New standardised integration to take one-up and sheet separation efficiency to new level

Packaging Solutions

Esko and The Grey Elephant have announced a new partnership to help achieve the greatest levels of efficiency in workflow automation.

The new integration of The Grey Elephant’s Brain4Tools solution and Esko Automation Engine enables packaging converters to automatically compare art files for commonalities and automatically sequence print jobs based on their complexity, saving potentially thousands of manual hours and valuable operator time.

‘The need to frequently stop the press to change plates for short print runs has a significant impact on a business’s material and labour costs, and therefore profits,’ explained Robert Kohl, CEO of The Grey Elephant. ‘Today’s converters have literally thousands of artwork files, but searching through them all for potential common separations is as time consuming as it is arduous. Similarly, the increase in skilled and experienced pre-press employees retiring from the industry means the expertise and knowledge crucial in identifying commonalities and optimising press runs is leaving many businesses.’

The integration of Brain4Tools with Automation Engine addresses these challenges, helping converters maximise productivity and realise the opportunity to drive efficiency in plate manufacturing and job changes over time at the press. ‘Once a print file is uploaded to Automation Engine, Brain4Tools automatically looks for commonalities, examines what a business has on file already and optimises production to eliminate unnecessary changeovers and reduce press refitting times,’ he said. ‘In the simplest terms, fewer plate changes during job changes at press means less downtime, resulting in a more efficient production workflow – and greater profitability.’

The Grey Elephant’s advanced software can identify files dating back years, and moreover can also recognize files that require minimal changes to maximise press time. ‘The system might identify a file with a 99% match, that just requires a logo to be moved a few millimetres or a slight text change, rather than having to recreate the entire file from scratch,’ said Robert. ‘The potential operator time saving is huge, as the need to check every one-up and step and repeat job file is eliminated.’

Esko CMO Jan De Roeck said this latest strategic collaboration simplifies the integration process by providing customers with a clear understanding of the requirements for both Automation Engine and Brain4Tools.

‘We are delighted to be cementing our relationship with The Grey Elephant, working together to address the ever evolving needs of converters with a solution that delivers tangible benefits both for operators in the production facility, and for business owners on the bottom line,’ he said.