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Esko Equinox completes Athena Graphics’ Advanced Prepress solution

Improved quality and increased production with excellent colour conversion

Ghent (Belgium), 15 March 2018– Belgium based high quality prepress specialist Athena Graphics adds Esko Equinox ( to its portfolio to complete their Advanced Prepress workflow, an innovative end-to-end solution for brand owners and packaging printers. Esko Equinox creates colour conversions for extended gamut printing and eliminates the need for spot colors, making production faster, more efficient, cost effective and reliable.

With their Advanced Prepress solution, Athena Graphics provides an answer to the increasing demand for shorter runs and shorter time to market production. Kenneth Hostyn, Technical Project Manager at Athena Graphics says that the need for more efficient production is a clear trend in the packaging market. Hostyn: “Packaging printers and brand owners have become used to digital print, which uses a fixed set of printing colours. With our Advanced Prepress technology we can obtain the same and even better quality by using process colours instead of spot colours. By converting spot colours into process colours, our customers can increase their production speed and even improve their quality.”

Esko Equinox can convert almost any spot colour into 4 to 7 process colours. By working with a fixed set of inks the printer reduces downtime of the presses, reduces wash ups, saves inks (since he does not have to change inks anymore) and optimises production time. Hostyn: “Our Advanced Prepress concept uses the latest technologies. Combined with the modern presses of our customers and our high-tech platemaking, quality is no longer an issue when using process colours. Moreover, it creates a stable production environment. It is now possible to produce prints that exactly match the proof.”

There are several reasons why Athena Graphics chose Equinox. Hostyn: “Esko has an extended knowledge base when it comes to colour. The people of Esko are very familiar with the processes at the print companies. The development of Esko Equinox is based on years of experience and research and development. One of the most important reasons to choose Equinox is the ability to automate colour conversions. By automating the process we eliminate human errors and we can optimise production. Esko Equinox perfectly closes the gap with outstanding colour conversion. It was just the tool we were looking for.”

About Athena Graphics (

Athena Graphics is one of the most prestigious and dynamic prepress companies in Europe, with more than 100 employees and establishments in three countries: Belgium, France and The Netherlands. They deliver high-quality prepress, printing forms and online services to the entire packaging chain in order to reduce the time-to-market. They achieve this by investing in people and technology, leading every day to innovation, optimization and automation in the packaging supply chain. Athena Graphics has a broad customer base that includes brand owners in many diverse sectors ranging from the food industry to pharmaceuticals.

Follow Athena Graphics on . For more information, visit

About Esko()

Packaging Simplified. Esko helps its customers to make the best packaging for billions of consumers.

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 exposure units as well as 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 subsidiary. MediaBeacon, with its digital asset management (DAM) solutions is also part of the Esko family.

Esko employs about 1,500 people worldwide. Headquartered in Gent (Belgium), its sales and service organization is in daily contact with customers all over the globe.

Esko is a Danaher company (

Follow Esko on . For more information, visit or contact:

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ESK_pr1196rcEG_PR Athena Graphics, Equinox
March 2018 / 1 / 3
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ESK_pr1196rcEG_PR Athena Graphics, Equinox
March 2018 / 1 / 3