GHENT, Belgium—Belgium-based high-quality prepress specialist Athena Graphics added Esko Equinox to its portfolio to complete its Advanced Prepress workflow, an end-to-end solution for brand owners and packaging printers. Esko Equinox, which won an FTA Technical Innovation Award in 2014, creates color conversions for extended gamut printing and eliminates the need for spot colors, making production faster, more efficient, cost effective and reliable, according to Esko.
With their Advanced Prepress solution, Athena Graphics provides an answer to the increasing demand for shorter runs and shorter time to market production. Kenneth Hostyn, technical project manager at Athena Graphics, says that the need for more efficient production is a clear trend in the packaging market. “Packaging printers and brand owners have become used to digital print, which uses a fixed set of printing colors. With our Advanced Prepress technology we can obtain the same and even better quality by using process colors instead of spot colors. By converting spot colors into process colors, our customers can increase their production speed and even improve their quality.”
Esko Equinox can convert almost any spot color into 4 to 7 process colors, according to the company. By working with a fixed set of inks the printer reduces downtime of the presses, reduces washups, saves inks (since he does not have to change inks anymore) and is meant to optimize production time. Hostyn says, “Our Advanced Prepress concept uses the latest technologies. Combined with the modern presses of our customers and our high-tech plate making, quality is no longer an issue when using process colors. Moreover, it creates a stable production environment. It is now possible to produce prints that exactly match the proof.”
There are several reasons why Athena Graphics chose Equinox. Hostyn says, “Esko has an extended knowledge base when it comes to color. The people of Esko are very familiar with the processes at the print companies. The development of Esko Equinox is based on years of experience and research and development. One of the most important reasons to choose Equinox is the ability to automate color conversions. By automating the process, we eliminate human errors and we can optimize production. Esko Equinox perfectly closes the gap with outstanding color conversion. It was just the tool we were looking for.”