Redacción Alabrent
From the Aurora Exhibit Hall at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Aurora, Colorado, the Esko team highlighted the latest advances in its ecosystem that have been developed to accelerate go to market for label converters and commercial printers looking to diversify into the labels sector.Attendees saw first-hand how Esko S2 – the AI-powered cloud platform designed for the packaging and labels industry - and the newest innovations in intelligent automation deliver benefits individually and also how they combine to supercharge workflows. “Esko S2 securely brings together the entire value chain and takes our ecosystem to unprecedented levels,” said Geert De Proost, Director Product Offering for Converters at Esko. “Removing silos across the packaging value chain through end-to-end integration, Esko S2 enables stakeholders to collaborate around a central, single source of truth - connecting people and departments and bringing transparency across the end-to-end process.”
At the DScoop event, Esko showcased WebCenter Pack – the newest cloud-based addition to its market-leading packaging management workflow solutions. “WebCenter Pack empowers CSR teams to handle preflight checks independently, leading to quicker customer feedback and significantly reducing delays,” said Geert. “Improving response times boosts customer satisfaction and retention, both of which are critical factors in today’s competitive market.
“Precise color reproduction, regulatory compliance and error-free content are essential for driving operational efficiency in today’s market,” he said. “Faster review cycles and more efficient workflows improve order success rates, ultimately supporting company growth. WebCenter Pack provides a complete solution - from easy file uploads and immediate visual preflight feedback to streamlined task coordination, automated processes and reliable version management."
Alongside WebCenter Pack – and fully integrated with it - the Esko team demonstrated the latest version of its powerful workflow automation software, Automation Engine. “With Automation Engine, the prepress team can automatically create jobs and efficiently organize data storage with smarter workflows,” said Geert. “Similarly, they can automatically step and repeat and impose or nest files for both conventional and digital printing, including variable data processing.”
Geert said the new Version PDF task in the latest version of Automation Engine makes it easier than ever to manage artwork variants. “Users can combine a base file with multiple version files in one automated step,” he said. “Extract layers, separations, or variants in seconds, and keep production perfectly organized. Meanwhile, a new Color (HSV) compare mode enables visual comparison of PDFs by color rather than separations, and the Manage Color ticket now fully supports Native PDF files, delivering integrated color conversions across automated workflows,” he said.
DScoop attendees also had the chance to see the award-winning AI-driven preproduction software for packaging and labels, Phoenix, in action. Now available for roll-to-roll label converters across flexo, offset and digital printing, Phoenix reduces waste by delivering AI-powered nesting and imposition for sheet-fed and roll-fed print production across flexo and offset applications.
“Phoenix is an advanced software for optimizing sheet and web layouts,” said Geert. “With Phoenix, we are empowering customers by streamlining print workflows, optimizing resources, and delivering high-quality, cost-effective production solutions. It enables users to fully automate their planning and early estimation processes, replacing formerly time-consuming manual steps that were also prone to error,” he said.
Underlining its commitment to accelerating go to market, the Esko team demonstrated how the intuitive user interface of its ArtPro+ native PDF editor offers increased operator efficiency and easily prepares artwork for printing production. “Requiring minimal training, ArtPro+ users can directly work on PDF files with enhanced editing features,” said Geert. “Not only does it combine smart selection tools, breadcrumbs and a set of simple icons to provide easy access to graphical objects, but with ArtPro+ designers can open any ArtPro file or normalized PDF and turn it into a native PDF, making it possible to share files with no conversion and process jobs 40% faster.”
Esko also used DScoop to showcase its latest award-winning innovation, Print Clone. Launched in 2025, the advanced cloud-native color matching software leverages AI and automation to enable digital press operators to replicate colors from previously printed packages with unmatched precision, regardless of the original printing process.
“Esko Print Clone delivers high-quality results with minimal manual intervention,” said Geert. “It eliminates the traditional trial-and-error approach to color matching, significantly reducing manual interventions and accelerating job completion times for packaging and label converters. The ultimate color-matching solution, Print Clone boosts digital printing productivity, eliminating lengthy test cycles and helping minimize waste and subsequent environmental impact.
“It was fantastic to meet with visitors at DScoop Edge Rockies and showcase how these latest technologies work together as an ecosystem that accelerates the process from order intake to final on-press designs,” he said.