Esko automates order-to-press workflow

Esko has showcased its latest workflow automation technologies at Dscoop Edge Rockies, highlighting how its ecosystem accelerates the process from order intake to final on-press designs for label converters and commercial printers.

Central to the display was Esko S2, the company's AI-powered cloud platform for the packaging and labels industry, alongside WebCenter Pack, the newest cloud-based addition to its packaging management workflow portfolio. The latter enables CSR teams to handle preflight checks independently, offering file uploads, visual preflight feedback, task coordination and version management within a single platform.

Also demonstrated was the latest version of Automation Engine, which allows prepress teams to automatically create jobs, step and repeat, and impose or nest files for both conventional and digital printing, including variable data processing. A new Version PDF task enables users to combine a base file with multiple version files in one automated step, while a new Color (HSV) compare mode allows visual comparison of PDFs by color rather than separations.

Further highlights included Phoenix, the AI-driven preproduction software now available for roll-to-roll label converters across flexo, offset and digital printing, and ArtPro+, a native PDF editor that the company says enables operators to process jobs 40 percent faster. Esko also presented Print Clone, its cloud-native color matching software launched in 2025, which uses AI to replicate colors from previously printed packages.

'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, it enables stakeholders to collaborate around a central, single source of truth, connecting people and departments and bringing transparency across the end-to-end process.'