Page 18 - Print21 Magazine Jan-Feb 21

Wide Format
Esko’s Automation Engine for wide format
Automation Engine is one workflow to feed all your presses. Its developer Esko says
it is the only workflow that automates the requirements of all printing techniques: digital, offset and flexo.
Automation Engine
is Esko’s workflow server. It automates print production tasks and also integrates business systems, which speeds up the process, but more importantly, reduces the error rate and the need for operator intervention.
Scott Thompson at Esko ANZ says: “Automation Engine will
reduce errors by 80 per cent, as
well as increasing efficiency and throughput, enabling printers to handle 40 per cent more jobs without the need to increase the headcount.”
Automation Engine will connect the Kongsberg cutting unit and any wide format print system – and other brands of cutting tables – into one digital workflow.
Esko says by standardising your
processes and offloading tasks to the automated workflow software you can significantly increase throughput.
Automation Engine optimises
print files and optimises cutting files and reports. Operators use Device Manager to monitor job status, and
to manage and prioritise the queues
of all connected devices. It can also be integrated with upstream MIS systems.
Esko Automation Engine sets up an automated prepress workflow with an intelligent router that checks the printing process metadata, routing each separation through a dedicated path of an automated workflow.
The result, it says, is faster throughput, greater flexibility, more uptime, improved quality of output without duplicate efforts.
Only one production file is required for combination print jobs.
The job contains the parameters for the various printing processes. These are recognised within the workflow and take their own individual, predetermined path to automatically obtain the specific print settings.
Scott Thompson says: “We have taken our 30 years of knowledge and wrapped them up into ready-made workflows. These automate routine tasks, such as preflight checking, trapping, cut path and bleed creation, nesting or tiling, and adding grommet marks automatically.”
Automation Engine integrates seamlessly with any existing infrastructure (MIS, ERP). Automation Engine accepts a wide range of desktop publishing formats, supporting rips or file servers, and all industry standards such as PDF, XML, XMP, SQL queries and JDF/JMF communication.
Above right:
Automation Engine: Workflow benefits
Below:
Variangle: Cutting at any angle 0–60 degrees
VariAngle launched
Esko is launching the new VariAngle tool for the Kongsberg C and XP range of digital finishing tables, which it says enables cutting at any angle from 0 to 60 degrees at high speeds.
The company says it also delivers “total freedom in the design of 3D creative displays while also resulting in faster setup times and an uplift in cutting speed”.
It can also be retrofitted to existing Kongsberg C and XP machines. The company says VariAngle has the capacity to provide the cutting edge for sign and POS converters in an increasingly competitive sector.
Scott Thompson at Esko ANZ says: “The combination of the new tool
and the supporting functionality in ArtiosCAD delivers design freedom. For the first time ever, converters can make 60-degree V-notch cuts enabling the making of triangular pillars,
something which has been impossible until now as no machine on the market can cut at an angle greater than 45 degrees. It can also cut angled curves, dependent on radius size.”
Digital finishing product manager Knut Johansen says: “Fitting the new VariAngle tool makes existing Kongsberg C and XP tables completely self-sufficient and capable of delivering almost any design. VariAngle removes the need to stop production when changing tools, drastically reducing setup time and increasing cutting speed.”
VariAngle cuts straight lines at
any angle selection in half-degree increments between 0 degrees and 60 degrees and at up to 100m/min. “With the new 3D design features of Esko structural packaging design software ArtiosCAD, the intelligent, automatic VariAngle tool delivers a new level of creativity,” Johansen says. 21
18 Print21 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021