The integration brings together Esko WebCenter, a web-based platform tailored for CPG and pharmaceutical teams to manage aspects of the packaging management workflow from creation to approval and distribution, with GlobalVision’s automated proofreading platform, Verify. The result means a unified and user-friendly workflow that streamlines quality inspections and ensures 100% accuracy, compliance, and print readiness.

A key feature is the single-Click file inspection tools for compliance. The built-in automated text compare, spell check, graphics, barcode and braille inspections ensure that files are compliant with global regulatory requirements by checking files as they move through the WebCenter workflow.

Security and data protection with the closed-loop integration is said to ensure that files leaving WebCenter are securely transferred to Verify, prioritising data security and protecting sensitive information.

Another feature is the seamless artwork management workflow. This reduces the number of revisions needed, improve productivity, and create more synergy in the artwork management workflow by connecting Verify to WebCenter, allowing for single click file transfers between the two.

The Verify integration in WebCenter brings together speed, precision, and security to address the challenges faced by artwork, labelling and quality control teams to save time and maintain compliance by automating proofreading throughout the artwork management process.

Michael Malz, chief product officer at GlobalVision, commented, ‘Esko and GlobalVision teams have been hard at work for many months to bring this new integration to life. Accessing GlobalVision tools from within the WebCenter workflow has been a key function our shared customers have been requesting, as it brings quality inspections right where users need them.’

Jan De Roeck, Esko director of marketing, industry relations and strategy, added, ‘We are dedicated to developing solutions that accelerate the go-to-market of packaged goods. We are always keen to ensure our customers are making the very most of their Esko software and we are delighted to have worked with GlobalVision on this integration.’

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The P5 Pack series is a printing option tailored to the production of corrugated displays and packaging. The P5 350 HS Pack combines the versatility of a P5 hybrid printing system with the ability to print on a wide range of materials used in the POP/POS and retail markets.

Andrea Riccardi, head of product management, graphics at Durst, commented, ‘The modular design of the P5 technology platform enables us to develop new products for a wide range of applications. We identify market requirements and incorporate them into our development process. The P5 350 HS Pack is another result of our customer-oriented approach and expands our P5 portfolio.’

As part of the P5 Pack series, Durst is introducing a new ink set that is tailored to the requirements of display and packaging printing. The Luvera LED ink is characterised by low odour and high abrasion resistance. With this new ink, Durst has covered a wider colour gamut to give displays and packaging a high level of vibrancy. The Luvera inks are also Ikea and IOT-Mat compliant. 

The P5 Pack series is equipped with a material guide and a pressure rollers system, aiming to ease production. The series’ automated corrugated edge holders avoid collisions between the print heads and the substrates. The width and height are set automatically by selecting the media channel in the software, reducing set-up time.

In addition, the vacuum system increases the suction power on the print belt by approximately 40% compared to the conventional systems. This means that heavy and warped corrugated boards can be flattened and printed cleanly.

The P5 Pack series also includes the sensor-controlled Multitrack six function, which is managed by six independent printing queues, enabling up to six corrugated boards to be printed in parallel by manual feeding.

To maximise production potential of the printing system, the P5 Pack series, as all P5 printing systems, can be equipped with the proprietary Durst Workflow Rip/colour management and analytics software such as the Durst Automat MT.

With this new option for the automatic feeding and stacking of boards, up to four lanes can be processed in parallel. The multi-lane operation of the Automat MT works together with the Multitrack six function of the P5 350 HS Pack and is said to result in clean and fast media separation, even with difficult synthetic boards and thin substrates.

Continuous and stable production is ensured by pneumatically controlled flaps that prevent the materials from slipping during the loading and unloading process. The entire printing process is continuously monitored by surveillance cameras. The feed and delivery tables have also been further developed to ensure smooth transportation of the boards.

‘With the Automat MT, we can map different levels of automation, ranging from three quarters to full automation. This allows us to raise our customers’ productivity to a new level,’ stated Christian Harder, vice president of sales at Durst Group.

The availability of the P5 Pack series is planned for Q3 2024.

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Soloflo has been designed with flexible integration in mind, facilitating effortless updates and working with existing SKUs. Moreover, as Soloflo eradicates manual order inputs, it means resellers of Solopress products no longer have to manually transcribe customer orders onto the Solopress’s platform or liaise with account managers.

As a result, Soloflo means businesses that sell print produced by Solopress can ‘effortlessly’ channel orders straight from their customer into the Solopress workflow, ‘dramatically enhancing accuracy and efficiency.’

Solopress managing director Simon Cooper commented, ‘In the print industry, where timing, accuracy and efficiency are critical, Soloflo will be a game-changer. We’ve designed it with our customers in mind, especially those who resell printed materials. It makes their ordering process much more straightforward and less prone to errors.’

Soloflo also serves businesses requiring a ready-made plugin or those needing a bespoke, coded API for integration.

Mr Cooper noted, ‘While our primary audience may be print resellers, we recognise that our customers may define themselves differently, such as media procurement agencies or tech start-ups. Soloflo caters to anyone who needs print production and recognises the benefits of automating the ordering process.’

He continued, ‘Soloflo’s core benefit lies in its ability to allow orders received by customers to flow directly into our system. Its flexibility and convenience represent a significant advantage that will make Solopress a more sought-after print supplier to customers who prefer to order in this way.

‘System updates and changing SKUs have been a common frustration with other print APIs. Soloflo alleviates this issue with a user-friendly, easy-to-maintain system that integrates whatever SKUs the customer already uses. Importantly, we commit to automating updates and providing advance warnings of any price changes,’ stated Mr Cooper.

Solopress is to debut Soloflo at The Print Show 2023.

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Connect is the former user event of EFI, which took place each January at The Wynn in Las Vegas. When EPS went on its own in late 2021, Connect went with it as a software-centric gathering. In January 2023, the event was opened up to more of the supply chain in line with EPS’s broadened remit as an independent company.

To further the evolution of the event, EPS has now opted to relocate Connect to The Venetian and change the dates from late January to 20-22 August 2024.

On the change of venue, EPS stated, ‘The Venetian is a luxurious venue that offers a wide range of activities, entertainment and price points that make it easier on company budgets.’

Regarding the new date, the company said, ‘Our mission has always been to empower all EPS customers, regardless of size or location. Due to the cyclical nature of our industry, late summer offers more opportunities for people from around the world to join us for a week of learning and networking.’

Registration is now open for Connect 2024 with a super early bird discounted rate available until 30 September 2023.

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Fiery, separated from longtime parent EFI at the beginning of 2023, will demonstrate how its Fiery JobFlow solution streamlines and speeds up printing tasks through a single interface. Mark Boulter, sales development manager at Fiery, commented, ‘This is the perfect opportunity to learn how using Fiery JobFlow in conjunction with Konica Minolta’s print solutions can streamline print jobs with unified print room management.’

EPS will showcase its print and packaging software MIS/ERP solutions. John Morley, global channel partner sales sirector at EPS said, ‘Our team will be on hand to give visitors an insight into how our integrated, automated and purpose-built software technology solutions drive revenue and growth, reduce the cost of sales and manufacturing, and empower successful transformation of print and packaging companies through powerful business and production workflow automation.’

Solimar Systems will be present following the announcement earlier this year that the two companies have expanded their strategic partnership to include UK operations as well as those in the USA. Workflow-enhancing solutions from the Solimar Chemistry platform are now available to Konica Minolta’s UK customers, and support the migration of print to KM output devices in data-driven print environments.

Jamie Walsh, sales manager for EMEA and APAC, Solimar Systems, commented, ‘We are excited to be leveraging our new UK partnership with Konica Minolta and joining the stand, to discuss the opportunities for combining Solimar workflow solutions with existing and potential customers of the Accurio range of output devices.’

Konica Minolta itself will run demonstrations of the new flagship AccurioPress C14000e high-volume toner press, AccurioShine 3600 digital embellishment press with iFoilOne and TU-510 innovative four-edge trimmer and creaser, showing how it is now possible to complete entire jobs on a single production line.

Jon Hiscock, head of Production & Industrial Print at Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) stated, ‘We are looking forward to The Print Show and working with our partners from Fiery, eProductivity Software, and Solimar Systems. This is a major event for anyone involved in the UK print industry and there is plenty to explore on our stand. With Konica Minolta celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, it is very fitting that we are being joined by these partners to show the very latest in print and our continuing commitment to igniting print possibilities.’

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Zaikio aims to provide universal interconnectivity between print hardware and software via an API that allows data to pass seamlessly between disparate systems from multiple vendors. Its initial offering, Procurement, aims at the pricing and purchasing stage, but its Mission Control follow-up is described as a ‘single sign-on solution to provide a control point for machines and processes’ such as colour management or imposition, covering everything from order receipt to shipping logistics. As well as uptake from paper supplier Premier, Zaikio reached an agreement with Tharstern, prior to the latter’s acquisition by eProductivity Software in March 2023.

Infigo has an established track record in web-to-print software and integration with specific MIS and other production control systems, and says that the partnership will further increase the range of platforms with which it can integrate.

Paul Bromley, head of global sales for Infigo since May 2023, said, ‘Infigo are proud to announce our partnership with Zaikio. This aligns with our business strategy of once again leading the way in having best-in-class solutions with a huge focus on integration. Customers have often said that our range of connectivity and capability is part of the hidden secrets within Infigo and I would certainly agree with this comment. 

‘Integration and connectivity has always sat at the core of our company ethos and the Zaikio platform matches our vision: to provide leading-edge solutions, harness automation and simplify the workflow, which is something our industry is now starting to embrace.’

Infigo’s head of global marketing Chris Minn commented, ‘We believe in enabling our customers to maximise their revenue within an automated workflow, which necessitates leading-edge connectivity. Zaikio is an exemplar in this respect, embodying the essence of connection within the print industry.

‘Zaikio really is a one stop shop for PSPs and will help our customers to experiment with new products and services and diversify their revenue streams.’

Karl Ciz, in charge of partner success for Zaikio, added, ‘We have made it our mission to develop workflows in the printing industry that allows all participants to communicate with each other on a level playing field. Our partnership with Infigo is the next step towards universal connectivity of the printing industry’

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Rubika aims to add value to existing documents with a modular suite of post-composition document ‘re-engineering capabilities’ that can maximise postal discounts, add barcodes for insertion control, modify finishing, automate device load balancing and enable’ white paper’ production. Rubika is part of Solimar’s Chemistry platform, integrated with its other workflow and data optimising, document enhancing and job tracking technologies.

A new feature included in version 4.5 is the ‘de-imposition module’, which  converts previousy-imposed PDFs into one-up PDFs. Pre-imposed documents such as offset books, catalogues, labels, ID cards and postcards can be printed on cut-sheet devices or published online or in archive systems. The PDFs can also be re-imposed with Rubika’s Imposition Module to set up jobs for printing on digital inkjet presses or parsed into smaller booklets with added personalisation. Rubika 4.5 also includes a scale and shift module, redesigned UI for separator sheets and commingling module, with the latter now  streamlined to make the step easier to configure with a central interface.

‘Rubika’s popularity is largely driven by the substantial revenue opportunities and operational cost savings it brings our customers. Our client testimonials speak to the value of its capabilities. The features in version 4.5 demonstrate our commitment to expanding the ways that Rubika underpins the successes of our clients,’ stated Mary Ann Rowan, chief experience officer of Solimar Systems.

The company claims that the enhancements boost user productivity with an improved user experience requiring fewer clicks while hiding more advanced options until needed, which reduces the time spent training staff.

Ms Rowan concludes, ‘We strive to solve difficult problems for our customers by delivering powerful, economical, and configurable off-the-shelf, DIY software. We are very proud that Rubika has transformed the way that highly variable and personalised communications are produced.’

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Named after the mako shark for its speed and intelligence, Mako Core 7.0 introduces an Intelligent Document Object Model (Idom) that provides access to every aspect of a document’s composition, including fonts, images, vector art, layers and metadata. With Idom, developers can craft intelligent options tailored to the specific requirements of the print industry. Unlike other SDKs that offer generic support, the Mako is focused solely on print.

The Mako SDK Idom allows users to convert between different page description languages (PDLs), create new print options using Mako as a graphics engine, analyse various PDLs, achieve transparency flattening using both vector and raster techniques, handle complex colour operations, generate new documents for raw data and create master images for camera and scanner-based inspection systems, amongst other tasks.

Mako Core 7.0 also incorporates a colour management module (CMM) using technology from sister company ColorLogic to guarantee ICC profile compatibility and consistent colour rendering. With its APIs, developers can evaluate and transform colour properties, enabling precise corrections and streamlined workflows. Mako also offers support for extended gamut colour, enabling vibrant reproduction beyond the usual CMYK colour spaces.

A layout engine ‘enables’ seamless text flow in paragraphs and columns, including support for right-to-left text flow.

‘Mako offers developers a robust solution for processing and manipulating PDLs, with a strong emphasis on print-related functionalities,’ explained David Stevenson, Mako’s product manager. ‘Whether you’re building a PDF viewer, editor, or a custom workflow component, Mako provides the essential print intelligence, acquired by Global Graphics over 30 years, eliminating the need for extensive developer expertise. Moreover, it serves as an excellent platform for creating cutting-edge smart print applications, incorporating technologies like machine learning and artificial print intelligence, as demonstrated in our Streamline Direct product.’

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One of the two new options, the Fiery MIC-4160 DFE, drives Konica Minolta AccurioPress 6120, 6136m and 6136P printers and processes jobs ‘30% faster’ compared to the previous generation DFE. The Fiery MIC-4170 DFE delivers a significant speed boost and processes jobs 41% faster than the MIC-4160, and is claimed to run 86% faster than the previous generation Fiery DFE.

In addition to bringing higher productivity to AccurioPress 6120/6136/6136P, the new Fiery MIC-4170 DFE also supports the new Konica Minolta AccurioPress 6272P tandem engine printer. The MIC-4170, built on the Fiery NX Pro platform running Fiery FS500 Pro software, eliminates workflow bottlenecks that could prevent users from continuously running at the AccurioPress 6272P’s maximum speeds.

‘The ability for AccurioPress customers to adapt to changing market requirements and develop new, profitable revenue streams is being further enabled by our partnership with Fiery,’ said Ines Wennemann, senior product manager production printing, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe. ‘Advanced automation, fewer human touchpoints and higher productivity with tangible effects and less waste helps operations ignite print possibilities by becoming more streamlined and efficient. Maximising workflow also dramatically enhances capacity and supports production agility and responsiveness.’

‘These new, highly functional DFEs help to differentiate Konica Minolta AccurioPresses from other monochrome printers in the market,’ said John Henze, Fiery’s vice president of sales and marketing. ‘Without Fiery DFE technology, users miss out on the advanced processing power of Fiery FS500 Pro – our core software platform which enables users to always run their digital printers at top speeds. Plus, other DFEs do not offer the exclusive intelligent automation power of Fiery JobExpert, which saves time by ensuring correct settings for accurate printing the first time, every time.’

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The Konica Minolta AccurioPress C14000e prints at 140ppm in A4 and is 40% faster than any other toner-based device from Konica Minolta. Together with the C12000e, a second model in the series that has a speed of 120ppm, the flagship production presses were Konica Minolta’s first foray into the high-volume toner printing segment, which has seen growth rates return to virtually pre-pandemic levels.

The improvements to the AccurioPress C14000/C12000 Series follow customer feedback as Konica Minolta aims to grow its position within high production printing markets for colour toner machines.

The new features of the updated models include enhancements to colour and imaging, productivity, management and connection upgrades through the EFI Fiery Controller Version 2.1; the latest firmware with software additions and improvements including Konica Minolta’s IQ-501 AQA (auto quality adjustment), Rip, media sensor and PrintManager enhancements. These are complemented by an  expansion of paper weights, banner paper support and general improved usability, and a wide range of automated finishing options to create ready-made print products.

Malcolm Smith, category manager professional print at Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) commented, ‘The C14000e/C12000e presses represent another significant success story for Konica Minolta. The enhancements to the presses are helping customers to expand and streamline their businesses. This is achieved through advanced automation, fewer human touchpoints and higher productivity with tangible effects and less waste. Working closely in partnership, we are continuously helping our customers to rethink possibilities in a constantly evolving world, creating new and exciting opportunities.’

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