NEWS

Esko-Graphics and Design2Launch Partner to Develop New Software

sko-Graphics and Design2Launch have announced plans to jointly develop next-generation tools to automate and speed the creative and production cycle in packaged goods product development. Through this partnership, both companies will be able to offer an extensive tool set, taking users all the way from the conceptualization of packaging structure to the creation of final packaging materials, incorporating all critical steps in-between.

According to the two firms, the joint product development effort will help consumer-packaged goods manufacturers and creative services industry companies cut costs and accelerate their new product pipelines. For the first time, these solutions will automate and simplify workflow across the conceptualization, visualization, production and design engineering and output-to-print stages for 2-D and 3-D graphics, point-of-purchase (POP), advertising, and packaging work.

"The Web-based tools developed by Esko and Design2Launch provide decision-quality, digital information, from product and packaging conceptualization through digital photorealistic proto-typing, to the final "go"or "no go"production decisions of major packaged goods companies,"says Jim Carson, vice president of Product and Operations for Design2Launch. "Esko's global leadership is in creating and managing information related to packaging structure, project management, and costing. When combined with D2L's advanced visual asset management, visualization, and collaborative routing and approval platform, our solutions will deliver significant cost savings at each point of the product and packaging development workflow."

Esko-Graphics and Design2Launch say they plan to integrate functionality that provides companies with workflow from the basic design of product structure through the selection of materials and the application of 2-D label decals wrapping accurately to 3-D surfaces. Complete 3-D models then can be easily visualized in context settings such as store shelving or POP displays, loaded on pallets, or moved to a virtual digital studio for advertising and catalog shots.

Says Simon James, general manager for Esko-Graphics North America, "While ERP, CRM, and traditional digital asset management software allows a company to file, store, and manage existing information, Design2Launch and Esko-Graphics have each developed technologies that give companies control over their future—by authoring, managing and globally collaborating on their in-process color-critical visual assets. Both Design2Launch and Esko-Graphics have focused on collapsing development cycle time and reducing direct development costs from initial product concept, through the global projection of real-time collaboration, to output and the initiation of production."

"This development partnership marries technology, market access, and best-of-breed tools and applications across the entire new product development spectrum of the packaged goods and creative services industries,"adds Scott Corzine, chief executive of Design2Launch. "Our joint objective with Esko is to help our combined brand and agency customers to automate the concept-to-production process, slash time and hard dollars and provide non-intrusive management controls on what most customers describe as a chaotic internal and external process. Automating this process is a 'last mile' opportunity to help them get products out of the pipeline and onto retail shelves faster, so that sell-through commences significantly earlier."

For more information visit Esko-Graphics' web site at www.esko-graphics.com, or visit Design2Launch at www.design2launch.com.