Eshuis and Brotech join forces

Eshuis and Brotech Digital Graphics have formed a strategic collaboration to advance the development and real-world industrial application of next-generation AI-driven flexo production. 

The collaboration builds on a long-standing relationship between the two companies, developed through many years of working together and built on mutual trust. Since 2025, Eshuis and Brotech have held deeper discussions about what the next generation of flexo production should look like and how automation, production data and artificial intelligence can help address some of the industry’s most important challenges. 

Founded in 1891 in Dalfsen, the Netherlands, Eshuis has evolved from a traditional printing house into one of the leading European label and packaging printing companies specializing in narrow-web printing and converting. 

Today, Eshuis produces self-adhesive labels, shrink sleeves and flexible packaging for customers across food, beverage, personal care, chemical and other industries, combining advanced flexo and digital printing technologies with sophisticated finishing processes. 

Its long heritage is matched by a strong commitment to technological innovation, production excellence and continuous improvement. 

Eshuis operates a highly dynamic manufacturing environment where a wide variety of products, materials, designs and production requirements are processed every day. This combination of industrial experience, production complexity and continuous innovation provides an ideal real-world environment for exploring how AI-driven flexo technologies can move beyond controlled testing and deliver measurable value in everyday manufacturing. 

Over the past year, Brotech has continued to develop its FFX AI Flexo platform, combining advanced press automation, production-data acquisition, intelligent process control, AI-assisted parameter optimization and continuous learning. 

Following extensive development and testing at Brotech’s facilities, both companies believe the next important step is to bring these technologies deeper into real industrial production. 

AI cannot learn everything in a controlled test environment. 

Real flexo production involves constantly changing combinations of substrates, inks, plates, anilox rollers, mounting conditions, UV systems, operators, job requirements and production schedules. It is within this complexity that production knowledge is created — and where intelligent systems ultimately need to learn. 

The collaboration therefore brings together the complementary strengths of both companies. 

Brotech will contribute its FFX technology platform, press automation and control expertise, AI model development, production-data acquisition and processing capabilities, and continuous optimization of the intelligent production system. 

Eshuis will contribute its extensive industrial flexo knowledge and real-world manufacturing requirements, including production workflows, materials and processes, operator experience, quality standards, production-job requirements, factory-system integration requirements and industrial validation. 

The companies will also explore how intelligent production systems can interact with existing factory infrastructure, including ERP/MES environments, helping connect production planning, press operation, quality control and manufacturing management. 

The goal goes beyond making a press more automated. It is to explore how production knowledge can be captured, structured and continuously improved through data — increasing consistency and repeatability, accelerating setup and job changeovers, strengthening quality control and reducing dependency on individual operator experience. 

Peter Overbeek, CEO of Eshuis, said: ‘Eshuis has always believed that innovation should ultimately improve the way we produce. Brotech and Eshuis have worked together for many years, and during that time we have built a relationship based on trust and a shared willingness to explore new ideas. 

‘The next challenge in flexo is not simply to make presses faster, but to make the entire production process more consistent, intelligent and less dependent on individual experience. By combining our real-world production knowledge with Brotech’s automation, data and AI capabilities, we believe we can explore what the next generation of flexo production can become.’ 

Ramon Lee, CEO of Brotech Digital Graphics, said: ‘The next generation of flexo will not be defined by the press alone, but by how intelligently the entire production process can learn. We have developed and tested FFX AI extensively, but AI cannot learn everything inside our own factory. The next stage requires real jobs, real materials, real operators and real production conditions. 

‘Eshuis brings the industrial knowledge, production discipline and forward-looking mindset that make them an ideal partner for taking this vision into real-world manufacturing.’ 

The collaboration also addresses a challenge extending far beyond technology. 

Across the printing and packaging industry, companies are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain skilled operators and attract a new generation of technical talent. 

Eshuis and Brotech believe automation, digitalization and AI can play an important role in changing this. 

By capturing production knowledge in systems rather than relying solely on individual experience, future flexo production can become easier to operate, more predictable and more accessible to a new generation of manufacturing professionals. 

At the same time, transforming flexo into a more connected, data-driven and intelligent manufacturing environment can help younger people see the industry differently, not simply as traditional printing, but as a modern manufacturing environment bringing together engineering, automation, software, data and artificial intelligence. 

The strategic collaboration between Eshuis and Brotech represents a shared ambition to help move flexo manufacturing: from experience-driven to data-driven, from reactive to predictive and from operator-dependent to increasingly intelligent production. 

Both companies believe that combining advanced machine technology with real industrial production knowledge is essential to making this transition practical and scalable. 

Eshuis and Brotech look forward to taking this next step together and to exploring what the next generation of intelligent flexo production can become.