Permapack invests in process control with Automation Engine and WebCenter from Esko

Permapack is a manufacturer of sophisticated packaging. In the six application areas of non-food, food, cosmetics, construction, industry and retail, products such as self-adhesive labels, composite and packaging films, adhesive tapes, sealants, DIY and garden items are produced and marketed.

The company recently made a multi-million USD investment to develop a Digital Center of Excellence, powered by two digital printing systems from HP Indigo, and expanded its flexible packaging production lines at its site in Rorschach.

Process management for every type of packaging produced across the entire company is seen by Permapack as a must for a successful future. JDF-based integration with the Theurer C3 job entry system combines all work processes from the customer to sales through to production in a comprehensive process management solution. Each new project entering the plant is being processed via the modular Automation Engine workflow server and the online approval and communications tool WebCenter.

An important advantage for Permapack with this new integrated option is that all internal and external parties involved in a project, from the customer and advertising agency, to sales, work preparation, pre-press and production, are working with one and the same file. This results in a high level of reliability in the correction and approval process. WebCenter’s approval tool is primarily being exploited internally at the moment, although several projects are already underway to integrate large customers into the process via a portal.

Also important is the fact that WebCenter is not dependent on time, location and language, meaning there are no limits to Permapack’s strategy of expansion into international markets. 

Markus Wirth, managing director for flexible packaging at Permapack, said: ‘We were looking for a solution to cope with the rapid growth in the number of smaller, shorter run jobs being produced with the digital printing technologies we invested in last year. As we had been using ArtPro, Nexus and a CDI Spark 4835 platesetter with in-line UV for some time, augmenting our infrastructure with a solution from Esko was virtually automatic.

‘Process reliability in comparison to manual production is disproportionately higher with Automation Engine and WebCenter. We estimate that our packaging production can now be processed at least 25 percent faster.’