The ‘Right First Time’ workflow was previewed at the EskoWorld user event held in Texas this week.
It links the expertise from four Danaher- businesses: Esko, X-Rite, Pantone and AVT, and is targeted at label and flexible packaging converters, as well as brands.
“We wanted to produce a closed loop system for both content and colour,” explained Esko director of solutions marketing Geert De Proost. “We held a workshop in March with all the companies and hammered it out, and before we went ahead we validated our ideas with converters and brands alike.
“We’ve had an amazing amount of interest – the beauty is people can pick the pain point they want to address – what are your pain points and biggest areas of waste, let’s tackle that first.”
By creating a digital link between Esko’s Automation Engine packaging workflow and AVT’s inspection systems, jobs can be automatically set up for inspection on conventional and digital presses, and also on rewinders.
Claimed benefits include increasing press uptime by at least half an hour – and as much as one hour – per shift, as well as reducing press setup times.
In addition, colour consistency is tackled via bi-directional integration between X-Rite’s ColorCert Suite and AVT’s Spectralab inline colour measurement tool, while the development of a link between ColorCert Suite and Esko’s WebCenter collaboration platform allows for “true closed-loop colour control and reporting”.
The integration is slated to be commercially available by the autumn and will be shown at Labelexpo Americas in September.
De Proost said the feedback from initial pre-release installations had been “phenomenal”.
“Brands can see exactly who has performed well across suppliers for different products,” he added.
Pricing and commercial models have yet to be finalised.
Danaher acquired Esko in 2011, followed by X-Rite (which owns Pantone) in 2012, and went on to buy AVT last year.
The $18.3bn (£13.6bn) turnover conglomerate owns more than 30 companies across its life sciences, diagnostics, and environmental and applied solutions divisions. It also owns Linx, Videojet and Laetus.
