X-Rite and Esko combine to show an Extended Gamut Solution for Converters

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., May 31, 2016 – At drupa 2016, X-Rite Incorporated, a global leader in color science and technology, and its sister company Esko will showcase a
range of color and workflow solutions to help printers and converters successfully transition to extended color gamut or fixed palette printing. Package printers moving to extended gamut printing are able to match a wider range of brand colors than possible with four-color process by using a more efficient seven-color printing process. Combining X-Rite Pantone and Esko solutions with extended gamut printing allows printers to reduce job setup times and change over costs, support shorter job runs and improve turn-around times.

“Vibrant and colorful packaging can help a product stand out on the shelf, but achieving custom colors can involve cost and time constraints,” said Adrián Fernández, Vice President, PantoneLIVE™, X-Rite Pantone. “Extended gamut printing opens up new color palette possibilities for brand owners and converters without the added expense of spot color printing. X-Rite Pantone is committed to helping printers close the gap between CMYK and spot color printing by providing the tools needed for specifying, measuring and monitoring color in an extended gamut printing process.”

“Increased product variation and lean manufacturing mean that converters today face the challenge of shorter print runs,” said Bernard Zwaenepoel, Senior VP Software Business, Esko. “Implementing extended gamut printing helps converters reduce press setup time and increase press efficiency. We are pleased to be working together with X-Rite Pantone, the color authority, to deliver an integrated solution for converters.”

At drupa 2016, May 31 through June 10 at the Düsseldorf Fairgrounds in Hall 8B A23, X‑Rite Pantone will showcase the latest digital color communications and management solutions that support a converters transition to extended gamut printing. Featured products include PANTONE® PLUS SERIES EXTENDED GAMUT Coated Guide, PantoneLIVE™, ColorCert®: X-Rite Edition and X-Rite measurement devices including X‑Rite eXact and IntelliTrax2. Esko will feature Equinox, an ecosystem of tools to help converters implement an extended gamut workflow.

The PANTONE® Extended Gamut Guide
With the PANTONE Extended Gamut Guide brands, designers, and print suppliers can quickly visualize how Pantone reference colors will appear when reproduced using a fixed palette of CMYKOGV ink colors; even before moving ahead with a packaging project.

For the first time brands and designers can easily evaluate fixed palette approaches and better communicate color intent to suppliers. Depending on the substrate, extended gamut will open up approximately 80 to 90 percent of Pantone colors, making many popular brand and corporate colors achievable using a fixed ink set. This allows designers to create more complex color blending and cleaner transitions of color in packaging design.

PantoneLIVE Helps with Color Specification
When it comes to specifying color, the PantoneLIVE cloud-based approach makes the sharing of digital color standards easy and secure across the entire packaging supply chain from brand owners, designers, premedia, ink suppliers and printers. This ensures that everyone in the production workflow is working with the same achievable standards to drive color consistency across different printing processes and substrates.

The PantoneLIVE spot colors are useful when extended gamut printing is employed. By using a common PantoneLIVE spot color reference between fixed-palette and spot color reproductions of packaging or labels, brands can achieve their desire for on-shelf consistency. PantoneLIVE has a wide ecosystem of supporting solutions, from design and editing of packaging graphics files, to color separation, proofing, ink formulation, quality control and scoring.

X-Rite ColorCert Delivers Process Control
The foundation of a successful extended gamut print process includes the ability to control color across the entire production process and across multiple locations. ColorCert: X-Rite Edition provides real-time monitoring of color performance to ensure stable production and consistency of extended gamut colors. With ColorCert, users can create color specifications and monitor production. A scorecard applies a score to each job, site or client based on specified color tolerances.

The ColorCert approach to extended gamut is simple. The solution yields a score that reflects the overall quality level of an extended gamut run. This provides a fast and easy way to verify the process is in control. In addition, ColorCert provides the ability to drill down on any specific metric to support troubleshooting when overall quality levels indicate adjustments are needed.

X-Rite Color Measurement Devices and Esko Equinox tools
When ColorCert and PantoneLIVE solutions are used in conjunction with X-Rite’s measurement solutions, converters are equipped to start transitioning to extended gamut printing in the pressroom. X-Rite’s family of spectrophotometers, including the new X‑Rite eXact™ Xp and the new fully automated X-Rite IntelliTrax2, offer accurate and repeatable color measurements for extended gamut printing on a variety of substrates including flexible film.

Esko offers Equinox™ to complete the solution for extended gamut printing. At all steps in the workflow, the Equinox ecosystem provides tools to implement extended gamut in a simple effective way. From fingerprinting the press, to conversion of packaging artwork, to gamut expansion of images, Equinox provides the right tools for the job. Artwork conversion can take place inside Esko’s high end packaging editors, or inside the Automation Engine workflow. Building these tools inside the prime platform used for packaging prepress makes adoption of the solution straightforward. An integrated contract proofing product, Pack Proof, provides accurate proofs of extended gamut jobs, giving converters confidence in the result before going on press.

For more information read our blog post titled, “How the PANTONE® EXTENDED GAMUT Guide helps Printers” at http://blog.xrite.com/pantone-extended-gamut-guide-helps-printers.

About PantoneLIVE
PantoneLIVE is a cloud-based solution that enables the universal PANTONE Color language to be accurately communicated across the entire packaging workflow – from design concept to retail store shelves. PantoneLIVE extends the PANTONE PLUS SERIES Color Library, mapping critical color information to packaging-specific substrates. The PantoneLIVE ecosystem is supported by licensed hardware and software that enables each area of a packaging supply chain to access the same PantoneLIVE Colors, in addition to brand specific palettes. This results in consistent and repeatable color across product families, regardless of media or print technology, providing a cohesive brand approach. For more information, please see www.pantone.com/live.

About X-Rite
Founded in 1958, X-Rite, Incorporated is a global leader in color science and technology. With its wholly owned subsidiary Pantone, X-Rite employs more than 800 people in 11 countries. The company’s corporate headquarters are located in Grand Rapids, Mich., with regional headquarters in Europe and Asia and service centers across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas. X-Rite Pantone offers a full range of color management solutions used by manufacturers, retailers, printers, photographers and graphic design houses to achieve precise management and communication of color throughout their processes. X-Rite Pantone products and services are recognized standards in the printing, packaging, photography, graphic design, video, automotive, paints, plastics, textiles and medical industries. For further information, please visit www.xrite.com. For the latest news, information and conversations, connect with X-Rite on LinkedIn, Vimeo, Twitter, and Facebook.

About Pantone
Pantone LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of X-Rite, Incorporated, has been the world’s color authority for nearly 50 years, providing design professionals with products and services for the colorful exploration and expression of creativity. Always a source for color inspiration, Pantone also offers paint and designer-inspired products and services for consumers. More information is available at www.pantone.com. For the latest news, trends, information and conversations, connect with Pantone on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

About Esko (www.esko.com)
Esko is a global supplier of integrated solutions for the packaging, labels, sign and display industries. Esko products and services help customers manage, create and produce better labels, packaging, signs and displays.

Portfolio
The Esko product portfolio supports and manages the packaging and print processes for brand owners, retailers, designers, premedia and trade shops, packaging manufacturers, and converters. For 9 out of 10 retail packages, Esko solutions are used in packaging management, asset management, artwork creation, structural design, prepress, 3D visualization, flexo plate making, workflow automation, quality assurance, sample-making, palletization, supply chain collaboration and/or the production of signage and displays.

The Esko solutions consist of an extensive suite of software and two hardware product lines: CDI flexo computer-to-plate imagers and Kongsberg digital cutting systems, complemented with professional services, training and consultancy.

Enfocus, with its suite of automation solutions and PDF quality control tools for printers, publishers, and graphic designers, is an Esko subidiary. MediaBeacon, with its digital asset management (DAM) solutions is also part of the Esko family.

Facts & Numbers
Esko employs about 1,500 people worldwide. Its direct sales and service organization covers Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Americas and the Asia Pacific, Japan and China regions and is complemented 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. Esko is a Danaher company (www.danaher.com). For more information, visit www.esko.com.

All press releases, as well as corresponding product pictures, are available at the press section at www.esko.com.

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©2016 X-Rite, Inc. All rights reserved. X-Rite is a registered trademark of X-Rite, Inc. PANTONE®, PantoneLIVE and other Pantone trademarks are the property of Pantone LLC. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Pantone is a wholly owned subsidiary of X-Rite, Incorporated. Licensed under Sun Chemical Corporation. Sun Chemical’s patented technology enables the communication of a consistent, digital description of the desired appearance of a product. – [U.S. Patent Nos. 7,034,960; 7,202,976; 7,268,918; 7,417,764 and their foreign equivalents]. © Pantone LLC, 2016. All rights reserved.