Wide Format Imaging

EskoArtwork reports that the company registered successes throughout its entire product portfolio and that drupa 2008 far exceeded all business forecasts.

Carsten Knudsen, EskoArtwork's President and CEO, acknowledges EskoArtwork's satisfaction with its drupa 2008 results: "With packaging and printing being a global business and EskoArtwork being a global company, drupa was the perfect and unique industry platform to connect with our customers and partners. At this year's edition the interest in our range of solutions was significant, especially for our packaging tools, flexo platesetting systems, and commercial print workflows and solutions for digital printing and converting. EskoArtwork's drupa 2008 orders exceeded our target by more than 50% and surpassed the combined results of Esko and Artwork Systems in 2004 by more than 75 percent. We are extremely pleased to see our customers and industry partners embracing the integration of our solutions."

The new line-up integrating the solutions originating from the former Esko, Artwork Systems, Enfocus and Gradual entities was very positively received by visitors from around the globe, reflecting their continued interest and confidence in EskoArtwork. Two new partnerships further strengthening EskoArtwork's position in the market were announced at the opening of the exhibition: Presstek will offer EskoArtwork's Odystar workflow solution under its own Latitude brand, and the SmartColour group at Sun Chemical will cooperate with EskoArtwork to bring innovative solutions for brand color management to the entire packaging supply chain. On the closing day, EskoArtwork also announced signing a Letter of Intent regarding the acquisition of Mikkelsen Graphic Engineering, Inc. (MGE).

"EskoArtwork's innovative solutions for professionals designing, producing and managing packaging and print products greatly appealed to visitors of drupa 2008," said Knudsen. "The interest for increased efficiencies, higher quality and color consistency, faster growth, better margins and a more competitive position were strong motivators among those who visited the EskoArtwork stand—and invested in our solutions."

Visitors to EskoArtwork's "Color for Everyone" demonstration were impressed by the company's end-to-end color management solutions for proofing and output. Through a variety of samples, EskoArtwork demonstrated its unique capabilities in professional color for packaging and printing professionals, focusing on Equinox, a solution for extended gamut printing, and the Esko KaleidoScope color management platform.