Prepress

Esko presents AVT iCenter to digitise and connect print inspection standards

Friday 16. April 2021 - Esko unveiled AVT iCenter, its latest print verification innovation that enables label converters to easily manage quality and production standards across jobs, print devices, shifts and even sites. Connectivity between prepress and verification enables a standardised, unified source of quality verification configurations.

The unique cloud-based platform integrates with Esko Automation Engine and AVT Helios automated integrated verification solutions for label and narrow web printing. “The link between prepress and verification that iCenter gives us allows users to control and deliver a standardised, unified source throughout the quality verification set-up process,” explains Ornit Gluzman, Esko AVT Alliances & Workflow Solutions Director.
“With ever-shortening print runs and lead times, label suppliers already face enormous challenges. These are compounded by the limitations of isolated software applications and the duplication of data between pre-press, proofing and production processes.”
“The review job set-up process is often manual and fragmented, resulting in a lot of lost time configuring the right quality level for each job before printing, while still waiting for a team leader to approve it afterwards,” explains Gluzman. “At the same time, the manual process makes quality control challenging for jobs that span multiple different operators and systems, while inaccurate and unspecific quality check configurations can have a significant impact on production speed.”
“But with iCenter, quality standards for review are defined only once and then automatically applied throughout the process for each live job,” explains Gluzman. “This means that quality standards, and therefore products, are consistent across all sites, and a 100% non-intrusive process on press eliminates the need for operator input and therefore human error.”
Gluzman also explains that label and narrow web converters can eliminate errors and reap the benefits of consistent, standardised, company-wide verification quality standards with iCenter and the automated and contactless workflow that Esko’s AutoSet integrated solution provides.
“The verification set-up is automated based on machine learning and AI-based image analysis,” she explains, “and there is also support for multi-site workflows to ensure consistency across all departments, regardless of which site completes the job.”
“With total digitisation, all the operator has to do is enter a job name or scan a barcode and iCenter retrieves and applies all the standards for the job. The whole process takes only 20-30 seconds,” she adds.
The introduction of AVT iCenter is part of Esko’s latest innovations and solution upgrades, developed to enable even more functionality for the company’s range of integrated software and hardware and to deliver even greater business value to its packaging, label and wide format customers.