in 2018 that includes better trapping of soft masks.
- It is common to convert text to outline to minimize processing and output issues. But what happens when the customer calls with a text change? This can be a tedious task to deal with. Later this year, Esko will be releasing a Text Recognition tool for Adobe Illustrator. It can analyze and recognize outlined text and convert it back to an editable font. Say WHAT!?
- A new Flexo Plate Module will be released for Automation Engine. It is not unrealistic to see plate wastes of 25% or even 30%. This new module automates DFS merging to optimize the plate material and minimize plate waste to just 10%.
- 2018 marks the initial release of Automation Engine QuickStart and WebCenter QuickStart. These turnkey solutions collect commonly utilized tools in a neat, preconfigured package that is more affordable, quickly and easily implemented, plus they offer expansion for future needs. AE QuickStart for Labels, WC QuickStart for Labels and WC QuickStart for Corrugated are the first of the QuickStart series that have already launched.
- You have likely heard the buzz, but in case you haven't, the Crystal XPS is truly a game changer for platemaking! This off-line UV LED exposure unit combines the back and main exposures, yielding extremely consistent plates. UV LED does not require a “warm-up period” for the bulbs, and emits a more even and consistent radiation making the XPS a sure win for the plateroom. It works with both Spark and Crystal CDI models. When coupled with a Crystal CDI, we finally are realizing the potential for automated Flexo platemaking. Currently available in both the 4835 and 5080 formats, the XPS with new screening for flat-top plates offers exciting improvements for plate consistency and enhanced print results.
