Representing all three brands, Nekkorb Solutions is in an ideal position to offer closed-loop workflow, inspection process control and colour management to its many flexo — and now digital — label press customers.
In the world of packaging prepress workflow, the name Esko looms large and invariably has to connect to other third-party applications. Now, Nekkorb Solutions can be a one-stop support network between Esko software, AVT inspection systems, X-Rite colour measurement and management, and even Pantone spot colour matching. All of these brands are owned by Danaher Corporation of the USA, which make collaboration easier.
Using Esko Automation Engine’s AutoSet digital linking software, Nekkorb combines the strengths of all three workflow components. Automation and collaboration solutions integrate with colour technology and inline camera inspection solutions. This enables AVT’s Helios and Argus inspection systems to be fully set-up automatically on conventional and digital presses, as well as on rewinders.
For ‘right first time’ colour, AutoSet links to X-Rite ColorCert and Pantone, closing the loop for the packaging supply chain, resulting in faster time to market and reducing cost and waste. It provides visibility and traceability on colour and content quality performance driving continuous improvement KPIs.
Empowering converters
With over 8,000 installations globally, AVT is a leader in all-important print inspection, many of which use Esko workflow. To address this, Esko launched AVT iCenter to digitise and connect print inspection standards.
Nekkorb says that AVT iCenter empowers label converters to easily manage quality and production standards across jobs, printing equipment, shifts and sites. The unique cloud-based platform integrates with Esko Automation Engine and AVT Helios automated inline inspection solutions for label and narrow web printing.
Frank Brokken, Managing Director of Nekkorb Solutions, says: “By connecting between prepress and inspection, iCenter enables users to control and deliver one standardised ‘source of truth’ throughout the quality inspection set-up process.”
With more short job run lengths and lead times, today’s label suppliers already face significant challenges. These are compounded by the constraints of ‘siloed’ software applications and duplicating data between the prepress, inspection and production process.
Brokken says: “The inspection job set-up process is often manual and fragmented, leading to significant lost time in setting up the right quality level for each job before print and then waiting vfor supervisors to approve them.” At the same time, the manual vprocess makes it challenging to control quality on jobs acrossvvarious different operators and systems.”
Total digitisation
He adds: “With Esko iCenter from Nekkorb, inspection quality standards are defined only once and then leveraged automatically throughout the process to every live job. This means that quality standards — and therefore products — are consistent across sites, with 100 percent hands-free, on-press operation eliminating the need for operator input and in turn, human error. Inspection makeready is automated, based on machine learning and AI-based image analysis and there’s also support for multi-site operations to ensure consistency across a business, regardless of which facility completes the job.
“With total digitisation, all the operator has to do is type a job name or scan a barcode and iCenter retrieves and applies all the standards for the job — the whole process takes just 20-30 seconds.”
Nekkorb says its aim is to deliver outstanding value to packaging, label and wide format customers in Australia and New Zealand and the connectivity between Esko, AVT, X-Rite and Pantone goes a long way towards achieving this.
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CONNECTIVITY WORKFLOW
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