Esko ArtPro turns 20!
Esko and its customers celebrate a mission critical solution that has improved with age
Gent (Belgium), November 2012 – Esko is celebrating two decades of delivering value and partnership through ArtPro, the number one packaging prepress editor for the Mac platform (www.esko.com/ArtPro). “It is hard to believe that ArtPro has been in the market for two full decades,” says Bjorn Willems, Product Manager Interactive Premedia Applications at Esko. “And its capabilities have not stood still over all those years. We have many customers who have been using and benefiting from ArtPro in their packaging workflow since the beginning. ArtPro has grown with their businesses and evolved with market needs, maintaining premier market position in this space. Their wholehearted endorsement of ArtPro speaks for itself.”
ArtPro is a full-featured packaging preproduction editor offering unique technologies and dedicated tools focused on relieving major prepress pain points. It supports all industry standard file formats and can be integrated into any packaging workflow. When seamlessly integrated with ArtiosCAD and Automation Engine, ArtPro turns Esko’s unmatched packaging software into a complete and unbeatable solution.
Voice of the customer
In honor of ArtPro’s 20th birthday, Esko turned to long-time users for their perspective on how ArtPro has benefited their businesses. “After all,” adds Willems, “without customer acceptance and endorsement, no product would be successful. The comments you see here are just a few of the well-wishes we received from our ArtPro customer base around the world on this historic occasion.” A 20th birthday celebration video including customer statements can also be viewed on Esko's YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3QoF-So2gs).
Ducommun, Switzerland: Jean Ducommun, owner of Ducommun in Switzerland, has used ArtPro since the very beginning. "It's true,” he says. “We've been a happy user since 1992. The software evolved alongside our company. It's so versatile that you cannot only work in separations rather than composite files, but also make changes on the go without having to go back to rip-and-trap. We cannot recommend it highly enough. It's a must-have for any company involved in packaging."
Van Eerd, The Netherlands: "In the 15 years that we've been using ArtPro,” states Jeroen Sneijders of Van Eerd, “ArtPro has grown with us and the tool has allowed us to expand even further. ArtPro capabilities and our Esko partners have encouraged us to keep growing by continuously assessing and improving our processes. We develop packaging for the pharmaceutical industry, so quality and traceability are imperative, and the Certified module has been crucial. The Certified module enables us to perfectly streamline all steps in the artwork process so we can easily and rapidly anticipate and trace back any issues. ArtPro is designed specifically for packaging and labels, which makes it the perfect user-friendly tool for us, enhancing our productivity to the fullest."
Schawk, Los Angeles, USA: Dino Fiocchi, Applications Specialist at Schawk in the US, has been an ArtPro fan from the very beginning. He explains: "The technical properties of the program are outstanding. ArtPro enables you to deal with large images, but still allows you to work quickly. It doesn't slow down with larger images and more complex files. The Stepper, trapping and the editing tools I also consider to be invaluable. The ruler/editing tool far superior to any other editors."
Flexocolor, France: "ArtPro is an excellent solution for producing labels and packaging. It is comprehensive, efficient and scalable. It achieves in record time an unprecedented level of productivity and quality for our flexographic and gravure printing processes," comments David Machado De Lima, R&D Department, Flexocolor.
RAKO Graphic Services, Germany: "The Esko solutions used by us helped to increase the print quality and productivity in packaging printing significantly,” says Mirco Wilke of RAKO Graphic Services. “ArtPro plays a decisive role in preparing and monitoring high end print data in a reliable workflow."
A bright looking future
"Esko will continue to improve the existing packaging tools in ArtPro such as trapping, S&R and preflighting and at the same time respond to new trends in the packaging industry," concludes Bernard Zwaenepoel, Senior VP Software Business at Esko. "In addition, the integration with other Esko solutions will be taking another step forward: structural design files from Studio and ArtiosCAD will be handled better and communication with Automation Engine and WebCenter will be further aligned. Finally, by modernizing the kernel, that will be shared with other Esko applications, ArtPro will become PDF native, platform independent and more productive than ever!"
About Esko (www.esko.com)
Esko is a global supplier of integrated solutions for packaging, sign and display finishing, commercial printing and professional publishing. Esko products and services help customers raise productivity, reduce time-to-market, lower costs and expand business and improve profitability.
Portfolio
Esko is the worldwide market leader with software for artwork creation, structural design, pre-production, workflow automation, quality assurance and online collaboration. Esko solutions support and manage the packaging and print processes at brand owners, retailers, designers and packaging manufacturers.
CDI flexo computer-to-plate imagers and Kongsberg digital finishing systems complete the portfolio for the packaging, label, signage and display industries.
Enfocus, with its suite of PDF tools for graphic designers and print production professionals, is part of Esko.
Facts & numbers
Esko employs around 1200 people worldwide. Its direct sales and service organization covers Europe, the Americas and the Asia Pacific region, completed by a network of distribution partners in more than 50 countries.
Esko is headquartered in Gent, Belgium, and has R&D and manufacturing facilities in five European countries, the United States, China and India.
For more information, visit www.esko.com or contact:
P.R. agencies
Europa, Asia, África
Nancy Vermeulen
duomedia
Tel: +32 2 560 21 50
nancy.v@duomedia.com
North America
Irvin Press
Press+
Tel: +1 508 384 0608
irv@press-plus.com
Esko
Corporate and EMEA
Jef Stoffels
Director of Corporate Marketing
Tel: +32 9 216 90 32
jef.stoffels@esko.com
Americas
Tim Zula
Director, Mktg. Communications
Tel: +1 937 535 6060
timothy.zula@esko.com
Asia-Pacific
Stephanie Peh
Marketing Executive
Tel: +65 624 994 49
stephanie.peh@esko.com
Japan
Simon Ivarsson
Pre-sales & Marketing Manager
Tel: +81 3 5909 7631
simon.ivarsson@esko.com
China
Charles Chan
Marketing Director Greater China
Tel: +86 21 6057 6565
charles.chan@esko.com
All press releases, as well as corresponding product pictures, are available at the press section
at www.esko.com.