Impressions from EskoWorld 2015

This was only my second EskoWorld user group conference but colour me impressed twice in a row! This year’s event was held in Scottsdale, Arizona, surrounded by red clay, insanely tall cacti and beautiful pools to help tame the three-digit heat wave. The sessions covered a broad area of topics catering to all types of Esko users, from brand owners to converters and everyone in between.  While there weren’t necessarily any earth shattering announcements at the conference (to be expected in a pre-drupa year), we did have the opportunity to meet with the new members of the executive team.

At the helm of Esko is Udo Panenka, coming from another Danaher company (owners of Esko) he has been immersed in the DBS (Danaher Business System) philosophy for seven years. DBS has a lean management philosophy with a focus on leadership. Many Esko employees agree that it is the company’s “special sauce”.  Also joining the team is Philippe Adam, VP of Global Marketing. Having worked in software business performance for over 20 years, he is well poised to translate the amazing customer stories that come from using robust software. Last, but not least, VP for the Americas is Jon Giardina also joining from Danaher.  He says one of his favourite aspects of his job is meeting customers and helping them improve their speed to market and quality.  All three of the gentlemen are engineering types with a strong sense of good business which I’m sure is very encouraging for all Esko stakeholders.

The leadership is focusing on issues such as SKU proliferation, shorter runs and increased workflow complexities. Everything in development concentrates on automation, integration, standardization…and just to break up all the “tions”, user experience/user interface. The business broadly breaks up into four areas, which include workflow, flexo prepress (Full HD Flexo), cutting table solutions and packaging management. From a more local perspective, in Canada the market is buzzing with uptake for Kongsberg cutting tables and CDIs. Marc Raad, Account Manager, has been amazed by how people are using the technology.  I had the opportunity to visit Sean Vizsy, President of Full Frame Signs, which services the film industry. While his main market is signage, he shared with us that the tables are extremely flexible. As an example he has used his Kongsberg V-24 to cut leather for costume making. With digital printing on the rise in the packaging industry, finishing equipment that can keep pace is more than needed.

Other aspects worth noting are Esko’s new Connect module, which allow third party software systems to connect (surprise) with Automation Engine. This means that your MIS system can interface with your workflow as it should. The module uses open systems rather than going proprietary, making linking up easier. In addition Esko is invested in further integrating their hardware and software. The aim is zero defects and down time using machine learning to warn users of potential upcoming maintenance issues.  Further on the service side, Esko is investigating creating a customer engagement platform. With increased complexity in jobs and systems there is tremendous value in enabling customers to connect digitally as well as providing initial training online. The site will likely integrate with an e-commerce engine making it the one stop shop for all Esko needs. Currently, resources are broadly dispersed based on location and across several sites. This change is much anticipated by Esko users.

Other central topics at the conference included extended gamut printing and Full HD Flexo. The logic behind extended gamut is that running seven colours gives you the ability to reproduce a variety of hues that would typically run as spot colours. With run lengths decreasing, taking on the extended gamut approach has some advantages. There are of course economies of scale when it comes to ink savings, but more importantly you save on makeready as you switch between jobs since no spot colour units are being washed up. In one of the sessions I attended about using Equinox for extended gamut, more than half the room was already using extended gamut, while the other half was definitely there to figure out how to get going. Full HD meanwhile has not seen as much adoption in North America as it has in Europe. With quality and colour accuracy no longer being a “nice-to-have” this will likely change. In fact, locally Artcraft Label in Burlington installed a new CDI just a few months ago. Esko also received an FPPA 2015 Technological Innovator of the Year award for the system.

To tie off some of the themes, there was a lot of talk about the overall workflow of packaging. Namely, Esko continues to pursue buy-in from brand owners to create stakeholders that manage packaging within the brand. I have often heard that packaging is last to join the marketing discussion, but this is changing. Marketers understand that in-store decisions are critical and that packaging plays a key role.  Further, the system is becoming increasingly complex with more packaging types, materials and regulations in the market today than ever before. Online portal tools such as WebCenter help manage the package right from the get go. Interestingly, Danaher has also recently acquired MediaBeacon, a data asset management company. This is very in-line with Esko’s mission to get involved in managing the package further upstream. From a first glance, MediaBeacon appears like it will fit right in, with a very flexible interface and impressive search capabilities.

Lastly, there was a definite consensus that digital is picking up pace in packaging. Esko’s focus is to develop systems that will fluidly move between digital or flexo, as this mixed-methods approach is likely to thrive in today’s market.