Fiery LLC and Esko have announced a new technology partnership to develop solutions that advance digital print technologies and packaging workflows. The companies will collaborate on workflow integrations to more rapidly develop new solutions to help print suppliers in the digital print and packaging industries.

The companies unveiled a seamless integration between Fiery Impress, the turnkey DFE for industrial inkjet presses and inline manufacturing lines, and Esko Automation Engine, prepress workflow automation. The integration allows customers to easily migrate their existing workflows for digital print technologies.

"Esko is an ideal partner, sharing our vision for simplifying print workflows through digital technologies," said Maria Brilaki, senior director of product management, Fiery. "By joining forces, we can bring to market integrated packaging workflow solutions that optimize the design to production to finishing process and help our customers achieve more precise color reproduction, higher digital press efficiency and sustainability."

"Esko has had a seamless integration between the Esko DFE and automation engine since the very start," said Geert De Proost, director of software product management, Esko. "As Fiery is a strong partner and Fiery Impress is driving multiple brands of digital presses being used by our customers, it was the logical decision of both companies to integrate both products and offer an end-to-end workflow for digital print."

Esko and Fiery plan to expand this partnership, creating integrated solutions to support customers' adoption of digital print technologies.

In other news, Fiery LLC has announced the most innovative and user-friendly Fiery DFE. With the new Fiery FS600 Pro platform, print providers can simplify and automate job preparation and processing while ensuring print production runs smoothly and at maximum capacity.

The new Fiery DFE platform brings innovation to an extensive lineup of new, state-of-the-art digital presses coming for the commercial, quick print, in-plant, packaging, office and industrial segments. Fiery FS600 Pro-based DFEs will be available with the next-generation digital printers and presses from many of the world's leading manufacturers.

"As print providers face rising operational costs, labor storages and decreased margins, they need intelligent automation tools designed to increase both employee and print system efficiency," said John Henze, vice president of sales and marketing, Fiery. "The Fiery FS600 Pro platform does just that by automating prepress, makeready and color management into one-step workflows, making it easier for less experienced operators to print the highest-quality product the first time. With Fiery doing the heavy lifting, print business owners have the tools and analytics to maximize production throughput, save time and reduce errors, resulting in increased profitability."

Fiery DFEs sit at the center of a print environment driving press performance and job workflows across all Fiery-driven presses, shifts and locations. Where proprietary DFEs can be restrictive, Fiery's independent DFEs are flexible, allowing customers to tailor their print solutions to their specific needs. The Fiery FS600 Pro platform expands on proven technology to include:

• Intelligent HyperRIP technology: This game-changing innovation makes it easier for print service providers to meet tight turnaround times for higher volumes of shorter runs. Intelligent HyperRIP automatically switches between single-job and multiple-job modes based on a file's characteristics for faster processing, either splitting a single job into multiple parts or processing multiple short jobs simultaneously. For example, a Fiery FS600 Pro NX Premium DFE can process mixed-length jobs up to two times faster than previous Fiery platforms with traditional HyperRIP.
  
  
• User-friendly color management automation: New, easy-to-use color automation features ensure superior color accuracy and quality while cutting operator and profiling time by up to 50%. With one-step color management, users can calibrate and profile media directly from Fiery Command WorkStation. For presses with inline instruments, zero-touch recalibration keeps color always in check by performing scheduled recalibrations.
  
  Fiery Edge spot color processing technology can produce up to 20% dE improvement in spot color accuracy, especially near or outside a printer's gamut. Together, these features simplify the color management process, enabling less skilled workers to deliver against customer color expectations.
  
  
• Streamlined, error-free job setup and submission: Simplify the prepress workflow and reduce manual job touches as users can now seamlessly submit jobs to Fiery JobFlow directly from Fiery Command WorkStation. Operators can group multiple jobs and apply properties to speed up job preparation time. Fiery JobExpert analyzes incoming PDFs to identify repeating records in jobs for VDP preparation to maintain record integrity. The result is a one-click workflow for most job types, resulting in significant time savings, and is easier for operators to print jobs with the correct settings.
  
  Plus, Fiery FS600 Pro DFEs integrate Adobe PDF Print Engine 6.0, providing users with a native end-to-end PDF workflow that helps improve the consistency and flexibility of the printed output from design to print.
  
  
• Built-in print scheduling: The new Fiery Print Scheduler provides effortless job scheduling and planning, allowing operators to slot jobs into a dynamic 24-hour window to best align with equipment availability and customer deadlines.
  
  
• Enterprise-level security and compliance: Fiery FS600 Pro includes several security and compliance enhancements designed to meet the highest corporate and industry regulations for data security, encryption, and sanitization standards. This includes integration with organizational single sign-on (SSO) credentials and full compliance with FIPS 140-2 and Common Criteria. Plus, Fiery FS600 Pro servers include native support for the Mopria Print Service and Universal Print by Microsoft, addressing the demand for secure, cloud-based printing and management in remote/hybrid work environments.

"Emerging technologies like generative AI are challenging businesses to rethink how work gets done," Henze said. "At Fiery, we're proud to deliver the most intelligent DFE with unique smart features that intuitively guide operators to achieve optimal efficiency and print quality based on the characteristics of jobs and resources available."