Users had the opportunity to inspect Esko’s products and network at the event
With 160 users registered for the event in September, EskoWorld UK 2013 was a great success. The conference took place at Loughborough University and an interesting agenda covered the wide span of sectors in which Esko is involved.
Paul Bates, UK & Eire manager, welcomed the audience and spoke about recent company developments. Esko has recently acquired CAPE Systems, a provider of software solutions for packaging design, pallet load optimisation and supply chain profitability, to completely cover the whole packaging life cycle. Mr Bates said, ‘Our declared ambition to embrace the complete packaging supply lifecycle has now been realised with the addition of Cape Systems, which is a market leader in palletisation. It is a nice addition to the Esko family.’
The two companies’ solutions were already tightly integrated as Cape Pack (a modular suite of programs to help determine the best product size, case count, case size and pallet load) uses ArtiosCAD data for calculation and simulations within the software.
Looking at the latest innovations, Mr Bates said that the Equinox solution for extended gamut printing is now being embraced by customers. ‘The demand for Equinox is driven by shorter print runs and an increase in versioning, and also by customers wanting to standardise and reduce costs. It enables conventional printing to challenge digital, and these are some of the hottest discussions we have with people at the moment,’ he said.
Mr Bates also spoke of other market drivers, such as the recent horsemeat scandal, and said, ‘Food manufacturer are trying to take control of their packaging and ensure that the contents listed on pack reflect the actual ingredients.
We have an opportunity to help our customers take that control.’ He also reflected on the recent Coca-Cola campaign, saying that he believes we will see more projects pulling the whole packaging chain together to focus strength and aim at specific markets. In terms of plans for the coming 12 months, Mr Bates said that there will be an emphasis on smaller, more local shows, including a series of Esko UK roadshows.
The world in 3D
Chris Stowe, product manager for 3D Solutions, revealed what was in store for visitors at Labelexpo. The company had teamed up with HP and Sharp Iris in a major collaboration that saw a large stereoscopic 3D HD LED video wall from Barco set up on HP’s stand to demonstrate a complete virtual supermarket where customers could ‘walk around’ and ‘pick up’ products. Generated by Esko’s Studio Visualizer software, it gave visitors a real feel for how products would look on shelf, with some uploading their own design file in advance to see the result at the show.
Mr Stowe said, ‘Every brand manager in the process of bringing a new product to market wonders how the final product will stack up in the store, among all its competitors. Making physical mock ups is time consuming, and doesn’t come cheap. A set up like the one we had at the HP Pavilion is the perfect showcase for the high level of reality that the Studio Store Visualizer offers. It is an exciting submersive 3D virtual experience that completely changes the way that brand managers, designers and packaging converters will work together.’
Market analysis
Jan de Roeck, director of solutions management, described himself as a marketing research specialist, and he spends a lot of time analysing market trends. He said, ‘Packaging is still prospering and is on the radar of many printers. However, the main growth is in the emerging markets, such as Africa, where there are big opportunities for packaging. In Western Europe, we need to find new ways of growing, hopefully our presentations here today will give inspiration to do so.’
He continued, ‘The last 18 months has seen what I would describe as an ‘accelerated transformation’ of our business. We want to help our customers be part of this transformation and help them grow their market share with our Esko solutions.’
Interaction
After the plenary presentations, the conference branched out into four different breakout sessions which covered pre-press for packaging, large format digital print and finishing, flexo imaging and digital print for labels and flexibles, and structural design for packaging. These smaller focused sessions gave users the opportunity to hear presentations on the products most relevant to them and ample chance to ask more detailed questions.
The lively discussion and many questions from users in the smaller sessions explain why these user conferences are so well attended. It is also clear that it provides Esko with invaluable feedback and a great opportunity to engage with real life users of their products.
