Esko-Graphics and Design2Launch Partner to Develop Advanced S/W for CPG Industry

09/09/2003

Esko-Graphics, the world leader in CAD design software for the consumer packaged goods industry, and Design2Launch, the leader in collaborative product and package development software and visual asset management, today 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 the industry’s most 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.

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

“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,” said Jim Carson, Vice President of Product and Operations, 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 work flow.”

Esko-Graphics and Design2Launch will integrate functionality that provides companies with work flow from the basic design of product structure through the selection of materials and the application of 2D label decals wrapping accurately to 3D surfaces. Complete 3D models will be easily visualized in context settings such as store shelving or Point of Purchase displays, loaded on pallets, or moved to a virtual digital studio for advertising and catalogue shots. Completed images can be shared with true color and image accuracy across the enterprise – locally or globally – eliminating weeks or months in the iterative approval cycle.

Simon James, general manager for Esko-Graphics North America noted that “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 D2L 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,” added Scott Corzine, ceo, 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 sell-through commences significantly earlier.”

About Esko-Graphics
Esko-Graphics is a leading global supplier of digital prepress and pre-production products and services to the graphic arts and packaging industry. The company results from the merger of the Belgian Barco Graphics and the Danish Purup-Eskofot in early 2002.

Esko-Graphics is headquartered in Gent, Belgium and has R&D and manufacturing facilities in Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Germany, the United States and the Czech Republic. Esko-Graphics has sales and support organizations in a number of countries throughout Europe, South America and Asia/Pacific, as well as in the United States of America and in Japan. Products are also distributed through a worldwide network of dealers and partners. The company employs about 1,100 people.

For more information visit Esko-Graphics' web site at http://www.esko-graphics.com .

About Design2Launch
Design2Launch provides user-friendly solutions that make launching consumer packaged goods easier, faster and less costly. By working closely with industry leaders to address the complexities involved in bringing products to market, the company has pinpointed the specific areas in the design and launch process where technology can make a substantial difference. Design2Launch software simplifies the concept-to-production phase by harnessing advanced technology to deliver useful and effective tools in enterprise content management, collaboration, 3D package visualization, color management and pre-press proofing. These modules - delivered with state-of-the-art security - form a seamless end-to-end solution for managing and speeding products to market. Founded in 1999, Design2Launch is based in Stamford, CT. For additional information, please visit http://www.design2launch.com .