PRESS/MEDIA Archives - HYBRID Software

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The post Hybrid Software Announces Direct Interface to Canon’s Upcoming LabelStream LS2000 Digital Press at Labelexpo Americas 2024 appeared first on HYBRID Software.

Adapting for Digital or Conventional Labels

Maryam Al-Haddad — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 07:35:35 +0000

By Mike Agness, Executive Vice President, Americas, HYBRID Software, for PFFC

Just by the nature of the job, there is a difference between printing different types of packaging, from labels to flexible packaging to corrugated. So, what makes label printing so unique? For starters, label printing tends towards digital. With the availability of digital printing, as more brand extensions are entering the market or being tested, they aren’t initially done in million run lengths. They’re printed in much smaller quantities.

The challenge owners need to address is to look at labels from the business perspective. Digital printing of labels is here to stay. When adapting digital, at what point do they cross the tipping point for revenue and how does one make that profitable? This can’t be done in a vacuum. To generate the same revenue and greater profits with smaller quantity jobs, it takes more digital jobs to reach that crossover point.

Several years ago we talked to customers about the convergence between revenue of digital to flexo jobs. While you’re selling a digital job for $1,000, a traditional job on a conventional flexo press can cost the customer $5,000 to $10,000 or more. Yet practically every digital job requires the prepress department to “touch” that job. For example, repeat jobs don’t just mean pulling plates and printing again. You won’t be competitive selling $1,000 jobs when every touch costs $25 to $50 in time against that revenue stream. Whether digital or traditional, all these steps, except for platemaking, occur for both digital and traditional presses. Digital just accelerates the process. You have to gain efficiencies, and this comes from the assistance of software.

Digital printing can reduce consumables and time – a reduction of “spend,” so to speak. While you think about the crossover revenue point, there are other variables. For example, if you print on a flexo press, you can get more ink coverage, making the label stand out more. However, this also increases ink costs and can slow down the press, adding job costs. There’s a balancing act to consider.

Who knows what drupa is bringing? The industry is getting closer to digital label presses that can match or surpass the speed of some flexo presses. It will be easier to match run lengths without most of the changeover costs. However, digital ink costs will still be measurably more expensive than that of flexo, and there will still be the challenges of “feeding the monster.” How do you prepare files for an extremely fast-running digital press with the least amount of touches – and the fewest changeovers of print stocks? Automating production as much as possible, from a Web2Print or MIS system, becomes almost imperative.

Image 1: A prepress dashboard can help reduce manual touches.
Image 2: Content XML Technology is used for dynamic content creation using standard markup language.
Image 3: Showing the color accuracy of a spot color transformation.

Fewer Ink Units, Greater Color Gamut?

A flexo press can have as many as 10 or 12 units, making it easy to print brand colors with special inks. Times have changed, and many flexo jobs are printed with expanded gamut (an entire story on its own), but there are still color challenges. If a label printer moves from flexo back to digital – which happens with many brand extensions – color space coverage issues can arise. Marketers need to understand that six-color ink sets, for example, can closely match the special inks that they’ve relied on, although depending upon the brand colors and ink set, there could be challenges. Can the brand color be printed with an acceptable variance from spectral color, and can you predict that process?

Forward thinking might suggest that it would be wise to prepare different graphic designs if you think that a brand will be going from 100,000 to 1 million labels – which most likely will not run on a digital press. If you print a new label design digitally, there will likely be some minute color differences that occur between digital and flexo/offset. If you’re a new brand coming to market, you might want to invest upfront resources designing correctly for both print processes, betting that you’ll be using both.

Make Yourself Indispensable

While there are still many label shops, there has also been a lot of consolidation. Smaller shops – those who haven’t merged or been acquired – are being pressured to differentiate themselves with value-added products and services, like specialty finishing or exceptional online customer service. A lot of vendors are happy to help you upgrade.

This means even more pressure on production workflow software. A good software system can help create the layers – the inks, the separations and where they should be specified – and also provide 3D proofing to help visualize the finished product. The 3D prototypes are also needed for the “off-the-shelf” purchase that is not transitioning to the “Add to Cart” button on an e-tail website.

Each Label Can Be Unique

We haven’t even addressed variable data. What if labels must be serialized, for example? Even flexo jobs often rely on a separate digital unit to assist. Be ready to have software that can prepare this quickly for digital presses. The best way is to rely on the prepress software to do the work rather than the digital press front end. It allows the digital front end to stay dedicated to keeping the digital press running all the time, while relying on the robust prepress workstation to do all the heavy versioning work. That’s much faster.

Sustainable Substrates

Particularly in Canada and in some states, there is a greater emphasis on the impact of label material on the environment. For example, in Canada shrink sleeves are essentially banned. So, print stocks need to be eco-friendly, recyclable-friendly or sustainable. The pressure is on stock, inks, recycling, streams and related issues – affecting costs.

Single-use plastics are being considered a thing of the past. How do we replace the labels? Maybe there isn’t a label. Everything could be printed just like aluminum cans. Could this mean a trend to direct-to-object printing in the future? One thing is certain. It will most certainly be digital.

The differences between traditional and digital label printing comes down to the inherent nuances presented by the different types of jobs and determining which process makes sense. Good production and accounting departments who are able to cut through the complications presented by many print variables will make the digital vs. conventional decision much easier. The more you can adapt, the better off you’ll be.

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Hybrid Software Brings ‘The Heartbeat of Industrial Printing and Packaging’ to Labelexpo Americas 2024

Maryam Al-Haddad — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 14:30:55 +0000

(Ghent, Belgium) Hybrid Software, developer of innovative productivity tools for label & packaging printing, will be displaying its full product portfolio at Labelexpo Americas 2024, Booth 3015. The new PACKZ 10, an all-in-one PDF editor and prepress application for both digital and conventional printing; CLOUDFLOW, the modern workflow engine; ColorLogic’s color management software; SmartDFE, the only AI-accelerated digital front-end for inline printing of fully variable data; and iC3D photorealistic rendering and prototyping will all be demonstrated. Hybrid Software technology is also incorporated in the offerings of a number of manufacturers of digital label printing presses across the show floor.

Hybrid Software serves a truly hybrid world

Digital presses are here to stay, but conventional printing is not disappearing. Efficient print production requires good manufacturing practices, and the craftsmanship and knowledge of traditional print developed over generations. Converters and printers expect connectivity across all their hardware and software systems, but the IT environment where they operate is challenging and unforgiving. Hybrid Software operates at the nexus of prepress production and cutting-edge IT: The IT experts who know prepress, and the prepress experts who know IT.

Commitment to Innovation

Hybrid Software will be highlighting several new products and technologies at Labelexpo. They include:

Hybrid PACKZ 10: The latest version of Hybrid’s popular all-in-one PDF editor adds new capabilities for both digital and conventional printing, including enhanced 3D visualization and ray tracing for shrink sleeves and die-formed metal cans, utilizing a tight integration of two Hybrid Software products, iC3D and Capture 3D.

Hybrid Software’s auto layout and step-and-repeat technology for roll-fed digital labels and stack offset printers, Packzimizer, includes new features to manage short print runs and smaller quantities. Packzimizer intelligently analyzes order data to optimize the layout and repetitions of labels on a roll based on quantity, offering maximum substrate usage and press uptime.

Hybrid CLOUDFLOW: Hybrid Software’s highly configurable enterprise production workflow system provides fast and effective automation of prepress tasks for many converters and printers worldwide. MyCLOUDFLOW is a 100% cloud-based SaaS solution running in a dedicated Amazon Web Services (AWS) cluster and supported by Hybrid’s dedicated team of IT professionals, with strong data protection and immutable backups.

CLOUDFLOW’s ProofScope tool for artwork viewing and approval now includes a 3D approval system based on iC3D technology. Users can visualize product labels as well as embellishments like glitter and varnishes, applied directly to three-dimensional shapes including cartons and bottles, accurately distorting artwork to assure the highest quality shrink sleeves.

ColorSpace: Built on technology from Hybrid Software’s ColorLogic business, ColorSpace offers optimized color matching for digital and conventional printing to all users of PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW. ColorSpace supports different color spaces, from process color and extended gamut printing (ECG) to specific brand color inks. It offers non-experts—sales reps, CSRs and others—an automatic selection of the best ink configuration for each job, on a given printing press, based on the smallest deviation from the desired spectral color (∆E), with reporting to MIS/ERP for accurate quoting.

SmartDFE turnkey digital front end (DFE) for digital presses: SmartDFE is targeted for high-speed, single-pass presses printing fully variable data. It is built upon Harlequin Direct, the world’s fastest PDF RIP, providing rasterization and inkjet drop generation for the best possible image quality and quickest printing speeds. It offers independence from third-party core RIP solutions, relying on Hybrid’s own Harlequin Core—the world’s fastest RIP core—as well as workflow technology based on CLOUDFLOW, and color management from ColorLogic – all developed in-house. SmartDFE is used to power a number of digital label presses that are displayed at Labelexpo, although it is often marketed and sold under Hybrid Software OEM customers’ own brand names.

Hybrid Software has maintained its focus on building the most productive tools for label and packaging printers and converters. “All Hybrid Software companies have one common mission: We are the heartbeat of industrial printing and packaging, whether flexo, offset or digital printing. For example, we are the only company that can drive any digital press with technology developed 100% in-house. This includes all the tasks required to manufacture print, from file preflighting and ink estimation, to prepress workflow and layout, to all facets of color management, RIPping files to a digital printer, overseeing inkjet printhead performance, to analyzing and reporting to networked MIS/ERP solutions,” explains Mike Agness, Hybrid Software Executive Vice President, Americas. “Yet, just as important as our technology is that we care, on a very local level, about our customers’ successes.”

For more information about PACKZ and other Hybrid Software solutions visit: www.hybridsoftware.com.

END

1 – SmartDFE is the only AI-accelerated digital front-end for inline printing of fully variable data

2 – Hybrid Packzimizer includes new features to manage short print runs and smaller quantities.

3 – iC3D offers photorealistic rendering and prototyping

4 – ColorSpace offers optimized color matching for digital and conventional printing to all users of PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW.

The post Hybrid Software Brings ‘The Heartbeat of Industrial Printing and Packaging’ to Labelexpo Americas 2024 appeared first on HYBRID Software.

Baselines… Blueprints… KPIs, an article by Mike Agness

Maryam Al-Haddad — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 14:29:19 +0000

For ages, we have referred to the process of preparing art for the press as prepress. However, as automation has played a major role in the process of printing, so has the role of prepress. We should acknowledge that prepress extends far beyond the press itself.

Prepress has been defined as the function where data (what to print and how) and the asset (how it is supposed to look; the graphics) come together. Prepress tools need to be open and flexible to ensure that communication exists from the origin of data (often MIS/ERP) to the equipment required to make the plate and print the asset. It means communication ties must exist between:

MIS/ERP
Color Management/Conversion
Plate Making/Plate Cutting
Mounting & Application of Tape
The Press
Inspection—Including Color
Slitting Areas

Achieving Automation

Automation is the operation of a process by mechanical or electronic devices that take the place of human labor. Although we would like to consider ourselves infallible, humans can break automation. Yet, we are necessary for logical decisions. Our ultimate goal for automation is to combine the good and the bad: reduce human touches, human interaction and the duplication of tasks creating greatest efficiencies.

Prepress works with precision; for example, a measurement value of points, which is 1/72 of an inch. But, while it has gotten closer over the years, the flexo plate making process is still not exact. While this is a challenge the industry is aware of, there still are requirements to compensate for some inaccuracies.

Design tools have been used to conduct prepress tasks for many years, but they are creative tools. They are built to design something from nothing; not to create many from one and repeat the same process over time. This is where prepress comes in. It takes these files and provides the manufacturing expertise to build them for the print floor.

Prepress needs to focus on manufacturing efficiencies. These include:

• PDF Processing Steps for Packaging: The best packaging workflows are going to be, of course, those that focus solely on packaging. Not only do they tend to follow a more traditional packaging workflow; they also tend to have greater packaging ties to CIP4 standards. Packaging workflows are in tune with all new packaging technology changes

• Familiar Terms for Manufacturing: Packaging prepress tools are more sensitive to very specific needs, such as not relying on inks and layers that can be destroyed. They are also programmed to be specific to packaging nuances such as special color management, three dimensions and folds, use of spot varnishes and white ink layers, etc

• Enabling Better Automation for Packaging: Building systems from preflighting to press inspection allows prepress experts to focus on the more challenging issues. The more standardization that can be built for an automated prepress system, the more efficiently, and quickly, it will operate

• Embracing Standards Technology Leads to Greater Automation: This not only comes in play with PDF, XML and JDF files, but more specialized files, such as Collada

Typically all of the necessary information to manufacture a job for a lot of packaging—most notably flexible packaging—doesn’t exist in any “off-the-shelf” system. There are just too many variables that are usually much more complex than what you would find in a traditional commercial print assignment.

Data & Details

MIS/ERP systems used for manufacturing a product rarely offer an exact description of the data required to produce the packaging job with the desired look. Thus, developers of advanced prepress tools need to be able to gather these details from other systems or be able to store this information themselves for use on repetitive manufacturing.

To make this even more nuanced, the prepress application needs to understand the specifics of each press in the plant. So, data that is stored is also typically associated with a specific press specification.

Experienced packaging prepress departments are familiar with the many tasks that are required from a prepress workflow application. They can include:

Understanding the Inks and the Ink Order: Special inks, of course, have been a common trait of package printing for years. While expanded gamut printing can make this process more standardized, it still requires an understanding of how far a brand color deviates from its traditional representation
Color Management: The more a prepress workflow can automate the control of color ultimately on press, the easier the package printer’s job will be
Trapping: Flexo presses are more accurate than ever, and make-readies are much faster. However, automated trapping settings for each press are desired
Step and Repeat: This is where a good prepress system can automate the step and repeat process and automatically create the most optimized and cost-efficient solution
Bearer Bars: A good workflow—or one that communicates well with a good color management system—can help define the specs of each job’s bearer bars, helping the flexo press read the impression and maintain as minimal bounce as possible
Microdots: Many workflows contain RIPs to drive the flexo plate imager. Many now enhance the quality of a halftone by including microdots to best represent highlights. It turns out that it’s best to use microdots when the job doesn’t contain surface screening, for most accurate mounting. Highly magnified cameras are reading these dots in the specified areas, so it is best to have full and complete dots.
Other Required Plate Identifiers for Plate Manufacturing: We want to make sure that the correct plates are mounted onto the press. This could include specialized data matrix codes or other item numbers to mark and identify the plates

Talk to Me

A good system will have worked out an ability to communicate among its prepress tools to achieve acceptable efficiencies.

Different functional portions of a prepress system can communicate and work together to achieve reasonably complex goals. For example, a system could:

Create cut lines, unique to the separation for optimal flexo plate usage, to stagger plates delivered for cutting
Determine the height and width of the plate and send that information to an automated tape applicator. At the same time, that data is returned to the MIS/ERP system for costing
Establish the location of the microdots in association to the plate, for precise mounting
Determine the ink order for the proper loading of cylinders on press to match what color management had specified

Automated prepress systems permit staggered cutting areas to be applied to shrink sleeve label designs, like the one depicted here.

Once all the prepress manufacturing data is gathered, it needs to be assembled and delivered upon a “trigger.” A data “trigger” could be as simple as entering a unique item number. Perhaps the barcode scan from a system can include this unique identifier.

There could be a status change in the data system (typically delivered by the MIS/ERP). Once the trigger has been initiated, a solution should deliver to the system, in the requested format. This could be XML metadata, an API door to the system, CSV file format data, a database action, or a properly formatted PDF file.

What data is delivered between systems? Certainly, it would include details about how the asset was prepared. It will also include information about the pressrun.

Of course, data about step-and-repeat is delivered. That would include the number of pieces of art across and down, as well as the size of gaps. This is critical for inspection, and the gaps are important details to send to the slitter.

Packzimizer intelligently analyzes the order data to optimize the layout and repetitions of labels on the roll based on quantity, offering maximum substrate usage and press uptime.

Then, there’s the role of prepress on the press, for inspection. Any inspection tool needs to know what to inspect for. It could be content, or areas within content, removing any necessary irrelevant processing steps, such as dielines, varnishing, or other print features. Prepress also plays in important role defining where—and what—to inspect for color matches. Quantities are imported from the MIS/ERP to the prepress automation system, as well as the inspection system.

PACKZ 10 to deliver supreme quality and detailed printing on metal cans. HYBRID Software’s Capture 3D Technology now features precise deformation grids and live 3D viewing, unlocking new opportunities for branding and metal can packaging.

It also needs to validate the barcode against product data during a production run. Lest we all forget, this is how we all get paid, from the brand to the printer!

Critical Communication

Whether the printing model for a certain package runs through a trade shop (often the case for flexible packaging) or by a converter with a complete in-house plate making capability, there are still requirements for automated communication between prepress and the plate making department, including chosen systems for mounting, tape application, inspection and any post flexo plate making needs, which shouldn’t hinder efforts to achieve precise automation.

Flexo plates are expensive. When producing a corrugated box, often only a tiny area is printed, even though the plates, themselves, may be large. In the past, a great deal of manual work was required to avoid imaging large flexo plates with very few graphics. A good prepress system automatically can separate printed elements in the design file and consolidate and optimize them to take up the least amount of plate space, minimizing material use.

If done right, it can be associated within a pure PDF workflow and tie into the MIS/ERP. For example, job specs including polymer, thickness, and sizes, among other variables, can be embedded into the mounter’s XML file (both PDF and TIFF/LEN files). An automated system like this can save 5-10 or more minutes to patch an entire job, and with fewer errors. Printers have reported 50 percent prepress savings.

Even more sophisticated systems can include scrap and cutoff inventory management of flexo plates. They identify and tell plate imaging operators which cutoffs could be used for a job, and how to use them, utilizing what could have gone bad on the shelf, invisible to the plate maker.

Where to Begin

According to Automation Advantage, published by McGraw Hill, automation is a journey. It begins with a vision of what you want to achieve. To make it reality, we must be aware of what our system is today—what we’re doing—and what systems and processes need to be put in place to reach our automation goal. It’s about creating a baseline of where you are and where you’d like to end up.

While creating your prepress automation roadmap, you should also create your operation’s own roadmap for this major project. It includes determining what opportunities exist by automating, creating business and key performance indicator mapping, and a blueprint/plan.

You get the automated system live by first testing it offline, assuring that the process works, and the platform you are using is ample for your objectives. Seeking the help of industry and technology wide accelerators and standards also helps.

As it is implemented, the automation journey will require oversight and governance to make sure you are on the right track.

Finally, you need to communicate the changes to the organization. Often, this is the most complex step; the one that delivers the most trials and tribulations. Often, the project manager will get many others involved in the installation project, so they have some ownership.

Even after you think your job is over, it isn’t. There are always continuing revisions and updates. Partnering with the correct industry suppliers is important to meet any vision of an optimized, automated prepress system. Remember you are planning for the future—not investing in the past.

About the Author: Mike Agness is executive vice president, Hybrid Software, Americas. The firm delivers innovative prepress software solutions to various packaging-related businesses. Hybrid’s software tools are flexible, open, built on industry standards and have proven to provide significant efficiencies to the packaging industry. Hybrid Software Group is comprised of Hybrid Software, Global Graphics (Harlequin RIP), Meteor Inkjet, Xitron and ColorLogic GmbH.

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New Release of iC3D Version 10 Streamlines the Design Process for Metal Can Packaging

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 08:38:47 +0000

(Ghent, Belgium) Hybrid Software, the innovative leader in 3D packaging design software, is excited to announce the release of iC3D Version 10. This newest version brings significant enhancements and essential fixes, reinforcing Hybrid’s commitment to providing industry-leading 3D solutions for packaging designers and manufacturers.

“Our tenth release of iC3D is a testament to our continued innovation on behalf of packaging professionals,” said Heath Luetkens, Hybrid Software Business Manager – 3D Graphics. “The deep integration with our recently acquired Capture 3D technology for accurate metal can printing strengthens our comprehensive solution suite for both brands and packaging converters, delivering a high-quality suite of tools trusted by the entire value chain.”

Enhancements in iC3D’s 10th Release

iC3D version 10 introduces several groundbreaking features designed to improve the user experience and expand creative capabilities:

Capture 3D — precise grid management for accurate deformation and modeling within PACKZ — now has direct integration with iC3D.

Advanced Warping Template: The new advanced warping template, integrated with Hybrid Software’s Capture 3D distortion software for metal cans, allows users to select scanned model data, set parameters for the distortion grid, and generate designs for use in PACKZ. This enhancement streamlines the design process for metal can packaging, ensuring supreme quality and accurate printing. Additionally, iC3D’s photorealistic live 3D viewing unlocks new opportunities for branding and innovation in metal can packaging.

The OpenGL viewer is improved for more realistic material rendering and works seamlessly with the newest version of 3D Proofscope for more right-first-time approvals.

Improved OpenGL Viewer: The updated OpenGL viewer, or “Standard” view, now includes enhancements to material rendering, offering more realistic visuals. This viewer features tools for soft proofing and facilitates customer feedback through a secure web browser. Additionally, it integrates seamlessly with Hybrid Software’s workflow production suite, CLOUDFLOW, ensuring a smooth and efficient production process.

iC3D 10 users can now scale bottle models up or down in size accurately by simply inserting the desired volumetric number.

Volumetric Transform: A new option within Transforms allows users to adjust a model’s size using volumetric information. This feature is particularly beneficial for creating accurate bottle models, as it enables scaling based on volumetric calculations.

Time-saving functionalities, such as keyboard shortcuts to switch between the OpenGL and Ray Tracing window, improve user experience and create 3D models more rapidly.

With these new enhancements and many additional improvements, users of iC3D will experience a significant boost in their design efficiency and overall 3D experience.

END

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Mavigrafica chooses PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW to automate the workflow of its three locations

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 12:30:20 +0000

Fabio Casavecchia, head of the Pioltello office collaborated closely on the project with Luca Rossi, Regional Manager Italy

In Fisciano, Pioltello, and Campi Bisenzio, Italy, Mavigrafica, a flexo prepress service, has installed 25 PACKZ workstations and two complete CLOUDFLOW systems. They have chosen our software for benefits including workflow automation, improved print quality and productivity for its customers, and secure internal job management, fostering collaboration and continuous improvement, all while feeling comprehensively supported by skilled technicians.

The Story of Mavigrafica

The story of Mavigrafica began in 1997 in Fisciano, Italy. From the beginning, its founder and current owner, Maurizio Vitale, chose to specialize as a service dedicated to the flexo sector, recognizing its enormous growth potential even then. After a long period of initial development and local recognition, in 2013, the company began its expansion into Northern Italy. This expansion was realized in 2017 with the purchase of a plant in Pioltello and the installation of new machinery for the production of photopolymer plates. In 2022, never satisfied and always eager to grow, Mavigrafica embarked on a new journey, this time in Central Italy, specifically in Campi Bisenzio, where the third location was established. Today, Mavigrafica can be defined as a global prepress service, offering the best of current software and hardware technology. From a sustainability perspective, in 2023, Mavigrafica was the first in Italy to install the Flexcel NX Ultra by Miraclon, an eco-friendly plate production system using water-based washing.

Automate, Streamline, Value

In its rapid growth journey, Mavigrafica felt the need to automate its production processes as much as possible and identified PACKZ, HYBRID Software’s native PDF editing tool, as the right solution for its needs. The first PACKZ system was installed in Fisciano in 2015, proving to be in line with Mavigrafica’s requirements. Today, there are 25 operational PACKZ systems across its locations. The three factories are interconnected, ensuring a consistent approach to client services with equal technologies and workflows, providing the same service and maximum quality to all clients. This continuous collaboration and data exchange between sites enable the use of the same know-how in graphic work, improving service quality, which has always been a company priority.

What Makes This Tool Special?

We asked Fabio Casavecchia, the manager of the Pioltello office, what makes this tool special. He explained, “This software is straightforward because its performance is stable, allowing us to work with complex PDFs, including overprinting, color space automation, and resolution control upon opening the PDF. Furthermore, it is fully compatible with the most common graphic software like Artwork, Illustrator, or InDesign. As a result, we can reduce processing times and increase productivity.”

“Essentially, automation helps speed up workflows, allowing graphic designers to focus solely on their creative work. Without automation, routine tasks, now managed by HYBRID Software solutions, would slow down the process,” explained Maurizio Vitale.

However, for Maurizio, PACKZ’s editing programs were not enough; he needed to go further. Thus, a few years later, Mavigrafica installed two complete, fully customizable CLOUDFLOW systems, alongside HYBRID Software’s RIP to maximize process automation, streamline workflows, and enhance prepress operators’ skills. This left HYBRID Software to handle repetitive processes, which, if left to operators, could lead to errors.

CLOUDFLOW: A Versatile Workflow

CLOUDFLOW is a production workflow with a modular suite for file processing, asset management, soft proofing, and automation. It is a web-based platform tailored for packaging graphics using native PDF, color separations, trapping, screening, correction, and much more.

A Management System

An aspect that sets Mavigrafica’s use of CLOUDFLOW apart is its decision to use it also as a management system. “A structured company works and produces better. With it, we create job orders, manage control phases, and handle quotes and stock inventories. All our processes have an internal identity card with the specific artwork’s characteristics, so we don’t waste time organizing incoming workflows and assigning job orders. This helps manage both graphic and commercial parts. We also record all process-related data to monitor production in real-time, optimizing it and making operators’ work easier and safer,” explains Fabio.

“We chose a single supplier for graphics stations, workflow, and management systems because, considering the excellent collaboration we’ve had from the beginning with HYBRID Software, installing a system from another manufacturer would have been counterproductive. Moreover, I was confident I would be supported by their technicians, so why change? The facts have objectively shown that we made an excellent decision. Our journey with them has brought great satisfaction,” adds Maurizio.

Dedicated Modules for Quality, Precision, and Reliability

Mavigrafica uses all CLOUDFLOW modules, including Intelligent Flexo, an independent surface screening solution for high-quality flexo printing that improves flexo production quality by identifying and addressing problematic areas before printing. Fabio highlights, “Intelligent Flexo allows us to create customized screens that enhance the quality of the plates we produce. We can work according to the complex requests of clients through cutting-edge technology, which sets us apart.” Another module is iC3D, which confirms HYBRID Software’s commitment to providing fast, accurate, and photorealistic 3D virtual prototypes for packaging design. To elevate project quality and visibility, Mavigrafica can also create, by directly printing on the final client’s film, a true simulation of the packaging, providing a realistic mock-up like the final product on the shelf.

A Joint Growth Path

HYBRID Software and Mavigrafica have built this collaboration over time. To create a process with these characteristics, it was “crucial to fine-tune it with the help of Luca Rossi, Regional Manager Italy, and HYBRID Software’s technicians, who have been helpful and flexible, helping us develop a customized system tailored to our needs. A software can be perfect by itself, but without support and collaboration from the supplier, its value is reduced. With HYBRID Software, we have established a relationship of total trust, especially after the sale, with constant testing and refinements for continuous improvement, because people make companies unique,” says Fabio.

Collaborations, once started, can only continue to develop to the benefit of both parties. “With HYBRID Software’s support, we are working on solutions to manage specific screen requests that can solve productivity issues and enhance quality based on various printers’ needs. We are also developing a portal for direct communication with our buyers to eliminate downtime and make the production process entirely transparent,” adds Fabio. “The goal is ambitious, but we are confident we will succeed. We never back down and will make a process that unites us with the client a reality. Each of them has different needs, and we will offer the widest variety of products,” concludes Maurizio.

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Our Collaboration on a Groundbreaking Generative AI Consumer Experience

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 07:09:39 +0000

(Ghent, Belgium) Hybrid Software, an international software company specializing in label and packaging printing prepress, workflow, and 3D solutions, announces its participation in ‘Project Halo’, a unique consumer experience spearheaded by Diageo, the world leader in beverage alcohol across spirits and beer categories.

The Experience at Johnnie Walker Princes Street in Edinburgh, Scotland

During August, visitors to Johnnie Walker Princes Street in Edinburgh will be immersed in an experience where they are invited to co-design their very own unique bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label. In collaboration with Scottish artist Scott Naismith, the experience begins with visitors answering a few simple prompts to compose AI generated artwork with various colors, locations, artistic styles, and times of day. The result is a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork printed directly onto the bottle in a matter of minutes and is believed to be the first ever to combine world-class Scotch whisky, art, and AI.

The ‘Project Halo’ Partnership Is a Commitment to Innovation

Championed by Diageo, ‘Project Halo’ was engineered by an industry-leading team of experts, including Phantom, Amazon AWS, GMG, Roland DG, and Hybrid Software. Their collective mission of this project is to propel brands to success by pioneering cutting-edge technology with personalized consumer experiences.

At Johnnie Walker Princes Street, visitors are invited to explore the world of direct and variable on-site bottle printing hands-on. The unique and innovative integration with AI technology molds a special connection between the brand and the consumer, aiming to reinforce brand recognition and loyalty.

Igor Vandromme, Brand Manager at Hybrid Software, shares: “Our CLOUDFLOW enterprise software plays a crucial role in powering an automation workflow with many moving parts, including spontaneous consumer decision-making, resulting not only in seasonal and variable data printing but now in AI-driven artwork printing. It is a revolutionary step in the future of highly personalized consumer experiences of brands, and we are excited to be a part of it.”

Consumers can book the Johnnie Walker x Scott Naismith experience (£240) here.

ENDS

Download the press release here.

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The Exclusive Interview with Founder and Executive Director of Hybrid Software

Maryam Al-Haddad — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 08:28:23 +0000

Article is written by Olivier Kettels, Pack & Label Around

Guido van der Schueren was born in Ghent, the son of a letterpress photo-engraver and a graphic arts engineer, and he soon had a vision of what prepress services would become. In less than 15 years, this man who loves simple pleasures has created a group that employs more than 300 people and now has a global presence.

Can you tell us about the start of your career, which was marked by advances in computer technology?
Guido van der Schueren: My very first job was as a teacher, teaching photocomposition. In 1982, I met the directors of Disk, which was developing a photocomposition system, DigiLabel, for administrative forms and self-adhesive labels. At the time, I was responsible for the commercial development of products worth between €200,000 and €500,000! The exponential development of computing and the arrival of the first Macintosh changed things radically. With two colleagues, we came up with a new tool, a revolutionary editor for pre-press: ArtPro. We marketed it through our first company, Artwork Systems.

Guido van der Schueren: “According to our estimates, more than 25,000 companies worldwide are likely to equip themselves with Packz and Cloudflow. And the Packz 10 version we have just launched has nothing in common with the first version.

With DigiLabel and ArtPro, you’ve had two fundamental visions…
I stumbled upon the label sector by chance thanks to a printer friend who taught me all about the business and his needs, in short, I listened to him. With the creation of DigiLabel, we brought a digital solution to the self-adhesive label market for the first time. 25,000 turned out to be a real commercial success, with over 10,000 licences sold in just a few years…

In 2011, you set up a new company, Hybrid Software. What were your motivations?
The sale of Artwork Systems left me a little ‘hungry’. On the other hand, pre-press applications suffered from a manifest lack of innovation. I said to the friends who followed me: “Let’s do it again! We had just one very good idea: to launch a native PDF editor… which we called Packz.

The Hybrid Software group has a rich portfolio of applications, which is regularly enhanced by new acquisitions. How do you organise this ecosystem?
Most of the acquisitions we make are integrated with our flagship solutions in a Cloud environment, namely : Packz and Cloudflow. The principle behind our choices is simple: control the entire graphic chain and have our own technology at our disposal. This also explains why we have a team of around a hundred in-house developers. Packz and Cloudflow have now been around for more than 10 years.

Aren’t you worried that some markets, particularly in Western Europe, are reaching saturation point?
With the exception of Belgium, where very few printers are not now equipped with Packz, we’re a long way from that prospect. For example, we have sold more than 4,000 Packz licences, and according to our estimates, more than 25,000 companies worldwide are likely to be equipped with Packz and Cloudflow. And the Packz 10 version we’ve just launched has nothing in common with the first version. We also expect to win many new customers with our new cloud versions MyPackz and MyCloudflow, which were presented as innovations at the last Drupa.

At Drupa, many companies are showcasing solutions based in whole or in part on artificial intelligence (AI). What do you think?
Nobody really defines what AI is. In most cases, this argument is purely marketing. Some of our tools make use of AI, for example to control exchanges between ERP, the flow and the RIP. I’d also like to mention one of our latest applications: Streamline Autotune. This module also makes partial use of AI. Integrated with our Harlequin RIP, it will enable us to optimise print results even further.

Do you have a ‘secret garden’? Do you find the time to cultivate other passions?
I divide my private life between my family (I have six grandchildren) and what I would describe as rather simple pleasures: travelling, reading and drinking a good beer with friends. Hybrid Software Group has been listed on Euronext for two years, but other suppliers to the packaging industry have sometimes taken the opposite route. Global Graphics had already been listed since 2005 without any difficulty. What changed in 2022 was the name of the listed entity, which became Hybrid Software Group. Our free float is only 17%, and the rest is privately held.

What’s the secret of your growth?
It’s a question of alchemy. We draw our strength from our structure, which is still very much a family business. We surround ourselves with the right people, but the most important thing is to stay close to our market and our customers. Every time we think we have an interesting idea to offer our customers or a partner, a manufacturer for example, we put our proposal to them. Our heart beats in unison with our customers. That was our slogan at Drupa.

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HYBRID Software receives the Flexo Label Advantage Group’s FLAG vendor partner of the year award

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 07:46:56 +0000

During the Flexo Label Advantage Group’s (FLAG) Annual Meeting Awards Ceremony Awards night on June 12, 2024, HYBRID Software was recognized as recipient of the FLAG 2024 Vendor Partner of the Year award. The award is given for excellence in serving FLAG and its Members, who are label and packaging converters. Recipients are Vendor Partner companies who provide exceptional support, proactive communication and commitment to the entire FLAG organization.

Flexo Label Advantage Group LLC (FLAG) was founded in 2010 when its founder, John McKay, saw an opportunity in North America for a label buying group, based on his personal experiences with successful buying groups in other printing industry segments. FLAG is an independently owned company, now with over 140 Members.

FLAG negotiates national group incentive agreements on products and services converters purchase every day. Their Members maintain their independence, and negotiate their own invoice pricing while receiving quarterly incentives and direct savings, because they are part of the group. FLAG also offers independent label converters benefits similar to what large national converters can provide for their facilities with multi-location backup and support, should a catastrophic event take place. It provides opportunities for its Members to be more competitive as a buyer’s group in the marketplace, and become stronger companies, without sacrificing their independence.

The Annual Meeting Awards Ceremony Awards night was just one small portion of FLAG’s Annual Meeting, which was held this year from June 11-13, in Buffalo NY. The summit gave Member companies a chance to continue to learn, network, and grow. It featured industry experts, thought leaders, panel discussions covering a range of topics relevant to label converting, and a Vendor Partner tabletop expo highlighting services, products and new technologies. This year, the group also toured FLAG Member and host company Niagara Label’s facility to see first-hand the culture that has enabled them to grow significantly while staying true to the family-owned company values that have guided them for over 38 years.

Last year, Mike Agness, HYBRID Software Executive Vice President, Americas earned the FLAG Brad Brown strategic partner award, exemplifying commitment, creativity and excellence in his support of FLAG. “However, as a group, I am thrilled that HYBRID Software has received the FLAG Vendor Partner of the year award again; only one of two vendors have received the award twice. It is prized by us because it honors the way we support our customers,” says Agness. “We believe in our commitment to FLAG because of the value and true win-win-win approach. We thank FLAG again for giving us the platform to offer its members our portfolio of production workflow tools, and meeting an exceptional group of converters.”

“HYBRID Software is an excellent example of the way a vendor should support our members,” remarks McKay. “They have always been an active vendor partner, offering not only competitive pricing for our Members but, most important, exceptional workflow solutions and outstanding customer support. They have played a valuable role in the continued success of FLAG and our Members.”

END

Download here.

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HYBRID Software unveils PACKZ 10

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 07:14:43 +0000

Latest version of PDF editor offers cutting-edge features to enhance automation, unlock new opportunities for branding, and increase productivity for label and packaging printers

Ghent, Belgium, June 18th, 2024: HYBRID Software, developer of innovative productivity tools for label & packaging printing, announces the release of PACKZ 10, the latest version of its popular all-in-one PDF editor. A prepress application for both digital and conventional printing, PACKZ 10 introduces groundbreaking features including seamless integration with EngView’s CAD software, advanced 3D viewing capabilities for metal can printing, and enhanced functionality for managing small print runs. STEPZ 10 offers the same features in a scaled-down product aimed solely at digital printing.

“We showcased PACKZ 10 at drupa 2024 and it was met with great enthusiasm. HYBRID Software is dedicated to offering open, interoperable and innovative solutions that can be used safely and with confidence by the label and packaging industry. The latest version of PACKZ is a testament to this,” says product manager Pascal Wybo.

New features in PACKZ 10 include:

Connectivity to EngView
PACKZ 10 offers deep connectivity to EngView Packaging Suite CAD software, providing robust support for existing EngView users and a modern, user-friendly CAD alternative for folding carton printers. This collaboration enhances the extensive range of editing and automation tools in PACKZ 10, representing a significant advancement in packaging production for folding cartons.

RESTful API connectivity between PACKZ 10 and EngView Packaging Suite CAD software.

• Capture 3D technology
With advancements in HYBRID Software’s Capture 3D technology, PACKZ 10 delivers supreme quality and detailed printing on metal cans. The software now features precise deformation grids and live 3D viewing, unlocking new opportunities for branding and metal can packaging. This innovation follows the game-changing shrink sleeve technology launched earlier this year.

Capture 3D precise grid management with 2D and 3D mapping for accurate deformation and modeling in PACKZ.

• Packzimizer enhancements
Packzimizer, HYBRID Software’s auto layout and step-and-repeat technology for roll-fed digital labels and stack offset printers, includes new features to manage short print runs and smaller quantities. Packzimizer intelligently analyzes the order data to optimize the layout and repetitions of labels on the roll based on quantity, offering maximum substrate usage and press uptime.

Intelligent algorithms to gang labels quantity-based with print-ready layouts for roll- and sheet-fed printing.

For more information about PACKZ and other HYBRID Software solutions visit: www.hybridsoftware.com

ENDS

cloudflow.hybridsoftware.com
www.hamillroad.com/bellissima

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How Kwality Labels relies on our automated workflow to prepare artwork for print

Maryam Al-Haddad — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 13:29:34 +0000

Randy McDonnell and Shanti Chadha of Kwality Labels.

Automating Artwork Prep: How Kwality Labels relies on an automated workflow to prepare artwork for print

by Mike Agness, Courtesy of PRINTACTION

As with the variety of specifications faced on a daily basis for packaging, the preparation of artwork for labels and packaging differs from job to job.

Historically, prepress departments, either manually or with the help of automated workflow systems, have resolved several challenges. They include tasks such as:

Preflighting: Assuring artwork file is ready to be printed.
Colour management: Matching colour appearances as closely as possible from input to output and between devices, assuring colours will be printed as specified.
Trapping: With traditional presses, assuring there are no gaps between type or images of different colours. Additionally, in flexo printing, consideration is given to keep aways or hold backs where required.
Step and repeat: Determining the most efficient way to print jobs on press.

As these differ from converter to converter, the best way to illustrate how to consider file preparation would be to start from the beginning.

A PDF editor and cloud-based dashboard have automated many of the company’s prepress tasks.

Ground zero

Kwality Labels, owned by Shanti Chadha and based in Richmond Hill, Ont., began more than 40 years ago as a narrow web commercial flexo label printer. They have since expanded capabilities to include custom digital label printing for both long and short print runs. These include pressure sensitive, cut and stack, and double- sided labels, along with products like spirals. They offer a full range of products and services for their clients from industries like health, cosmetics, juice, and snack foods. Kwality Labels complies with several industry standards and has certifications such as G7, FTA FIRST, and IFS PACsecure, allowing them to achieve premium quality for everyone.

When Randy McDonnell joined Kwality Labels in 2019, they outsourced all prepress. After client approval, plates showed up and they ran the job. McDonnell, along with plant manager Joe Miller, were tasked with building a prepress department from scratch using a PDF editor.

“I always heard the rationale for using a PDF editor, but never understood it. Since I worked previously with Adobe Illustrator, I never had real workflow experience. In the very early days here at Kwality Labels, I did the work first in Illustrator, then moved the files into the PDF editor,” remembers McDonnell. “Now that I know how to use the workflow, I realized that I could process a file better and faster entirely with the PDF editor. If I’m spending eight hours on one file or on a series of SKUs in the editor, I’m going to spend much longer in Illustrator to accomplish the same.”

McDonnell gets artwork files from both ends of the spectrum. Once someone has edited a file, particularly for flexo, the struggle is getting both print runs to look the same.

“Consider a job that requires five designs—one new, but four repeated from last year. It’s easy to use last year’s file and tweak the text. But if there’s a new flavour or SKU this year, I’ll get a new design file,” says McDonnell. “How do I ensure the design file matches the ones I’ve already printed—and maybe not even by me, but someone else? That would be a challenge without a good workflow.”

The other issue is flexo vs. digital. Kwality Labels has digital HD and flexo presses. “We’re not going to run 5,000 or fewer labels on a flexo press. But I need to mimic its print quality on the digital press. Conversely, customers may order a print job of 5,000 labels today that we will print on a digital press—and may order 100,000 tomorrow, which we will print on a flexo press. The challenge, of course, is to match colour between presses.”

There are different ink and colour settings to be considered. This is where colour management comes into play. McDonnell relies on the CXF value of the Pantone colour, which includes the LAB value and the spectral data (essentially lighting conditions, as a package on the shelf looks different from a package under freezer lighting).

At times, McDonnell extends the print gamut by utilizing orange, green and violet.

“One of the tests of a better workflow, particularly when you want to colour manage it to expanded gamut, is the ability to convert everything: CMYK images, RGB images and others. Some just convert the Pantone or vector components. The more sophisticated systems apply it to all images,” explains McDonnell.

Step and repeat

The way Kwality Labels automatically steps and repeats jobs is innovative.

“We’re pulling the information from an updated database. For example, with nutraceuticals, there are about 40 different sized bottles and labels that we typically print. We input those sizes into an automated dashboard,” mentions McDonnell. “Once the customer okays the one-up, the system automatically finds that size in the database, and locates the step and repeats. We just say ‘go’, and we’ve got a stepped file sitting at the digital press to print—or RIPped to a 1-bit tiff file for plates.”

“The old way to send files for approval was via a low-res PDF. The problem is, what will you use as a viewer? Many people rely on a browser. Even the free version of Adobe Acrobat presents problems if settings are incorrect. Some customers might say, ‘Why does the type look fat?’ It’s because we put a trap on the type and it’s being looked at with the overprint off,” remarks McDonnell. “Now, if we try to send one of our larger clients a low-res PDF, they won’t even open the email message. It has to be approved via our online portal. The viewer on the automated dashboard forces everyone to view literally the same file, with the same rendering. Customers can leave notes on the file or on certain areas of the image. We just collect the notes and make a new version.”

Future plans

Kwality Labels’ future plan is to tie its MIS into their plate-ordering jobs. They can already automate the digital press front end (DFE). If a job is approved in digital form, it just goes to DFE and RIPs automatically at the correct settings. Preparing jobs automatically for flexo printing will take more work.

“If you’re still preparing your print production files with Adobe apps, you’re like the film stripper in 1990s, when desktop publishing was taking hold. Yes, you could do everything with film stripping. But at a certain point, it didn’t matter how good you were. Technology has changed,” concludes McDonnell. “There’s also a big change in PDF editing technology, and those who rely on other tools could be left behind.”

MIKE AGNESS, Hybrid Software executive vice president, Americas, joined the company in 2011 after a long career at Pitman Company and Agfa. He can be reached at mikea@hybridsoftware.com.

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HYBRID Software and Hamillroad team up to integrate Bellissima DMS screening technology into CLOUDFLOW enterprise production workflow

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 07:00:17 +0000

Mike Rottenborn, CEO of Hybrid Software, and Pierre Hammond, commercial director of Hamillroad Software, celebrate their new partnership.

HYBRID Software, developer of innovative productivity tools for label & packaging printing, is excited to announce a strategic partnership to integrate Hamillroad’s Bellissima DMS screening solution into its CLOUDFLOW enterprise production workflow. The collaboration meets a growing demand for CLOUDFLOW support among Hamillroad’s customers and brings together the best-in-class technologies, offering significant advantages to flexo trade shops and converters.

CLOUDFLOW is a highly configurable solution that provides fast and effective automation of prepress tasks for more than 1,000 customers worldwide. Hamillroad’s Bellissima DMS is recognized as the leading screening solution for flexography, widely adopted by major brands, trade shops, and converters. The partnership between HYBRID Software and Hamillroad combines these advanced technologies to offer an enhanced solution. The seamless integration of Bellissima DMS into CLOUDFLOW will provide users with:

Complete control of Bellissima DMS directly within CLOUDFLOW.
Seamless selection between CLOUDFLOW’s built-in conventional screening and Bellissima.
Access to Bellissima’s next-gen ‘ACE’ surface patterning and Intelligent Flexo.
Full integration with all CLOUDFLOW modules, including ProofScope, CLOUDFLOW’s tool for artwork viewing and approval.

“The integration of Bellissima DMS into CLOUDFLOW aligns with our mission to deliver leadership in software for industrial printing and packaging, fostering long-term mutual partnerships and providing cutting-edge solutions to our customers that will enhance their processes and their business,” said Nick De Roeck, President, HYBRID Software.

Pierre Hammond, Commercial Director, Hamillroad Software, added: “Our customers have been asking for CLOUDFLOW support, and this partnership with HYBRID Software enables us to meet that demand. Together, we are setting new standards in the flexo printing industry.”

The integration is expected to be released in Q3 2024 and will include Hamillroad’s next generation of Bellissima DMS delivering unparalleled screening capabilities, including:

The highest SID levels on traditional LAMs flexo plates for CMYK, spot color, and whites.
Superior image reproduction quality, equivalent to 300-450 lpi.
Exceptional fade-to-zero smoothness with tone values below traditional 3-10%.
Compatibility with UV, solvent, and water-based printing on various manufacturers’ LAMs plates, including eco-friendly water-wash plates.

For more information, visit HYBRID Software at drupa 2024 on stand 7a/D03 or Hamillroad Software on the Asahi Photoproducts stand 8b/A13.

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PACKZ Version 10 Adds Live Connectivity to EngView’s Packaging Design CAD Software

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 21 May 2024 12:01:37 +0000

(Ghent, Belgium) Hybrid Software, developer of innovative productivity tools for label & package printing, will demonstrate Version 10 of its PACKZ PDF packaging editor at the Drupa trade fair starting on May 28 in Düsseldorf, Germany. PACKZ Version 10 adds deep connectivity to EngView’s Package & Display Designer CAD software to better support existing EngView users as well as any folding carton printer who is looking for a modern, user-friendly CAD alternative. This collaborative solution adds to the already-extensive range of editing and automation tools in PACKZ 10 and marks a significant advancement in packaging production for folding cartons.

Hybrid Software President Patrick Coussement states, “PACKZ has long supported connectivity with structural design software via open interfaces, but the direct connection to EngView is much more streamlined and productive for folding carton designers and printers. EngView has an excellent reputation and offers both Mac and PC versions of their software, just as we do with PACKZ. We’re looking forward to a long and successful partnership and continued innovation on behalf of our mutual customers.”

Boriana Stoimenova, Head of the Packaging Division at EngView Systems, comments on the integration between EngView Package & Display Designer and Hybrid’s PACKZ: “As two leading companies, committed to providing high-quality innovative solutions for the packaging industry, sharing the same customer-oriented values, it’s the natural progression for EngView and Hybrid to form an alliance. This collaboration aims to empower our customers by automating the packaging design and production processes. It will significantly improve their efficiency and reduce the time-to-market. Given the smooth and effective cooperation between our teams so far, I am genuinely excited about this venture and believe we can discover even more ways to integrate EngView’s and Hybrid’s products.”

Discover all innovative productivity tools of the only all-in-one PDF editors for label and packaging graphics at www.hybridsoftware.com, or visit Hall 7a, Stand D03 at drupa for a personalized demonstration.

END

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Hybrid Software outlines exciting plans for drupa 2024

Maryam Al-Haddad — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 14:02:19 +0000

Hybrid Software, the heartbeat of industrial printing and packaging, outlines exciting plans for drupa 2024 in a pre-conference press event.

(Ghent, Belgium) Hybrid Software, innovative developer of products and technology for both print providers and OEMs to power digital and conventional print production, today provided journalists an overview of its plans for drupa 2024.

Hybrid Software serves a truly hybrid world
Digital presses are here to stay, but conventional printing is not disappearing. Efficient print production not only requires good manufacturing practices, but also the craftsmanship and knowledge of traditional print developed over generations. Customers expect connectivity across all their hardware and software systems, but the IT environment where they operate is challenging and unforgiving. Hybrid Software operates at the nexus of prepress production and cutting-edge IT: The IT experts who know prepress, and the prepress experts who know IT.

The Heartbeat of Industrial Printing and Packaging
“Today we introduce a unified Hybrid Software built from six distinct operating companies with one common mission: We are the heartbeat of industrial printing and packaging,” announces Guido Van der Schueren, Hybrid Software Executive Chairman. “It communicates our DNA to our customers and the industry; one of long-term mutual partnerships and a commitment to expert local support. We will continue to deliver leadership in software and electronics for industrial printing and packaging, driven by the intelligence and passion of our people, speaking the language of our customers, and sharing their heartbeat.”

Commitment to Innovation
Hybrid Software announced several major new products and technologies that will be demonstrated at their stand during drupa. They include:

MyCLOUDFLOW hosted SaaS workflow solution: CLOUDFLOW is Hybrid’s popular enterprise production workflow. The highly configurable enterprise production workflow system provides fast and effective automation of prepress tasks for more than 1,000 customers worldwide.

All demos at drupa will be run using MyCLOUDFLOW, a 100% cloud-based SaaS solution running in a dedicated Amazon Web Services (AWS) cluster. The No-IT solution offers quick access to CLOUDFLOW through a private and secure environment for each customer with strong data protection and immutable backups. Like any SaaS solution, there is no hardware purchase, and easy scalability without requiring local IT support. The installed base of MyCLOUDFLOW users grew steadily through 2023 as print providers accepted the power of SaaS and the advantages it can bring to their businesses.

Broadest 3D offering in the industry: CLOUDFLOW’s ProofScope tool for artwork viewing and approval has been enhanced with the addition of a 3D approval system based on iC3D technology. Users can visualize product labels as well as embellishments like glitter and varnishes, applied directly to three-dimensional shapes including cartons and bottles. Hybrid Software will also demonstrate its new Capture3D software for accurate distortion of artwork for printing the highest quality shrink sleeves and die-formed metal packaging.

New MyPACKZ hosted SaaS PDF job editor and layout tool: MyPACKZ is a SaaS-based prepress application for any printing process, digital or conventional, derived from Hybrid Software’s very successful PACKZ software. PACKZ, with more than 5,000 copies sold, provides a full set of packaging prepress tools from preflight to step & repeat and trapping. MyPACKZ offers the same functionality in a hosted SaaS business model for increased production efficiency, quality improvements and reduced error rates. It’s the ideal editing solution for MyCLOUDFLOW customers, since it allows their files to remain in the cloud at all times, even when editing is required.

ColorSpace premium color management solution for labels and packaging: ColorSpace is a prime example of a Hybrid Software’s 100% ownership of technology for digital and conventional printing. Built on technology from its ColorLogic business, ColorSpace offers optimized color matching for digital and conventional print, to all users of PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW.

ColorSpace supports different color spaces, including CMYK, extended gamut CMYKOGV, and specific brand color inks. ColorSpace can offer non-experts—sales reps, CSRs and others—an automatic selection of the best ink configuration for each job on a given printing press, based on the smallest deviation from the spectral color (∆E), with reporting to MIS/ERP for accurate quoting.

SmartDFE turnkey digital front end (DFE) for digital presses: SmartDFE, the 2023 Pinnacle Product Award recipient in the Technology category, is particularly targeted for high-speed, single-pass presses printing fully variable data. It is built upon Harlequin Direct, the world’s fastest PDF RIP and itself a 2021 Pinnacle InterTech Award recipient, providing rasterization and inkjet drop generation for the best possible image quality and quickest printing speeds.

SmartDFE provides high throughput while minimizing server costs by directly RIPping digital jobs to the printhead drive electronics, eliminating the need for expensive disk arrays. The distinct edge of Harlequin Direct comes from independence from third-party core RIP solutions, relying on Hybrid’s own proprietary Harlequin Core—the world’s fastest RIP core, as well as workflow technology based on CLOUDFLOW, and color management from ColorLogic – all developed in-house.

SmartDFE transforms the role of the inkjet printer. It not only helps OEMs build wider and faster digital presses, but also adds an outstanding print subsystem to a manufacturing operation or smart factory to produce mass-personalized products.

Meteor driver board for Epson D3000 printhead: Working closely with Epson, Meteor has developed scalable and reliable drive electronics to take full advantage of the benefits and features of the Epson D3000 printhead. This will be running live on the Hybrid Software booth at drupa.

Xitron IntelliTrap workflow solution: In prepress, trapping compensates for misregistration on press by creating overlaps of ink where different colors touch in printed designs. To resolve this, prepress operators typically rely on in-RIP trapping solutions that can result in insufficient control (especially with print jobs containing transparent layers) or manipulate the artwork manually. Neither process is efficient. Xitron’s next-generation trapping solution was co-developed with Hybrid Software for its expansive base of offset printing customers. Increases in job throughput by as much as 70% have been seen—especially with complex artwork. IntelliTrap is the perfect platform for effectively applying trap settings in prepress and is fully configurable for all offset printing conditions.

Key Partner Announcements
Hybrid Software also announced a number of projects with key cooperating partners. They include:
• Fujifilm: A workflow and SmartDFE front end for the new FP790 flexible packaging press (Hall 8b/A02–A02-6)
• AB Graphic International: Label finishing automation with FleyeVision integration
• Weigang: Printhead electronics and digital front end for its new high-end label press (Hall 4/D10)
• Koenig & Bauer AG: PrintFusion software for fast press setup (Hall 3/B31)

“Hybrid Software is the only company that can drive any digital printing press with its own technology developed 100% in-house. More than 100 Hybrid Software engineers have worked together to build the broadest product line in the industry. The result is a full stack solution for digital printing,” comments Mike Rottenborn, Hybrid Software CEO. “This represents all of the tasks required to manufacture print, from file preflighting and ink estimation, to prepress workflow and layout, to all facets of color management, RIPping files to the digital printer, overseeing inkjet printhead performance, to analyzing and reporting to networked MIS/ERP solutions. Yet, just as important as the technology is that we care, on a very local level, about the successes of all of our customers. We look forward to meeting visitors at drupa and helping them achieve exceptional print accomplishments.”

Hybrid Software is eager to welcome drupa visitors at their stand from May 28-June 7 in Hall 7A, Stand D03. Anyone who would like to schedule a meeting or product demonstration in advance can visit https://www.hybridsoftware.com/eventhub-event/drupa-2024/.

END

Demo Registrations

Visitors will also be able to learn about Capture 3D, the newest distortion technology for packaging and metal cans to produce grids derived from captured three-dimensional shapes in minutes rather than computer approximations and attain accurately distorted artwork the first time around.

Automate mockup rendering with iC3D and CLOUDFLOW: The newest integrations with iC3D and CLOUDFLOW’s enterprise workflow suite allow for photorealistic visualization in soft proofing and powerful production automation.

Discover Packzimizer for intelligent label lane planning for digital print production. Integrated within our PACKZ editor, Packzimizer intelligently analyzes the order data to optimize your labels’ layout and repetitions on the roll based on quantity. Achieve best possible utilization of your rolls, increase press uptime and minimize substrate waste.

The newest advancements in software provided as a service will also be announced: MyPACKZ and MyCLOUDFLOW offer unparalleled security, and efficiency – running in the Cloud and managed by HYBRID.

On showcase will be the brand-new brand color management software, Colorspace, which is embedded directly in customers’ favorite software tools PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW for a centralized workflow.

Discover Content XML in PACKZ: XML is one of the most efficient ways of storing and moving data, allowing software to easily fetch data for production. Content XML generates artwork from XML markup language, integrating variable data from data management system seamlessly into artwork files ready for print.

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Hybrid Software Group Appoints Steven Steenhaut Director of Marketing

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 07:00:24 +0000

Hybrid Software Group has announced that it has appointed Steven Steenhaut as Director of Marketing. In this role, Steenhaut will coordinate group marketing activities across the company’s six business units, building a unified effort and market presence. Steven will be based in HYBRID Software’s office in Gent, Belgium.

Steenhaut has spent most of his career in sales and marketing, primarily in high tech and IT companies—particularly software—spanning a number of global regions. Beginning his career in sales allowed him to apply that experience into marketing to fully support the sales effort. He has experience in start-ups as well as more institutionalized companies. All of this comes within an international context with the ability to manage and coordinate several remote teams.

While Steenhaut comes to the Hybrid Software Group from Igepa Belux, where he was Marketing and E-Commerce Manager, he spent most of his career at Nuance, market leader in speech recognition, AI, PDF and OCR software. There he ultimately managed the Global Marketing Demand Center, guiding and supporting local marketing teams across the globe. The company grew from $170 million revenue to nearly $2 billion before being acquired by Microsoft in 2021. Steenhaut began his career as a copier salesman for Océ-copiers, quickly developing experience in the marketing departments of Panasonic and Fujitsu-Siemens. He earned a Master’s degree in Applied Economics (University of Ghent) and an MBA from the Management School of Antwerp.

“Hybrid Software Group has undergone considerable growth during the past few years. We are comprised of six business units whose technologies complement each other, but we must act as one company to our customers. While we have contributed to the success of many print providers, we also provide vital OEM technologies to many vendors who use our products and expertise to create digital front ends as well as fast and powerful digital presses. As a group, we are much stronger than our individual parts,” states Mike Rottenborn, Hybrid Software Group CEO. “Particularly given the importance of making a strong presence at drupa in a few months, we are fortunate to be able to rely on Steven’s expertise. We look forward to Steven’s efforts to provide a strong, unified identity.”

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HYBRID Software’s PACKZ Version 9.5 Enhances Productivity and Print Quality for Labels and Shrink Sleeves

Chris Peckham — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 14:24:25 +0000

(Ghent, Belgium) HYBRID Software, developer of innovative productivity tools for label & package printing, has launched Version 9.5 of its PACKZ and STEPZ packaging and label editors. Version 9.5 is a significant upgrade which includes several new technologies and numerous enhancements to improve operator productivity for digital, flexo, and offset printing of labels and packaging.

HYBRID Software’s new Colorspace color management technology is accessible from within both PACKZ and STEPZ, providing color consistency between different printing methods like flexo and digital printing as well as between different digital printing devices themselves. Its easy-to-use interface simplifies the process of high-quality color conversion and optimization of CMYK, RGB, multicolor and expanded gamut printing. The sophisticated technology uses spectral data, supports CxF/X-4 spot color definitions, and builds DeviceLink profiles on-the-fly with a high color accuracy across all printing methods, allowing packaging to be easily moved from flexo or offset printing to digital print production.

HYBRID Software’s Packzimizer now offers lane planning for efficient gang printing of roll-fed digital labels, while cut-and-stack labels that are printed in bulk on large sheets profit from the cost-effective block imposition with less wastage in cutting and finishing. The full complement of step and repeat solutions in PACKZ and STEPZ support all varieties of package printing and production methods while automating the layout process.

PACKZ 9.5 also marks the introduction of CAPTURE 3D, an optional expert application for shrink sleeve quality and 3D modeling. “We successfully showcased CAPTURE 3D at Labelexpo Brussels earlier this year, mapping 2D artwork to 3D modeling. With innovative technology of CAPTURE 3D, precise grid distortion can be performed in minutes instead of days, speeding up time to market while improving quality. And since CAPTURE 3D eliminates dead zones, shrink sleeves gain valuable real estate for increased visual appeal and brand awareness,” remarks Product Manager Pascal Wybo. PACKZ and STEPZ integrate with Capture 3D to display the compensation of artwork shrinkage live in a visually realistic 3D preview.

Last but not least, PACKZ’s industry-leading trapping technology, which compensates for unacceptable gaps between artwork elements during flexo printing, gets a major upgrade in PACKZ 9.5.
The Trap Rules feature models how artwork edges should be trapped and increase the efficiency and quality of trapping for both images and graphic elements in an interactive and automated prepress process.

Discover all innovative productivity tools of the only all-in-one PDF editors for label and packaging graphics at www.hybridsoftware.com.

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Connecting in the Cloud – An Article from FlexoTech

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 10:19:53 +0000

Article courtesy of FlexoTech

Connecting in the cloud

Workflow software is expanding from the prepress environment and increasingly being made capable of linking to other parts of the print operation, with cloud connectivity playing a key role.

The traditional view of workflow in the print sector – that it was all about automating prepress and production tasks to avoid repetition – is evolving. To remain relevant, it cannot stay on such an island. It must become part of a greater whole, and its developers know this.

‘We often get that comment: ‘have you not already fixed that problem of automating prepress?’, and it’s largely true,’ says Jan De Roeck, director of marketing, industry relations and strategy at Esko. ‘We have had automation tools in prepress for many, many years. You can’t limit your scope to the prepress department though. The problem with automation and workflow is that, in reality, many other departments are involved, and it can be extended all the way to the packaging buyer. That’s a very important development going forward.’

What is needed – and indeed what is happening in the market – is for workflow and its prepress automation tools to become more closely integrated with wider business platforms, specifically MIS systems, to help bring end-to-end efficiency throughout the print operation.

‘If you keep the prepress workflow on its island, and you don’t integrate with the business side, you miss a lot of opportunities to stop errors from happening,’ Mr De Roeck adds.

HYBRID Software sees this pattern developing also. Tom Elton, who is product manager for its CLOUDFLOW product, articulates its role as the ‘middleman’, saying, ‘We pass information around, and do the logic to make decisions based on certain scenarios.’ But it is also more than that. ‘For us, in an abstract sense, it’s about automation and information,’ Mr Elton continues. ‘It is very common now to integrate with information systems like MIS and ERP. We have out of the box configurations with LabelTraxx, for example. We plug into these systems, pass information around and automate tasks. It’s connectivity, it’s reacting.’

Cloud connections

Alongside integration, the other big technological trend for workflow is cloud deployment, or software-as-a-service. There are many implications that arise from this, both in a business sense, and in the connectivity and functionality that workflow can deliver within a business and externally.

The business case is certainly more attractive to small and medium sized printers, who are less able to afford large IT investments themselves; in cloud deployments, they can outsource infrastructure, skills and security costs to companies such as Esko and HYBRID. The security aspect has its own dimensions of course. Companies are entitled to be concerned about data security, because cybercrime is a very real threat.

‘The kneejerk reaction is to worry about this when adopting a cloud system. Companies can either invest heavily in IT skills and people to manage this internally, or they can bring in people that do this for a living and have a competence in it, and that’s what we claim to be,’ said Mr De Roeck.

From the connectivity and functionality perspective, great new opportunities can be opened through implementing a cloud-based workflow. A key application that demonstrates this comes in the nexus between customer service employees at the printing company and the customer at an external site.

Esko’s Jan De Roeck says, ‘It’s not acceptable today that everyone in the value chain must install an application on their desktop. With cloud-native technology, the browser becomes the operating system. If you are a packaging buyer and receive a file to review and approve, the only thing you need to do is click on a hyperlink and it will open in a dedicated viewer for packaging. What’s very important there is that the person at the brand will use exactly the same technology as the prepress operator editing the file.’

Integrating cloud-native applications can link the workflow with other parts of the operation. Esko gives the example of its Cape Pack pallet optimisation app, which makes operational and logistical data available to all users so that the optimum pallet calculations can be made. HYBRID Software’s CLOUDFLOW is highly modular, and a cloud implementation makes activating and deactivating different modules a simple process. One of the HYBRID modules is Datalink, based on universal interface technologies such as XML, JDF, REST and SQL, and capable of data exchange with MIS, ERP, CRM and web to print systems.

‘We plug into these systems, pass information around and automate tasks. It’s connectivity, it’s reacting.’ Tom Elton, CLOUDFLOW Product Manager, HYBRID Software

Enabling apps

Another company very much interested in this kind of integration is eProductivity Software (ePS), which isn’t a workflow software developer per se, but has a suite of ‘enabling apps’ that can help extend the reach of workflow and MIS within a print business. Examples of this are the shop floor data app AutoCount and PrintFlow scheduling, while ePS’s Automator tool can sit between and across different systems and applications and wait for specific ‘events’ to happen that it uses to trigger further actions. It is highly configurable.

Kevin Blakey, product director for packaging at ePS, comments, ‘The tools that Esko and HYBRID have are great, and people do amazing things with them. When we add our enabling apps to the mix, we see some interesting use cases.’

A further customer service example helps to illustrate this. A customer service representative (CSR) at an ePS client had developed a habit of watching the picking list on the warehouse system and ringing the customer when this system reported that its job was being picked. The company had the idea of capturing this excellence and making it standard for all customers by putting it into a template in the workflow that would prompt such an action from every CSR.

‘What we are really saying here is that we can take some of those tools and techniques that are quite prolific from a production workflow point of view,’ said Mr Blakey, ‘and we can add in some end user configurability, allowing them to start automating admin and customer service processes. People can start replicating the things that they do well in their business using this technology.’

Speed to market

There remains plenty of scope for improving workflow technologies, both in a feature sense, and in how they can be made to integrate on a business-wide level. One area that will certainly develop is the use of Artificial Intelligence, but according to Tom Elton of HYBRID, this is still in its early stages. ‘We have some customers using our workflow to link with generative AI systems, but it is more explorative at the moment,’ he said.

In closing, it is worth drawing back even further from the conceptual development of workflow software to remember what the point of all this activity really is. Jan De Roeck of Esko helpfully reminds us, saying, ‘The other perspective, which is probably more important, is what is the overall challenge in the industry, what are those buying packaging needing? If we listen to what the key business challenges are now, the main one is speed to market. How fast can a brand react to a change in consumer demand?

‘So, the real question is not about features but about shortening the time from approved order to finished product on the shop shelf. That’s why things like our cloud-based Share & Approve service, which helps integration between the brand and the printer’s CSR, is so important. There are so many hooks into this opportunity to accelerate the go-to-market process for the packaging industry and that’s where we have a lot of headroom for improvement.’

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HYBRID Software announced as CERM Premium Integration Partner

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 08:00:54 +0000

Article courtesy of CERM:

The CERM-HYBRID Partnership highlights our commitment to streamlining and enhancing prepress operations. We feel that awarding HYBRID Software our Premium Integration Partner quality label is another great step forward and adds extra punch to our high-end and automated prepress workflow solutions for the label and packaging printing industry.

The significance of prepress workflow automation

At CERM, we believe in connecting all elements of your business and creating a seamless integration of your complete workflow, from CRM to invoicing. An integrated workflow improves your productivity and from this conviction, we suggest automating as much of your workflow as possible.

Prepress workflow is often the ideal starting point for automation. Subsequent stages can smoothly integrate your printing presses and finishing machines into the already established automated prepress workflow. This step-by-step integration process ensures a cohesive and efficient workflow.

Key standard integrations with industry leaders

Recognizing the importance of collaboration, we have invested significantly in our partner integrations with leading prepress software suppliers for the label and packaging printing industry. Awarding HYBRID Software with the CERM Premium Integration Partnership is not just a quality assurance and sign of their proven excellence. It also further empowers our automated partner solutions for (prepress) workflows for CERM customers and prospects.

Inside the CERM-HYBRID CLOUDFLOW integration

The integration between CERM and HYBRID Software’s CLOUDFLOW is designed to automate the entire process from product creation in the CERM MIS Software to the approval of the soft proof by the print buyer. CLOUDFLOW’s Proofscope module for soft proofing and collaboration is seamlessly integrated in the Web4Labels CERM application for a smart approval workflow.

This automation not only saves time and reduces errors but also allows prepress operators to focus on high-value operations, leveraging their expertise.

The CERM-HYBRID CLOUDFLOW integration operates on bidirectional JDF-JMF data exchange. Utilizing product properties from the CERM MIS system, JDF instructions are sent to HYBRID CLOUDFLOW, initiating an automated prepress job.

This process includes bidirectional synchronization of artwork status and the exchange of product color details, which become part of the product description in the CERM MIS. Finally, the soft proof PDF generated by HYBRID’s CLOUDFLOW is sent to the print buyer for approval. Upon approval, the prepress workflow for the product is complete, ready for production upon customer order.

Conclusion

This partnership and the integration between CERM and HYBRID Software combines expertise and technology. It sets new standards in the label and packaging print industry, emphasizing our commitment to innovation and excellence.

For more information on the CERM-HYBRID partnership, please contact our marketing department at marketing@cerm.net or reach out to our CERM Business Development Team at sales@cerm.net.

More information on the CERM MIS Software can be found at www.cerm.net, read all our latest news and client testimonials in the news section (www.cerm.net/news).

CLOUDFLOW CERM Integration

Approval Overview in CLOUDFLOW
Asset Viewer in the 3D Library
Workflow Approval

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Innovation & Entrepreneurship Grant Awarded for CLOUDFLOW Maker

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 08:00:08 +0000

Specimen for the evaluation of new features as described in the R&D project.

HYBRID Software Extends CLOUDFLOW Maker for 3D Binder Jet Applications with Innovation & Entrepreneurship Grant from Flemish Government

(Ghent, Belgium) HYBRID Software, the global software solutions provider for the printing industry, announces its continued investment in the expansion of its Additive Manufacturing (AM) software portfolio, with an additional R&D project aimed at adding multiple new functionalities to its CLOUDFLOW Maker AM workflow software. The Flemish Government has committed to supplying HYBRID Software with a grant, confirming the relevance of the innovative research to be undertaken in HYBRID Software’s AM Business Unit.

The project’s goal is the development of next-level functionalities in CLOUDFLOW Maker, including a “from CAD to postprocess” software solution for Binder and Material Jetting technologies. These new functionalities will drive down the Cost Per Part while increasing the quality, reliability, and repeatability of the process.

Kris Binon, HYBRID Business Unit Manager for AM, is very pleased to hear the confirmation of government endorsement: “We have a solid business case, driven by true market need and delivered from our in-house expertise. We’re glad we’ve been able to adequately substantiate this claim to the government, as we believe this project is going to create tangible added value for AM machine operators. Our team has already begun setting up tests that will quantify some of the parameters to be applied in our software, in alignment with our goal of achieving positive effects on binder usage, print speed and energy efficiency.”

Nick De Roeck, Co-President of HYBRID Software, shares “The 3D-printing industry is at a crossroads: as printer producers and users turn towards industrialization, they need software to support that evolution. At such point in time, optimization and streamlining are key concepts. To achieve that, HYBRID can leverage its expertise in the industrialization of printing for labels & packaging and develop value-added functionalities for 3D and Additive Manufacturing. This project fits that scope entirely. It takes us where we intend to be and lays the foundation for further growth of the group.”

Adds De Roeck, “Some of the R&D efforts will also benefit our existing solutions. We’re particularly looking at applying AI to further enhance the development of new algorithms, for example for advanced dithering and ink management. Our co-development projects with the first selected Binder and Material Jetting OEM’s will also be announced in the near future.”

Kris Binon, AM Business Development Manager, poses with the Meteor Inkjet team during Formnext 2023 – the Hub for Additive Manufacturing.

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Efficient Solutions for a Smooth Color Management Process

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 08:14:45 +0000

www.flexotiefdruck.de

Jan-Peter Homann

HYBRID Software, with its PDF editor PACKZ and the prepress workflow CLOUDFLOW, is a major player in the production of packaging and labels. Part of Hybrid Software Group, its sister companies include Global Graphics (known for its RIP software), Meteor for controlling digital printing systems, Xitron workflow systems, and IC3D for virtual 3D mock-ups.

At the end of 2021, Hybrid Software Group PLC announced its acquisition of ColorLogic, a specialized provider of color management software. ColorLogic conducts a significant portion of its business with OEM solutions for color management in digital printing and prepress, and it also has its own products, including ColorAnt, CoPrA, and ZePrA, which are continuously developed. One and a half years after the acquisition of ColorLogic, the first fruits of the collaboration with HYBRID Software are now becoming apparent.

The graphic below impressively illustrates the interaction and synergies of the mentioned products.

Overview of ColorLogic and HYBRID Software products: In ColorAnt, measurement data are recorded, spot colors are imported as CxF, and everything is spectrally optimized. CoPrA calculates print and DeviceLink profiles from the measurement data according to ICC standards. In PACKZ, the profiles from CoPrA or spot colors are primarily used manually. ZePrA is used for the automatic optimization of PDF files and can be controlled by the CLOUDFLOW Colorspace Module. RIP curves for CLOUDFLOW can be imported from ColorAnt.

Measuring fingerprints is the basis for color management at HYBRID Software and ColorLogic. This measurement data is used for creating RIP compensation curves, ICC print profiles, and complex color transformations based on ICC DeviceLink profiles. In addition to the X-Rite iO3 measuring table, a wide range of other measuring instruments is supported.

ColorLogic ColorAnt with MeasureTool

ColorAnt and its MeasureTool are ColorLogic programs for capturing, optimizing, and editing spectral color data. This data can come from a variety of sources and can be prepared for various purposes. Applications for measurement data from ColorAnt include linearization/calibration of printing systems, profile creation for printing systems (CMYK + multicolor), the creation and optimization of complete spot color libraries, and the adoption of spectral data from color formulation.

ColorAnt supports a large number of color measurement devices on the market, including all X-Rite models for the graphic arts industry, as well as solutions from Techkon, Barbieri, and Konica Minolta. An integrated test chart generator addresses both linearization of RIP curves and the creation of profiling charts. In addition to capturing measurement data, ColorAnt has a powerful spectral model for processing spectral measurement data. This allows, for example, CxF data of spot colors to be imported into ColorAnt from color recipes and then included in existing measurement data. This means that individual channels can be replaced or supplemented by spot colors in CMYK or multicolor profiles. ColorAnt is also a tool for maintaining spot color libraries for specific applications, making them available for proofing, digital printing, as a reference for quality control, or for the calculation of multicolor profiles. When using a fixed color palette in digital or flexographic printing, complete CxF color libraries can be optimized for printing in ColorAnt. This includes metrological optimization and the use of a maximum of three color channels. For linearization or calibration of printing systems, ColorAnt calculates and exports compensation curves that can be loaded directly into the RIP. These enable adjustment of printing processes to specifications such as G7 or TVI values. Importing, optimizing, editing, and outputting spectral data in ColorAnt consistently work with open standardized file formats. Repro companies and printing houses can thus be sure that they can use their spectral data in all programs, including those from competitors like Esko or GMG.

CoPrA

CoPrA stands for Color Profiling Application and is used to generate or edit ICC profiles from measurement data. Thanks to ColorAnt, measurement data can come from a single printed measurement chart or from a combination of a printed test chart and spectral spot color libraries. This allows for an efficient integration of changing spot colors into color management, especially in packaging printing. ICC DeviceLink profiles represent a complete color transformation from a source to a target and are necessary for high-quality color transformations in print production. For example, when converting print data from an industry standard like Fogra39/ISOcoatedv2 to an in-house standard or when proofing an in-house standard on a specific proofing medium. CoPrA allows the optimization of such ICC DeviceLink profiles through iterative color measurements or editing via Photoshop for special applications. Since CoPrA consistently relies on the ICC standard, device and DeviceLink profiles can be directly used in all ICC-compatible application programs (e.g., Adobe CC or PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW by HYBRID Software). Since January 2023, PACKZ has expanded its support for multicolor profiles, allowing adjustments to be made directly in the editor, such as adapting print data to a CMYK+X channel printing. Thanks to the ICC standard, no additional programs are required.

ZePrA

ZePrA is ColorLogic’s PDF ColorServer. The software can be operated both as a standalone solution via hot folders and integrated into automated workflows, such as through CLI scripts (Command Line Interface) or JSON into self-programmed printing platforms or Enfocus Switch. With the release of version 11 in May 2023, it can form an integrated solution with CLOUDFLOW using the Colorspace Module. ZePrA offers a wide range of tools to automate special tasks. This includes the integration of optimized spot color libraries for special applications, color management with on-the-fly calculation of DeviceLink color profiles, minimization of color channels used when printing with CMYK+X colors, or optimizing ink consumption.

In addition, ZePrA can be used to configure proofing workflows where control strips are automatically placed, which can also include the spot colors of the respective print job. PantoneLive is available as an option, and for digital printing systems, calibration according to G7 or ISO 20654 can be performed through ZePrA if needed.

“The integration of ColorLogic’s high-end color management technology into our solutions is a smooth process because both companies have open data formats such as PDF, ICC, and CxF in their DNA. Customers who are already using the new products are very excited about the quality and productivity they bring to their processes.” – Joris Verbouwe, Product Manager, Color Technology HYBRID Software

PACKZ in conjunction with ColorAnt and CoPrA

PACKZ analyzes, edits, and prepares PDF print data. In conjunction with ColorAnt and CoPrA, complex color optimizations can be quickly made in PACKZ. This allows CMYK PDF data to be optimized in a few steps so that the color impression is maintained as best as possible, even when printing with red instead of magenta. To achieve this, the CMYK measurement data of the color profile in ColorAnt is first replaced with red instead of magenta. Subsequently, CoPrA calculates a DeviceLink profile that describes the conversion from CMYK to CYK+red and adheres to important specifications, such as ensuring that pure black tones remain pure and do not become multicolored, as typically occurs with ICC color transformations. With this CoPrA DeviceLink profile, the entire PDF file can now be converted to CYK+red in one go in PACKZ. Another option is optimizing complete CxF spot color libraries in ColorAnt for a given output profile (CMYK or multicolor). The optimized spot color library uses a maximum of three output channels for each color and avoids color values, such as 0 – 3%, in a single channel. The optimized spot color library can be transferred to PACKZ in CxF format and is then available as a colorbook.

CLOUDFLOW in conjunction with ColorAnt and ZePrA

CLOUDFLOW includes a RIP for converting PDF data into raster data for creating printing plates or for controlling digital printing systems. In addition, it is an automation platform that can import calculation data from MIS systems to automatically configure the RIP for printing form creation. ColorAnt can be used in conjunction with CLOUDFLOW to create calibration curves for flexographic or digital printing processes according to industry standards such as G7 or ISO 20654. In this case, an integrated test form is first calculated for RIP calibration curves and profiling charts. The calibration file for the RIP is calculated first within ColorAnt. Then, the measurement data of the profiling chart is optimized to represent the print, including the RIP calibration curve. If a fixed color palette is used in flexographic or digital printing, data checking and optimization can be automated in CLOUDFLOW, dynamically controlled using the CLOUDFLOW Colorspace Module for the best possible color transformations. This includes an automatic analysis (with soft proofing and approval) to determine if jobs can be printed with the fixed color palette with as few colors as possible.

Conclusion

The market for prepress workflows, proofing, and color management in packaging printing is highly competitive. The Danaher Group, in partnership with Esko, X-Rite, and Pantone, is very strong in the field of color in packaging printing. GMG is a leader in the field of proofing in packaging printing and is also highly present in the area of PDF color servers. HYBRID Software and ColorLogic differentiate themselves from Esko, X-Rite, and Pantone by supporting a significantly broader range of measuring devices and by consistently supporting open standards, especially for spot colors.

However, the entire range of X-Rite measuring devices or PantoneLive can also be used if necessary. Currently, there is no equivalent to X-Rite ColorCert for quality control and color communication with brand owners in the HYBRID Software / ColorLogic portfolio. However, this can be realized through the use of third-party solutions like MeasureColor or Flexicon Inkpilot and others.

With the optimization of proof DeviceLink profiles in CoPrA, including multicolor support and the handling of control strips for job-specific spot colors in ZePrA, high-quality digital proofing for special applications is possible. However, complete integration into Epson printers, including the use of Epson inline measuring devices and pre-configured proofing media, is not available. For standard proofing in packaging printing, HYBRID Software/ColorLogic are not an alternative to GMG. Specific tasks, such as adapting digital printing systems to flexographic printing and optional proof output in digital printing, can be effectively accomplished with HYBRID Software/ColorLogic. Technologically, HYBRID Software/ColorLogic now compete in the same league as Esko/X-Rite/Pantone and GMG.

It remains to be seen how quickly this can also be implemented in consulting and services for major brand owners, repro companies, and printing houses. The strengths of HYBRID Software/ColorLogic solutions are seen in printing houses and repro companies that produce both analog and digital output, place value on open standards for color profiles and spot colors, and have good in-house expertise in color management, standardization, and automation.

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CLOUDFLOW Maker Workflow Software for Additive Manufacturing Applications

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 12:58:02 +0000

(Ghent, Belgium) HYBRID Software, the global software solutions provider for the printing industry, is launching CLOUDFLOW Maker, an enterprise workflow solution for industrial-scale Binder and Material Jetting at the Formnext trade show in Frankfurt. CLOUDFLOW Maker was developed specifically for these Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies and provides printer producers and users with an exceptional tool to prepare and execute their prints.

CLOUDFLOW Maker is advancing the state of the art in many ways. First, the solution is truly industrial – which is what the AM sector is craving right now. Built on OPC-UA standards, the solution ensures interaction with all connected devices and machines. And, as the software is fully API-based, it offers smooth connections with all other systems – acknowledging the reality that one-solution-for-everything is non-existent.

Yet real world connectivity isn’t the only reason to consider talking to HYBRID Software, according to Kris Binon, AM Business Unit development manager. ”Having decades of experience in jetting the right drop on the right spot is just one thing; industrial printing software is about the ability to provide fast, secure and modular solutions, as well as customer-oriented support, maintenance and upgrades.”

To raise the bar from a technical perspective, HYBRID Software can rely on two other sources. First, parent organization Hybrid Software Group boasts the world’s major provider of printhead electronics for Binder Jetting: Meteor Inkjet. Combining their hardware with HYBRID’s own software guarantees a direct, secure data stream from CAD up to printhead. Meteor’s expertise on drop formation, binder delivery systems, waveforms, etc., is unique in the 3D-print industry, and CLOUDFLOW Maker complements the existing offerings from Meteor Inkjet and its partners. Second, HYBRID Software’s experienced engineering team has 12+ years of successful product development for industrial printing applications like labels and packaging to bring to bear for CLOUDFLOW Maker.

Mike Rottenborn, CEO of Hybrid Software Group, summarizes the company’s position in the AM sector as follows: “The 3D-printing industry is at a crossroads: as printer producers and users turn towards industrialization, they need software to optimize and streamline their workflows for high-volume production. To achieve this, HYBRID is leveraging our expertise in enterprise workflow for printing to develop value-adding functionalities for Binder and Material Jetting.”

Parties interested to discuss their CLOUDFLOW Maker implementation can meet with HYBRID Software at the upcoming Formnext in Frankfurt (DE), from 7 – 10 November 2023. HYBRID Software is sharing a booth with the Meteor Inkjet colleagues at hall 12.0, stand B102.

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Kris Binon, AM Business Unit development manager, celebrates with the CLOUDFLOW Maker software development team the launch of the new workflow solution in the Gent headquarters.

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Hybrid Software Group brings full stack of solutions for industrial printing to Printing United Expo 2023

Maryam Al-Haddad — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 08:17:22 +0000

Hybrid Software Group will be showcasing its wide array of software solutions and printhead electronics for packaging and all forms of digital and conventional industrial printing at booth #B8079 during PRINTING United Expo, from October 18-20, 2023. Featured will be Global Graphics Software’s SmartDFE, which received a 2023 Pinnacle Product Award in the Technology category, and ColorLogic’s CoPrA 9 color management technology, a 2023 PRINTING United Pinnacle Product Award recipient in the Non-Output Device category.

Product highlights from Hybrid Software Group’s six operating companies will include:

• HYBRID Software will demonstrate its complete portfolio of prepress & workflow software for labels and packaging. The updated HYBRID PACKZ editor adds tools to predict the color of printed artwork under various printing conditions, including different spot color strategies. The feature helps label and packaging producers accurately reproduce brand colors using the fewest possible spot colors—and therefore, the lowest production cost. Other recent developments include Content XML for dynamic content creation using standard markup language, and Packzimizer for intelligent ganging of digital and offset label production. MyCLOUDFLOW provides file processing, asset management, soft proofing and workflow automation hosted in the AWS cloud and professionally managed by HYBRID Software personnel. Both PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW now offer optional Colorspace modules built on ColorLogic technology for exceptional brand color matching along with cost-effective ink optimization.

• Global Graphics Software will be presenting live demos of its award-winning SmartDFE, the full software stack for high-speed, single-pass presses printing fully variable data. Built upon Harlequin Direct, the world’s fastest PDF RIP, and using patented components that leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning, it provides rasterization and inkjet drop generation for the best possible image quality and fastest printing speeds. Its automation capabilities provide complete control of the print workflow as well as valuable information for QA and inspection, press maintenance and stock control.

• iC3D Software, developer of 3D visualization and rendering solutions, will demonstrate Version 9 of its iC3D Suite. This includes a major enhancement to its PDF Editor, leveraging technology from HYBRID’S own PDF Libraries to deliver an enhanced user experience and faster, pixel-perfect rendering. Version 9 also offers seamless integration with HYBRID Software’s CLOUDFLOW for high volume 3D automation.

• ColorLogic GmbH, leading provider of cutting-edge color management software solutions, will be offering demonstrations of their three flagship products: ColorAnt, CoPrA, and ZePrA. In particular, award-winning ColorLogic CoPrA is essential for any print manufacturer embracing extended gamut printing, creating high-quality profiles with a user-friendly interface for any color space and printing process.

• Meteor Inkjet will showcase their complete portfolio of industrial inkjet solutions including the world’s largest range of electronics driving all major industrial inkjet printheads; cutting-edge printhead nozzle status detection and image quality enhancement technologies; software development kits enabling bespoke printers to be built from the ground up; and DropWatcher Systems to support printer OEMs in the design, optimization and production of inkjet print systems.

• Xitron, developer of Harlequin-based Navigator RIP and workflow products able to drive virtually any output device—including litho, flexo, screen printing, digital, and high-speed inkjet—will demonstrate their entire line of prepress workflow solutions. Offering true prepress independence in each segment and based on the fastest RIP on the market, Navigator workflows are cost-effective solutions that feature exceptional functionality with blended technologies from sister companies HYBRID Software and ColorLogic. For digital presses built with any inkjet printhead, Xitron will demonstrate Navigator DFE, which recently surpassed 5,000 installations worldwide.

“Hybrid Software Group is a unique resource for PRINTING United Expo 2023 attendees. Our software products have contributed to the success of many print providers, ranging from commercial printers to packaging converters as well as wide format/specialty printers. However, our six business units also provide vital OEM technologies to many vendors who use our products and know-how to create digital front ends for fast and powerful digital presses. We’re proud to deliver the heart of industrial printing to many of our co-exhibitors at PRINTING United Expo and look forward to showing everyone our latest technologies,” comments Mike Rottenborn, Hybrid Software Group PLC CEO.

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Stacked Label shown in Packzimizer, the solution for intelligent ganging of digital and offset label production
Packzimizer for Lane Planning maximizes press uptime and minimizes substrate waste
Both PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW now offer optional Colorspace modules built on ColorLogic technology for exceptional brand color matching along with cost-effective ink optimization
Content XML Technology is used for dynamic content creation using standard markup language
Content XML is shown being inserted in the PACKZ prepress editor

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Hybrid Software reconnects with success at Labelexpo Europe

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 07:47:57 +0000

Guido Van der Schueren, Olivier Moeyersoms, & Pascal Pernot of Hybrid Software ring the bell to celebrate a new order with Christophe Seguin, Managing Director of ELC Etiquettes

(Gent, Belgium) Hybrid Software is pleased to announce the successful outcome of Labelexpo Europe, held last week at the Brussels Expo. More than 550 companies visited the Hybrid Software Group stand for product demos during the four days of Labelexpo, and more than 30 customers placed orders for packaging workflow and editing software, with an order value of more than €1.5 million. Hybrid Software shared the stand with group companies ColorLogic GmbH, Global Graphics Software, Meteor Inkjet, and Xitron which together deliver the group’s value proposition: The Heart of Industrial Printing.

Labelexpo also marked the successful launch of Global Graphics’ SmartDFE, the fastest available Digital Front End (DFE) for digital printing of labels and packaging. SmartDFE is built entirely with leading edge technology from all Hybrid Software companies: blazing fast rasterization from Harlequin Direct, spot color matching for CMYK and extended gamut digital presses from ColorLogic GmbH, as well as workflow automation tools adapted from Hybrid’s CLOUDFLOW software and file preparation and VDP tools based on PACKZ. SmartDFE and Xitron’s Navigator DFE were on display at several partner booths at Labelexpo.

“This was my sixteenth appearance at Labelexpo in Brussels, one of the most important events for our industry,” stated Guido Van der Schueren, Chairman of Hybrid Software. “Although I look forward to the next incarnation of Labelexpo Europe in Barcelona, I will always remember the Brussels exhibitions fondly and am very pleased that the final Brussels show was such a big success for Hybrid Software and our customers.”

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Announcing PrintFusion: Exclusive for Koenig & Bauer Rapida Sheetfed Offset Presses

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 08:02:00 +0000

From left to right: Sascha Fischer, Head of Product Management Koenig & Bauer, Christopher Graf, Chief Marketing Officer HYBRID Software, and Ralf Sammeck, CDO and CEO Segment Sheetfed Koenig & Bauer, check the final details of PrintFusion in the press manufacturer’s CEC

Announcing PrintFusion: Exclusive Software from HYBRID Software for Koenig & Bauer Rapida Sheetfed Offset Presses

(Ghent, Belgium) HYBRID Software, the innovative software solutions provider for labels and packaging, and Koenig & Bauer, the leading press manufacturer have combined competencies to supply an exclusive product for Koenig & Bauer’s Rapida sheetfed offset presses.

Acting as a gateway, PrintFusion steers Koenig & Bauer presses with PACKZ prepress software and the CLOUDFLOW production workflow suite.

Innovative workflow solution for packaging printing
Koenig & Bauer and HYBRID Software combine competencies
Short set-up times and greater efficiency when changing jobs

The key to optimizing the prepress to print workflow

Parallel to plate creation, all printing data is securely and efficiently delivered to Rapida sheetfed offset presses. As PrintFusion supplies all relevant setting data in advance, users benefit from automation through shorter setup times and greater efficiency between job changes. In addition, printing parameters can be conveniently stored with the job data for subsequent repeat jobs. This end-to-end packaging workflow solution allows for superior efficiency through an automatic retrieval of job data from connected MIS/ERP systems.

Thanks to intelligent learning, PrintFusion maximizes press and substrate utilization and continually optimizes printing accuracy. Koenig & Bauer Rapida Sheetfed Offset presses can run far more independently and with a substantially lower less risk of errors.

Ralf Sammeck, Chief Data Officer at Koenig & Bauer describes the partnership: „The strategic decision to join forces stems from a mutual understanding of our industry’s needs, with the prioritization of best-in-class standards and innovation. PrintFusion is the result of a symbiotic partnership: what is achieved together is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Christopher Graf, HYBRID Software Chief Marketing Officer reflects, „We have built our partnership on mutual trust and common values. Already today, it is much more than a traditional supplier-vendor relation. We have combined our people to develop an innovative solution for our customers; supplying a unique technology which drives productivity to new heights.”

END

Photo 1:
At this year’s Sales & Service Conference, Sascha Fischer presented the new software solution for the packaging workflow

Photo 2:
The Proofscope module within PrintFusion provides a browser-based soft proofing and collaboration solution for a seamless end-to-end packaging workflow

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Collaboration with ABG raises the bar for label and packaging finishing automation

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 07:00:59 +0000

New collaboration between HYBRID Software and A B Graphic International raises the bar for label and packaging finishing automation

HYBRID Software, developer of innovative productivity tools for labels & package printing, and ABG, market leader in finishing equipment for label converting, are pleased to announce a collaboration to streamline operations and enhance efficiency on the shop floor.

The integration between the two industry leaders is centered around three key areas that promise to deliver unprecedented operational enhancements:

1. Streamlined Setup with Automated Slitting Parameters: HYBRID Software’s automation will seamlessly transmit slitting parameters to the ABG Digicon Series 3 machine through the ABG Connect platform. This integration will effectively eliminate the need for manual setup, reducing human touchpoints and paving the way for increased productivity.

2. Enhanced Inspection Automation: The partnership brings about a more automated process for driving ABG’s proprietary camera inspection technology, fleyeVision. Through a direct link to HYBRID’s CLOUDFLOW software, fleyeVision can effortlessly retrieve the “golden image” required for inspection, minimizing the potential for errors and optimizing quality control.

3. Efficient Laser Cutting: The ABG DigiLase machine will benefit from CLOUDFLOW’s ability to incorporate QR codes representing corresponding dielines for laser cutting. ABG’s laser technology and its innovative approach ensures precise and efficient laser cutting while maintaining the highest levels of accuracy.

Matt Burton, ABG Sales Director, shared his excitement about the partnership, stating, “We are very pleased with this new collaboration with HYBRID Software which marks another significant step towards reducing manual touchpoints in our processes. This is another key component of our ABG Connect package as we push towards automation that will not only add greater efficiencies to production but also reduce operator error whilst reducing waste and downtime.”

Bert Van der Perre, Associate Director of Sales at HYBRID Software, echoed the sentiment, saying, “Linking our prepress automation solution to ABG equipment elevates the overall equipment effectiveness for our many mutual customers. This partnership extends the boundaries of our software’s capabilities, showcasing our commitment to pushing the boundaries of innovation. We are truly going beyond print!”

The industry is witnessing a transformative leap in production efficiency and operational excellence. HYBRID Software and ABG’s collaborative efforts are set to redefine the landscape of label and packaging production, ushering in a new era of automation, accuracy, and innovation.

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Hybrid Software Leverages Group Synergy to Win Two 2023 Pinnacle Product Awards

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 12:14:02 +0000

Executive team members from Hybrid Software Group companies celebrate
winning two PRINTING United Pinnacle Product Awards in 2023

Hybrid Software Group is proud to announce that products from two of its operating companies have received prestigious awards from the PRINTING United Alliance. Global Graphics Software’s SmartDFE has received a 2023 Pinnacle Product Award in the Technology category. In addition, ColorLogic GmbH has also been honoured with a 2023 PRINTING United Pinnacle Product Award in the Non-Output Device category for its CoPrA 9 colour management technology.

“Colour management was the missing piece in our technology stack for digital printing of labels and packaging, and we filled that with the acquisition of industry-leader ColorLogic GmbH last year,” notes Mike Rottenborn, Hybrid Software Group CEO. “SmartDFE breaks through the performance ceiling for digital printing, combining on-the-fly colour management with powerful workflow automation from HYBRID Software, real-time rasterisation via Harlequin Direct, and the inkjet expertise of Meteor Inkjet and Xitron. We believe that it’s critical to develop these technologies in-house rather than license them from third parties who lack the deep industry expertise of our team of 280 employees. Our mission is simple: we’re the technology at the heart of industrial printing, with a technology stack that is unmatched in the industry, and we’re honoured and grateful to be recognised with these important awards.”

SmartDFE is a turnkey Digital Front End for high-speed, single-pass presses printing fully variable data. Built upon Harlequin Direct, the world’s fastest PDF RIP, it provides rasterisation and inkjet drop generation for the best possible image quality and quickest printing speeds. Its automation capabilities provide complete control of the print workflow as well as valuable information for QA and inspection, press maintenance and stock control. Thus, SmartDFE transforms the role of the inkjet printer: it not only meets the demands of OEMs who need to build wider and faster digital presses, but also meets the requirement to add a print subsystem to a manufacturing operation or a smart factory to produce mass-personalised products. OEMs can choose to take as much or as little as they require from the software stack to get their digital inkjet presses to market.

ColorLogic’s CoPrA 9 is an essential asset for any print manufacturer embracing extended gamut printing. CoPrA creates high-quality ICC profiles for any colour space and printing process—digital or conventional—and is a key component of the powerful ColorLogic Suite for a complete colour management solution. CoPrA also plays a key role building spectral profiles in SmartDFE so, in effect, it earned two awards this year.

Hybrid Software Group and its individual operating companies intend to make several major OEM announcements at both Labelexpo Europe and Printing United Expo over the next two months.

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Presenting Groundbreaking Workflow Integration with EyeC

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 17:38:13 +0000

Quality Assurance at its Highest Level: EyeC and HYBRID Software Present Groundbreaking Workflow Integration at Labelexpo Europe 2023

(Ghent, Belgium) EyeC and HYBRID Software have expanded their successful collaboration and will be presenting their latest workflow integration at Labelexpo Europe 2023. The direct integration of the web-based artwork proofreading system EyeC ProofText into CLOUDFLOW by HYBRID Software enables maximum efficiency already in the artwork creation process. The collaboration of the two software experts raises quality assurance within the pre-press stage to a new level.

The partnership with HYBRID Software, a leading developer of enterprise solutions for label and packaging printing products, aims at the joint development of web-based SAAS and on-premise software solutions for the graphic industry. Both companies have been working together successfully on various levels for many years to improve prepress processes with the help of smart productivity tools. In order to meet the ever-increasing demands of customers, the latest joint project focuses on the complex process of artwork creation.

To do this, EyeC ProofText uses Mako Core technology from Global Graphics Software, a HYBRID Software company, to process PDF documents. Designed as the ultimate software development kit (SDK), Mako Core uses a unique document object model (DOM) to control color, fonts, text, images, vector content, and metadata. Through so-called DOM APIs, content can be queried and edited across formats and platforms, and digital documents can be modified. The highly automated, web-based artwork proofreading system EyeC ProofText reliably detects and evaluates deviations within the revision check, including content and font style, within a single process step thanks to an intelligent algorithm.

The combination of the two companies’ technologies enables complete automation of repeat jobs in a fluid workflow. In addition to shorter processing times and the avoidance of costly errors, this ensures that the final product is of the highest quality right from the artwork management process. At the same time, the digital workflow principle optimizes quality assurance and saves resources by reducing manual effort. Even with very complex cases, the system combination offers up to 50 % faster performance.

“We are proud to further extend our successful partnership with HYBRID Software and to support customers with this innovative solution to increase their efficiency within their artwork management processes. The direct integration of EyeC ProofText into CLOUDFLOW enables a consistent connection between both systems, allowing us to offer our customers even more security in the pre-press process,” says Ansgar Kaupp, CEO of EyeC GmbH about the cooperation.

Christopher Graf, Chief Marketing Officer of HYBRID Software, adds: “The partnership with EyeC allows us to drive digitalization in artwork creation and further simplify increasingly complex workflows. At the same time, we are setting new standards together in the graphics industry by expanding our range of innovative solutions.”

EyeC and HYBRID Software experts will be at Labelexpo Europe 2023 from 11 to 14 September. Live demonstrations of the new workflow integration will be available at EyeC stand #A864 during this time.

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Bringing leadership in innovation to Labelexpo Europe

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 08:00:43 +0000

HYBRID Software Brings Leadership in Innovation to Labelexpo Europe to Increase Productivity of Label Production

Gent (Belgium) 11 July 2023 — HYBRID Software brings a major presence to Hall 8, Stand B/45, as Labelexpo Europe returns to Brussels on September 11th -14th after a four-year hiatus. This is a challenging time for the label industry, with a perfect storm of high prices for energy and substrates, a shortage of skilled labor, and higher interest rates that make capital equipment purchases more challenging. Software’s role in driving production efficiency is more important than ever. At Labelexpo, HYBRID Software will demonstrate our continued innovation to boost productivity and improve the competitiveness of our customers who print and convert labels.

HYBRID’s CLOUDFLOW software is used for workflow automation by thousands of label printers and converters worldwide. But industry consolidation has resulted in many printers with multiple printing locations, so centralizing prepress automation in the cloud provides a real advantage. MyCLOUDFLOW delivers all the power of CLOUDFLOW in a multi-tenant workflow solution hosted in the AWS cloud and managed by HYBRID Software to provide ease of use and extreme performance that is scalable on demand. MyCLOUDFLOW is not just for multi-site printers; even smaller label companies can benefit from lower infrastructure costs, with no servers to purchase or local IT support required, and a new customer can be up and running in a matter of hours.

True workflow automation requires a tight link between workflow and MIS/ERP systems so that the parameters for an order can be used to create the job layout and drive platemaking systems or digital presses. At Labelexpo, we will highlight MyCLOUDFLOW’s turnkey integrations with CERM, Label Traxx, and Radius, the leading MIS systems used in labels and packaging today. We’ll also demonstrate a major new release of Packzimizer for automated lane planning of label repetitions for digital print production as well as stacked label imposition for sheet-fed “cut & stack” label production.

With many label converters producing shrink sleeves and in-mold labels, 3D modeling has become an important prepress tool for the label industry. HYBRID Software acquired industry-leader iC3D last year and has now integrated their technology into Proofscope for high quality 3D rendering of labels and shrink sleeves, including photorealistic ray tracing and visualization of embellishments. This process can be automated with MyCLOUDFLOW for efficient production.

Workflow is only part of the story; creating high quality, press-ready labels remains a challenge for the industry, and HYBRID Software has continued to innovate with many new capabilities in the PACKZ editor. Content XML is a new technology in PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW which provides data-driven creation of labels and packaging by inserting text, graphics, and other design elements dynamically from an asset database. This is especially useful for creating multiple copies of a label in different sizes or languages and for managing nutrition facts and ingredients panels, but it can be extended for many other complex label applications.

PACKZ Advanced Color uses technology from our ColorLogic division to provide an accurate snapshot of printed artwork under various printing conditions, including different spot color strategies. The feature is designed to help label and packaging producers accurately reproduce brand colors using the fewest number of inks and the least amount of each ink to achieve the lowest production cost. Once the spot color strategy has been selected, it can be applied automatically using MyCLOUDFLOW for all future instances of that color.

HYBRID’s variable data printing (VDP) software has been enhanced for easier preparation of variable data labels for digital printing. Its output format is standard PDF which is compatible with any RIP, but it has been especially optimized for our own Harlequin RIP, the world’s fastest RIP used by many preeminent manufacturers of digital presses as well as our own Digital Front Ends: Xitron NavigatorDFE and Global Graphics SmartDFE. Customers tell us that PACKZ VDP jobs print up to four times faster than VDP jobs created with other software, enabling digital presses to run faster and produce more labels per shift.

But digital printing isn’t the only game in town; most labels are still printed with flexo, offset, or gravure presses, and we continue to innovate in analog printing as well as digital printing. At Labelexpo, visitors can see a variety of print samples from our new Velvet Screening, the next generation hybrid AM/FM screening technology for flexo printing which provides unprecedented control of highlight dots and smoother gradations on all types of flexo plates, even at lower output resolutions. Velvet Screening can also be combined with Intelligent Flexo, the surface screening solution for high quality flexo printing across a wide variety of plates and substrates.

Says Executive Chairman Guido Van der Schueren, “Labelexpo Europe is our most important show in 2023 and it never disappoints. This year’s show promises to be even more significant for HYBRID Software as it’s the last time the show will be held in our country, so we’re pulling out all the stops to provide a meaningful experience for our customers and visitors at the show. The label industry has always been a very important segment for HYBRID Software, and we work closely with our customers to provide software solutions that increase their production efficiency. I’m looking forward to demonstrating the results of our continued innovation.”

Example Packzimizer Stacked Label Imposition

Example Packzimizer Digital Lane Planning Imposition

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Hybrid Software Group Brings the Heart of Industrial Printing to Labelexpo Europe 2023

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 08:00:12 +0000

Cambridge (UK), 5 July 2023: Hybrid Software Group is primed to showcase its innovative stack of products which power the heart of industrial printing at Labelexpo Europe 2023, from 11th to 14th September 2023 in Hall 8 B/45. Hybrid Software Group is comprised of six globally recognised brands: ColorLogic GmbH, Global Graphics Software, HYBRID Software, iC3D, Meteor Inkjet, and Xitron.

“We are very much looking forward to Labelexpo Europe 2023, where visitors to the booth can not only expect to discover innovations to individual companies’ product lines, but also an advanced level of value as Hybrid Software Group technology is further synergised and new products are introduced to the market for the first time,” shares Christopher Graf, Chief Marketing Officer, Hybrid Software Group.

HYBRID Software will be demonstrating innovations to the PACKZ and STEPZ PDF editors for prepress and the CLOUDFLOW modular production workflow suite for file processing, asset management, soft proofing and workflow automation.

The newest features of PACKZ include Advanced Color: Analyze & Fix for intelligent production estimation, which provides a snapshot of printed artwork under various printing conditions, including different spot colour strategies. The feature is designed to help label and packaging producers accurately reproduce brand colours using the fewest possible spot colours and therefore the lowest production cost. Other recent developments include Content XML for dynamic content creation using standard markup language, step and repeat for complex label production, and Packzimizer for intelligent ganging of labels, including sheet-fed and flexibles.

CLOUDFLOW’s highlights include the brand-new integration with ColorLogic technology for state-of-the-art spectral colour prediction, new flexo plate layout features in Tectonics, and Intelligent Flexo, the surface screening solution for high-quality flexo printing across a wide variety of plates and substrates. At Labelexpo, visitors will experience first-hand the launch of Velvet Screening, the next-generation screening technology for flexo printing and learn more about MyCLOUDFLOW, the SaaS offering of CLOUDFLOW, perfect for companies looking to modernise and ramp up production without the cost and hassle of initial setup and IT operation.

iC3D Software, developer of 3D visualisation and rendering solutions, will be demonstrating Version 9 of the iC3D Suite. Closing the gap for high-resolution rendering, iC3D Software will introduce CLOUDFLOW and iC3D Automate for high-volume 3D rendering production. Booth visitors will see the benefits of automated workflow integration and the cutting-edge technological innovation in its latest release.

ColorLogic GmbH, leading provider of cutting-edge colour management software solutions, will be providing live demonstrations of ColorLogic’s three flagship products: ColorAnt, CoPrA, and ZePrA and how they integrate with PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW.

Global Graphics Software will be presenting live demos of SmartDFE, the fastest Digital Front End (DFE) for digital printing of labels and packaging. Also on display will be SmartMedia, a suite of components that simplifies the process of obtaining the best quality and colour output from a digital press. Available with SmartDFE, SmartMedia also controls PrintFlat screens and ColorLogic colour profiles. SmartMedia packages all the OEM’s reference press settings for each media and ink set into a library of media definitions and enables press operators to easily select the appropriate media and ink set combination without needing specialist knowledge.

Meteor Inkjet will showcase their complete portfolio of industrial inkjet solutions for labels and packaging including the world’s largest range of electronics driving all major industrial inkjet printheads; cutting-edge printhead nozzle status detection and image quality enhancement technologies; software development kits enabling bespoke printers to be built from the ground up; and DropWatcher Systems to support printer OEMs in the design, optimisation and production of inkjet print systems.

Xitron, developer of Harlequin-based Navigator RIP and workflow products for litho, flexo, screen, digital, and high-speed inkjet, will be highlighting the powerful Navigator Flexo Suite: turnkey workflow automation optimised for flexo label printers, with a macOS- and Windows-compatible client interface, hybrid screening, advanced and automated step-and-repeat functionality, and robust trapping tools. Navigator Flexo Suite with SmartFlexo screening is completely configurable based on printing conditions. Finally, Xitron will also demonstrate Navigator DFE, the dynamic Harlequin-based front end for high-speed digital inkjet presses.

Ends

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Announcing our strategic partnership with Tallon Graphic Solutions

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 08:11:45 +0000

HYBRID Software’s compare functionality from CLOUDFLOW’s module Proofscope is shown seamlessly integrated within TGS’s Flow

(Ghent, Belgium) HYBRID Software is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with Tallon Graphic Solutions (TGS), a Belgian software company that provides packaging and artwork management solutions for brand owners, retailers, and design agencies. HYBRID Software will become the preferred reseller for TGS’s flagship software product, Flow.

Flow is a comprehensive, SaaS-based artwork management solution that helps brands and retailers manage their large portfolios of complex graphical projects. It provides an easy overview of projects, supports detailed briefings, visual approval, and much more. Through its API functionality, Flow is easy to integrate with ERP, PIM, or DAM systems.

The partnership between HYBRID Software and TGS will allow for a common development and technology roadmap, leading to accelerated feature development and a consistent link between the artwork management process and various production workflows. Flow is tightly coupled with HYBRID’s CLOUDFLOW, bringing advanced pre-press functionality including Proofscope viewing, 3D visualizations, approval loops, and automated pre-press to TGS’s Flow customers.

Says Igor Vandromme, Hybrid Software’s Business Manager for New Market Segments, “HYBRID Software has long been focused on production applications, selling mainly to packaging printers and converters. But recently, the activity in the brand space has increased through the acquisition of iC3D and Quadraxis. Our new partnership with TGS is the next logical step to further grow our business in the brand owner and retailer segment.”

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View ICScolor Remote Director proofs directly from CLOUDFLOW

Maryam Al-Haddad — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 13:49:12 +0000

HYBRID Software and ICScolor offer color-accurate Remote Director proofs directly from within HYBRID CLOUDFLOW

HYBRID Software and ICScolor, the world leader in remote digital color proofing, announce the seamless integration between HYBRID CLOUDFLOW and ICScolor Remote Director to offer a simple and exact way to view and approve color-accurate digital proofs. While CLOUDFLOW users could always access Remote Director, now they can launch the Remote Director color viewing window directly within CLOUDFLOW.

HYBRID CLOUDFLOW is a modular production workflow suite for file processing, asset management, and workflow automation. It is a web-based application platform specifically tailored for packaging graphics with support for PDF, color separation, trapping, screening, proofing and much more.

Remote Director patented software guarantees all are viewing the same color on calibrated monitors and “heals” the break caused by hard copy proofs in the otherwise totally digital workflow. All color conditions, version control, auto compilation of comments and approvals and full audit trail assure that a project is completed properly and accurately—reducing errors, cost and increasing quality while being more environmentally friendly.

While CLOUDFLOW with Proofscope has always allowed content proofing views and annotations, Remote Director adds the direct ability to view color-accurate proofs on a remote monitor. Using tools from Hybrid Software Group’s ColorLogic to create accurate profiles and IC3D three-dimensional views, CLOUDFLOW now offers a complete, color-accurate digital proofing environment.

To view accurate color, the user clicks a button within CLOUDFLOW that opens Remote Director. Anyone invited to review/approve a proof will receive an email message with a link. Remote Director will check the calibration of monitors and confirm ISO certification. If a monitor is not calibrated, Remote Director’s calibration module will guide the user to calibrate and profile the monitor correctly. That, combined with all the critical color information for proofing built into the design will assure that accurate proofs are displayed on the screen. Just as important, all critical proofing information, such as annotations or suggestions, will be easily available in one location.

“These days, the entire print workflow is digital until a provider creates an inkjet proof, places it in an envelope or box, and mails it to somebody. You can stay fully digital. ICScolor understands that getting to market quickly is perhaps the most important impetus for brand owners,” explains Vicki Blake, ICScolor VP of Business Development. “The direct link to Remote Director from within CLOUDFLOW saves a lot of time and ensures the client sees accurate color. We are really looking forward to this. I think the partnership with HYBRID Software is going to be very beneficial for both of us as well as our clients.”

“Our work together really started during the pandemic, when it was more urgent to easily provide realistic, contract quality soft proofs virtually. It is terrific to show the openness between two organizations and our technologies. The implementation was quite straightforward. It’s another example demonstrating that open systems can play ‘nicely’ with each other,” comments Mike Agness, HYBRID Software Executive Vice President, Americas. “For anyone who wants to conduct accurate color proofing, it is seamless from within CLOUDFLOW.”

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Geostick increases turnover after automating prepress processes

Maryam Al-Haddad — Fri, 12 May 2023 13:06:06 +0000

From left to right: Tom Schouten, Geostick Operations Project Manager and Geostick Operations Director Cees Schouten

Article courtesy of Roularta Media Group

Geostick automates prepress processes with HYBRID Software

Greater efficiency, processes that are less susceptible to errors and, above all, a better customer experience: these were Geostick’s ambitions when it approached HYBRID Software to discuss process automation. Eighteen months later, implementation is complete and the high expectations have been met.

As a manufacturer and supplier of self-adhesive labels and flexible packaging, Geostick is one of the most important label printers in Europe. The family business will be celebrating its centenary next year and has ambitions for further growth. The plan to increase automation and streamline the workflow in the prepress department was partly motivated by this ambition to grow.

“We wanted greater automation in the workflow, for everything that happens between receiving the artwork from the customer and printing the image or file,” says Cees Schouten, who is responsible for operations at the family business along with his son Tom. “At the same time, we also wanted to improve the customer experience and improve the security of the information and changes to soft proofs.”

Far-reaching integration process
In HYBRID Software, Geostick found a partner who offered more than just the solutions to their automation needs. The software company also brought customer-focused collaboration to an integration process that ended up taking more than a year.

“This is a far-reaching project that involves considering all our processes and questioning everything,” Tom Schouten says. “All our in-house knowledge and experience had to be incorporated into the processes. Doing that meant we also stumbled upon things that had been done in a certain way for years, but no one remembered why. We’ve streamlined all of that now. We also need to thank our customers for their cooperation and patience, because the project has had a considerable impact on them as well. But it has brought them many benefits too!”

The new solution is centred on CLOUDFLOW, HYBRID Software’s advanced server application. Specific drivers were also supplied for Geostick’s HP and Bobst digital presses, so that the start of a new task is also largely automated at the machines themselves. HYBRID has also developed specific tools for the automatic creation of step and repeat prints and complex multi-layer labels.

Besides the server application, the prepress operators also use the PACKZ desktop editor to streamline and simplify their work.

Dialogue through web-based solution
However, the automation of the entire process surrounding the actual DTP work is what has had the biggest impact on customers and staff. For example, there is a Sales Pre-flight module that makes it possible to generate quotes more quickly. The most striking change is the web-based solution that streamlines collaboration between the customers and prepress department staff.

“In the past, e-mails were written manually with the PDF documents attached. Sometimes reminders had be sent and people had to search for the replies,” Tom Schouten explains. “Now a link is sent automatically, which the customers can use to view the files in high resolution. If necessary, they can contact prepress directly and, once everything is in order, approve the document using the system.”

Integration with CERM MIS software
This new way of working has made a huge improvement to the customer experience, and susceptibility to errors has been greatly reduced. The entire process is also embedded in a bigger picture, thanks to the integration with the existing CERM MIS software that HYBRID Software provided.

“The whole process felt a bit like open-heart surgery because of the very radical changes it entailed,” Cees Schouten reflects. But just like a successful operation, it has given the business a new lease of life. Geostick wasted no time putting its increased efficiency to the test. In July 2022, it took over a printing works that increased the company’s turnover by 12% without needing extra people in the prepress department. “That’s what the automation process has done for us.”

Looking ahead
Now that Geostick has a taste for automation and streamlining, it is enthusiastic to continue its partnership with HYBRID. “We have come on in leaps and bounds, which we are extremely proud of, but we haven’t exhausted the possibilities yet. We are working on an even more accessible approval process for our customers, and we are already looking forward to several great applications that HYBRID is developing,” Tom Schouten reveals. This year, Geostick will continue to optimise the process internally, in collaboration with HYBRID developers. According to Cees Schouten, that is what a partnership is all about: “The focus needs to be on connectedness and sustainable partnerships.”

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Announcing MyCLOUDFLOW: Workflow Software as a Service

Maryam Al-Haddad — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 07:00:32 +0000

(Ghent, Belgium) HYBRID Software, the leading software provider and innovator for the label and packaging industry, announces MyCLOUDFLOW, enterprise workflow software delivered as a leading edge Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution.

MyCLOUDFLOW presents customers with rapid, hassle-free access to their award-winning CLOUDFLOW enterprise workflow software. MyCLOUDFLOW is hosted by HYBRID Software on the fastest cloud computing platforms to bring convenience and security to the label & packaging industry, without requiring in-house IT support or heavy capital investment.

MyCLOUDFLOW not only fast-tracks access to powerful workflow tools hosted within the cloud, but also assures customers of unbeatable availability and performance, top-notch security, and vigilant monitoring of system health including daily backups and disaster recovery. MyCLOUDFLOW’s multi-tenant architecture gives each individual customer their own private workflow experience and assures maximum data security for all users.

“With MyCLOUDFLOW, we put the power and scale of cloud computing in the hands of customers who are looking for an easy, cost-effective way to implement enterprise workflow software”, explains Nick De Roeck, Co-President of HYBRID Software. “Cloud computing is very scalable, and is ideally suited to quickly adopt new automated processes, to grow in alignment with business growth – or even to scale up to deal with temporary or seasonal peak periods. We call it ‘Smart Print IT’”.

MyCLOUDFLOW service is available on a subscription basis. To discover more about workflow automation and the unique benefits to your business requirements, contact HYBRID Software at hybridsoftware.com/contact-locations.

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Learn more about MyCLOUDFLOW

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Announcing internal startup to focus on 3D software

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 08:33:37 +0000

(Ghent, Belgium) HYBRID Software has created an internal startup unit within its Ghent office to develop and advance the company’s software solutions for the 3D & additive manufacturing sector. The unit plans to develop new application-specific solutions and will initially utilise the existing products and expertise throughout the company to create new 3D applications. The unit is headed up by Kris Binon, the former director of Flam3D, the Benelux Additive Manufacturing Association.

Nick De Roeck, CTO and co-president of HYBRID Software, explains, “HYBRID sees 3D & additive manufacturing as a significant growth opportunity. Our recent acquisition of iC3D and the purchase of the Quadraxis IP gives us key technologies to further develop our business in this market. Inkjet 3D printing is one of the most flexible additive manufacturing technologies. Its ability to create radical new products is helping to drive 3D printing adoption in the traditional manufacturing space. The company’s expertise in industrial inkjet systems is already extensive. We bring a huge amount of value to manufacturers whom we help to harness the power of inkjet for additive manufacturing applications without the distraction of having to design electronics and software solutions in-house. In view of the growth potential of this market we felt it was time to consolidate the many skills that are distributed across the company to expand our offering.”

3D & additive manufacturing are strategic markets for Hybrid Software Group, which owns Cambridge-based Meteor Inkjet, a leading developer of printhead drive electronics, software, tools and services for industrial inkjet systems and printing devices. Meteor’s customer base already includes some of the largest manufacturers of 3D printing and additive manufacturing equipment. Global Graphics Software and Xitron, two other Hybrid Software Group companies, also have decades of experience in providing solutions for inkjet printing manufacturers.

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Download the press release here

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PACKZ and STEPZ 8.5 Spearhead the Digital Print Evolution with Eco-Friendly Features

Maryam Al-Haddad — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 13:26:43 +0000

(Gent, Belgium) HYBRID Software, a leading enterprise software company for the label and packaging industry, announces the release of PACKZ and STEPZ 8.5 PDF production editing software. This is a major release for both products containing hundreds of new features and enhancements that meet the challenges of professional packaging prepress and illustrate once again the power of innovation.

Pascal Wybo, product manager of PACKZ and STEPZ PDF editors, shares: “To support the growing demand for environmentally friendly and sustainable packaging, we are excited to announce a new feature called “Press View”. The functionality supplies professionals with instant views of how graphics, especially spot colors which are critical to brands, are printed under various printing conditions. In many cases, accurate colors can be printed with fewer inks, less plates, and faster press speeds.”

Spot colors can be defined as named Pantone colors or specified directly using the CXF standard. In addition, PACKZ and STEPZ now support the new GMG Version 2 API for full compatibility with the latest GMG Open Color software.

PACKZ 8.5 Press View shows the color accuracy of a spot color transformation

PACKZ 8.5 also introduces a powerful new feature called Content XML, allowing print service shops to transform PDF artwork templates into standard XML markup language, with the ability to drive high quality dynamic artwork creation from their ERP or MIS systems. The creative variation of text, linework, colour, and images can be easily leveraged in digital print-on-demand web solutions for engaging one-to-one packaging.

A packaging file is transformed into “Content XML”

PACKZ 8.5 also adds tools to create Digimarc digital watermarks, which encode the artwork surface with an imperceptible pattern for new data insights and smart packaging recycling for a circular economy.

Finally, HYBRID Software closes the loop with the verification tools in PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW, allowing error-free inspection of Digimarc watermarks within the PDF editors and workflow processes.

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Watch our webinar What’s New in PACKZ 8.5 here.

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Highlighting our solutions at Printing United 2022

Maryam Al-Haddad — Fri, 14 Oct 2022 08:20:33 +0000

(Ghent, Belgium) HYBRID Software, the innovative software solutions provider for packaging, labels, and print, will showcase its products along with Hybrid Software Group’s sister companies’ technologies (Global Graphics Software, iC3D, ColorLogic, Xitron, and Meteor Inkjet). On display on booth N763 will be a broad spectrum of packaging, digital and commercial print applications at Printing United Expo, October 18-21 in the Las Vegas Convention Center.

One of the HYBRID Software booth highlights will be 3-D visualization throughout the entire prepress process offered by recent acquisition iC3D. iC3D’s software suite offers the industry’s largest library of modelling templates for digital packaging and POP design and prototyping. iC3D lets users generate live 3D virtual mockups on the fly, along with in-store and outdoor visualization.

HYBRID Software highlights will include:

• PACKZ 8, HYBRID Software’s native PDF editor: Complex layered artwork can be viewed in color and wired modes simultaneously. The Smart Flattener professionally manages spot color and transparency interactions as well as press gamut conversion. The Pactions programmed toolset with action lists reduces the amount of operator time needed to edit, approve, and print a new package design.

• CLOUDFLOW workflow management, controlled from a web-browser, features a wide range of production workflow components along with a plug-in suite that facilitates interaction from the desktop or from Adobe Illustrator and PACKZ.

• STEPZ 8, an interactive software package based on the award-winning technology of PACKZ, allows for the preparation and execution of step-and-repeat and variable data tasks for high-speed digital printing of labels.

• Variable Data Printing (VDP), an InterTech Technical Award recipient, highlights the ease of use and capabilities of variable data preparation and execution of files, while providing customers the use of any open output device they require.

“Printing United is a comprehensive printing event and, while HYBRID Software has focused on packaging our products, combined with our sister company technologies, offer solutions for a wide variety of applications. What is also attractive is that our technologies are modular. You do not need to invest in an entire suite of solutions, but just easily connect one to the other, as well as a broad range of partner solutions—for example, MIS/ERP,” explains Mike Agness, HYBRID Software executive vice president, Americas. “We look forward to showing visitors why there is probably a productive Hybrid Software Group solution for just about any print facility.”

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Making the Work Flow – Automatically

Maryam Al-Haddad — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 08:24:18 +0000

An Interview with DPS Magazine

In your opinion, what types of software are utilized to add automation to the print production process?

There are many pieces of production automation software. In the front end, particularly with jobs that are reasonably rote or repetitive, we start with order entry. Typically, CRMs will get involved in describing the job in MIS/ERP systems. This provides not only job specifications, but can trigger the workflow to operate in a particular way.

Then you get to production software. Preflighting will assure that all the pieces of a job are available for processing correctly. Sometimes this could include editing software to fix problems in the file (or to make customer-requested changes; or AA’s). Automated print production takes the file and prepares it for the press—traditional or digital. Color management will get involved to assure the job’s colors are printed correctly, no matter the output device. Often a layout optimization application will prepare the plate or print job to save as many resources and materials as possible.

Somewhere there is the artwork approval process to allow for (typically) soft proof reviews, edits, and approvals. From there, the job is sent to a RIP for output.

How does it extend to finishing?

Finishing is part of the complete print process. Just as with printing instructions, a good print production system can communicate effectively with finishing equipment, providing cutting, folding, stacking, etc. instructions.

In your opinion what are the most common areas for automation in a print environment? And the least?

We find that most areas have been automated within companies. Perhaps packaging companies require greater time-to-market efficiencies to compete. Maybe it also has to do with quality or error reduction. However, we find that web-to-print, prepress/preflight, color management, estimating/scheduling, MIS/ERP, document composition, imposition, output management, post-press, and inventory management systems are commonly implemented.

Those areas that we find less often include CRM, data analytics, and content management. Perhaps this is because these are not 100% directly tied to production. These are very important tools in their own right, but more to serve customers, offer a marketing service (in the case of content management), and tools to help printers improve their processes.

How have these tools evolved in the past two years? What is a driving factor?

When discussing the effects of COVID, the obvious requirement is communication and the ability to operate effective, secure production processes from outside the walls of the facility—and all the others who are involved in the supply chain. COVID has driven everyone to figure out how to offer easier access away from the office.

Where does artificial intelligence fit in?

We are not finding artificial intelligence. Perhaps it is found upstream with the brand, but not during print/packaging production.

There is one facet, but we would not really consider it ‘intelligence’. A good workflow system can be driven to go through different steps automatically, dictated by customer job specifications. Would we consider this intelligence? Not really. We would just consider this as conditional logic built into a very functional workflow system.

What are the biggest drivers for automation in the print production workflow (labor shortages, more digital work, e-commerce demands, etc.)?

We find that most automation is driven by customer requests—and the greater prevalence of digital presses. With product extensions, more SKUs, greater variety, and faster turnaround required, the use of automated production workflows is the only way to produce artwork fast enough to feed presses and meet brand deadlines.

In your opinion, what leading challenges/issues are leading to bottlenecks in print production workflows today?

We find that reluctance of the printer to reject technological change is one of the greatest differentiators between failure and success. By embracing new technology—and this is not only by management but by every operator on the plant floor—we usually find that almost anything is possible.

Another important determinant is the connectivity between Web2Print, MIS, and production workflow systems. This not only speeds the communication of job data throughout the facility and allows workflows to adapt to each job. It also allows a printer to tie all business functions together—estimating, job setup, production, approvals, shipping, billing, etc.

Can you describe a highly automated print environment? What differentiates this from an environment with medium or low automation?

We have seen companies introduce different software pieces of print production for decades. So, what makes a highly automated print environment? It’s the ability to integrate everything together. This means Web2print, CRM, MIS, and production systems. Those who are not doing this are markedly less efficient. The way we describe it to people is very simple. Is paper transmission to different departments efficient? Do you think Amazon is printing a ticket to assure it sends an order to you?

Please describe your workflow automation solutions for print and finishing. Where does it fall in the production lifecycle? What types of devices/equipment does it support?

We connect all of HYBRID Software’s solutions to everything. As we like to joke, ‘We’re the monkey in the middle’.

Without data, you’re not manufacturing. Customer job information is always ultimately handed over to prepress. As prepress systems, our solutions gather, collect and fix customer data and files. And we connect the job to the customer for review/approval. From there, it goes to finishing.

We’re the ones in the middle, taking graphics and data and preparing a job for print.

Our apps include:

CLOUDFLOW is a modular production workflow suite for file processing, asset management, soft proofing and workflow automation. It is a web-based application platform specifically tailored for the packaging graphics with support for PDF, color separation, trapping, screening, proofing and much more.

PACKZ, for labels and packaging, is the unique blend of automated actions and dedicated prepress tools. With its editing and quality assurance functions, the professional PDF editor makes designs print-ready for any printing process. PACKZ enriches designs with priming and finishing separation, handles ink sets and object-based screening, applies trapping and generates dynamic marks and panels.

The application also produces unique seasonal packaging and personalized labels with the VDP wizard, produces warp and 3D visualizations, and even optimizes substrate utilization using numerous step and repeat solutions, and more. Running on OS-X and Windows, the adaptive multi-display work environment in PACKZ ensures maximum performance and usability.

STEPZ is a powerful PDF editor based on the award-winning PACKZ technology. The complete and easy-to-integrate prepress software is perfect for digital printers looking to increase production efficiency and improve the quality of their prints. STEPZ offers solutions for variable data printing, step and repeat, print optimizations, quality control and more. STEPZ transforms the condensed prepress cycle into a time-effective operation.

What sets your software apart from the competition?

We like to think that HYBRID Software solutions are the most open packaging production workflow systems available. All our applications are based on open, data standards. They are easy to access from any other application. I’d like to think that is why we were the first to ever receive FTA Technical Innovation awards in two successive years.

In terms of customer service, we offer a favorable licensing model that is scalable and expandable and provide world-class support. It’s why I think people want to buy solutions from us.

What segments does HYBRID Software support?

Of course, an automated production workflow system could work almost anywhere. However, our systems are more configured to work among label and package printers, general commercial printing and, in some cases, wide format. We are found among print facilities that use traditional presses as well as those who feature digital print.

How do your tools integrate with others to support end-to-end automation?

We connect very well to just about any application. We have an open API, and our applications are built on industry standard formats. We believe we never met a database we couldn’t talk to.

Article courtesy of dpsmagazine.com.

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Showcasing the power of iC3D visualization at Labelexpo Americas 2022

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 12:34:54 +0000

HYBRID Software showcases the power of iC3D visualization at Labelexpo Americas 2022

On booth 3015, Hall B, HYBRID Software focuses on virtual mockups, workflow automation, and variable data for digital label printing

(Ghent, Belgium) HYBRID Software, the innovative software solutions provider for labels and packaging, will showcase its recent acquisition of iC3D by showing 3-D visualization throughout the entire prepress process at Labelexpo Americas 2022, September 13-15 in Rosemont, IL. On booth 3015, Hall B, HYBRID Software and iC3D will join a number of their Hybrid Software Group sister companies, including Global Graphics Software ColorLogic, Xitron, and Meteor Inkjet.

One of the highlights will be the integration of PACKZ and iC3D, allowing HYBRID Software users to visualize 3D packaging in real time, from labels and flexible packaging to shrink wrap products. iC3D is an all-in-one visualization software package that lets users generate live 3D virtual mockups on-the-fly. At the booth, people can see how easy it is to model and drive a design, whether it’s a label or flexible package. High end effects, embellishments and lighting will be shown.

Other highlights are:

• Version 8 version of PACKZ, HYBRID Software’s native PDF editor: Enhancements include complex layered artwork that can now be viewed in color and wired modes simultaneously, and object-based screenings can be inspected per separation. The Smart Flattener guarantees artwork quality and consistency, professionally managing spot color and transparency interactions as well as press gamut conversions. Pactions is a programmed toolset with action lists, responding to customer needs for advanced automation. It reduces the amount of operator time needed to edit, approve, and print a new package design.

• STEPZ 8, an interactive software package based on the award-winning technology of PACKZ, allows for the preparation and execution of step-and-repeat and variable data tasks for high-speed digital printing of labels.

• Variable Data Printing (VDP), an InterTech Technical Award recipient, highlighting the ease of use and capabilities of the variable data preparation and execution of files, while providing customers the use of any open output device they require.

• CLOUDFLOW will be highlighted to demonstrate workflow management controlled from a web-browser. Featured CLOUDFLOW components include PACKZFLOW, PROOFSCOPE, CLOUDFLOW RIP, and the plug-in suite that facilitates interaction with the workflow, from the desktop or from Adobe Illustrator and PACKZ.

• SmartDFE combines products from all Hybrid Software Group companies to provide a turnkey digital front end (DFE) for high-speed digital presses. It combines Harlequin Direct, the world’s fastest RIP, along with Meteor Inkjet’s printhead electronics, ColorLogic color mapping, and CLOUDFLOW’s workflow automation tools into a powerful DFE that is fast to integrate and efficient in its hardware requirements. SmartDFE will be featured by key OEM partners at Labelexpo Americas 2022.

“The conference’s theme is ‘Turn your converting playbook from good to great.’ HYBRID Software believes it has been doing that for its clients for years—and we continue to build on PACKZ, the standard for PDF editing and the CLOUDFLOW enterprise packaging workflow system,” comments Mike Agness, HYBRID Software executive vice president, Americas. “While we have always worked well with complementary systems—including MIS/ERP—we now have a roster of new sister companies including iC3D and ColorLogic. HYBRID Software is in an ideal position to combine our label and packaging print expertise to build all-encompassing systems for any printer or converter. We believe Labelexpo attendees can benefit from a visit to our booth, and look forward to meeting them.”

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Dan Pulling appointed as product manager for flexo technologies

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 07:24:50 +0000

(Ghent, Belgium) HYBRID Software, developers of innovative productivity tools for the graphic arts industry and a subsidiary of Hybrid Software Group (Euronext: HYSG), has appointed industry veteran Dan Pulling as product manager for flexo technologies.

Mr. Pulling has a wealth of experience in flexography. Between 2000 and 2020 he worked in a variety of roles at Artwork Systems and Esko Graphics in Belgium including business development, product management, support, quality assurance, and applications. In 2020 he set up an independent consultancy to specialise in flexographic printing technologies.

Dan will become worldwide product manager for flexo technologies at HYBRID Software. In this role, Dan will work closely with the HYBRID engineering team, and the sales force and directly with HYBRID’s printer/converter customers base to continue to drive flexo technology to new heights.

Dan says, “Joining the HYBRID Software team that just received back-to-back FTA Technical Innovation awards for flexography seems like the ideal next step in my career. Building powerful and open solutions is at the heart of HYBRID’s DNA, and helping focus more of that effort and innovation on flexography is exciting. Flexo is the fastest growing packaging segment worldwide, and PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW are powerful products which allow our customers to control their flexo printing. The CLOUDFLOW RIP, with its extensive features to manage curves and screening, Intelligent Flexo to intelligently apply quality enhancement, and Tectonics to optimize plate use and reduce cost, are perfect examples of HYBRID’s commitment to innovation on behalf of flexo printers.”

Nick de Roeck, CTO of HYBRID Software, comments, “I’m delighted to have Dan on board. His expertise in flexo and screening, and his many years’ experience in technical sales support will help drive our customers’ adoption of our products. With more innovations in our pipeline, Dan’s appointment comes at the right time as we expand our offering to help customers improve their print quality from their existing equipment and increase their productivity. His technical background and communication skills will make him an important resource for our customers.”

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Download the press release

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PACKZ 8 adds powerful tools for both flexo and digital output of flexible packaging

Maryam Al-Haddad — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 12:59:35 +0000

HYBRID Software’s PACKZ 8 adds powerful tools for both flexo and digital output of flexible packaging

(Ghent, Belgium) HYBRID Software, an innovative software development company for labels and packaging printing, has released Version 8 of its PACKZ and STEPZ native PDF editors, featuring automated action lists and new prepress tools for the demands of digitally printed flexible packaging. PACKZ and STEPZ support flexo and digital printing of flexible packaging, with more than 4,000 copies used by packaging printers and trade shops worldwide.

Automation of Cutting Line Definition
PACKZ 8 automates the entire cutting line definition process for flexo plate production using programmable automation tools called “Pactions”. The digital automation not only saves time but ensures personnel safety by reducing injuries which can result from manual flexo plate cutting.

PACKZ 8’s automation of cutting line definition with Pactions

Precise Shrink Sleeve Compensation with iC3D
HYBRID Software’s acquisition of iC3D, the 3D package design visualization software, has brought further innovation for shrink sleeves in flexible packaging. PACKZ 8 provides increased precision in the compensation for heat shrinkage in the flat artwork and a more accurate 3D modelling representation, resulting in less design iterations and printed packaging flaws.

Digimarc Watermark Recognition
HYBRID Software leverages Digimarc’s expertise in digital watermarking techniques to deliver a seamless solution for brand protection and traceability. PACKZ 8’s Digimarc digital watermark recognition capabilities drastically reduce the margin of error in Digimarc watermark handling, from creation to approval, to help avoid expensive printing mistakes.

PACKZ 8 automatically detects Digimarc watermarks within the artwork

Automation and security of barcode generation
PACKZ 8 delivers improvements in barcode readability for labels and clothing tags and offers new barcode generation from a delivered barcode graphic. Through the software’s adaptability to unique printing conditions, this feature is accessible for both low-cost label printers and high-end digital presses.

1) Barcode to linework converter 2) Barcode adaption to unique print conditions

Braille inspection and user experience
PACKZ 8 includes a new braille inspection tool and new features for comfort and convenience, such as adding drop shadows to the artwork.

1) Braille Detection 2) Dropshadow

Usability
Finally, the customization features of PACKZ and STEPZ 8 increase usability and operator performance through three primary solutions: Workspaces, for wide-screen accessibility, new available Pactions for tailored shortcuts and tools, and á la carte user interface customization for more focused work environments.

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PACKZ and STEPZ 8 Webinar

Watch the webinar “Late Week” where PACKZ and STEPZ Product Manager Pascal Wybo introduces the newest features of version 8.

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Consecutive winner of the FTA Technical Innovation Award

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 14:31:05 +0000

25+ Years of FTA’s Technical Innovation Award: HYBRID Software

At HYBRID Software, we consider ourselves extremely honored to have been one of only two companies to ever receive an FTA Technical Innovation Award in two consecutive years—2020 and 2021.

It hasn’t been too long since we were so recognized, but the work isn’t done and we still strive to make these technologies—CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner and Intelligent Flexo—even more useful for our customers.

Steps taken to date are summarized below, as comment is offered on everything that is entailed.

CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner

Flexographic plates are very expensive. When producing a corrugated box, it is not unusual that only a tiny area is printed, even though the box and plates themselves may be large. In the past, a great deal of manual work was required to avoid imaging large flexographic plates with very few graphics.

CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner was presented as a web-based production tool that separates printed elements in the design file, and consolidates and optimizes them to take up the least amount of image space, minimizing material use. It was unique because it utilized a pure PDF workflow, a browser-based application, ties to MIS and features that are much more versatile than similar tools.

Tectonics incorporates all of the original, FTA Technical Innovation Award-winning CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner intelligence. Additionally, it includes scrap and cutoff inventory management of flexographic plates, creating an application that optimizes plate material and device usage, across different material and equipment.

The obvious objective behind development: Save plate material, and operate more efficiently and easily.

CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner pulls job MIS information; for example, polymer, thickness and sizes, among other variables. Thus, it automatically knows all of the job specs and embeds them into the mounter’s XML file. Other apps require users to physically work from the workstation where they are installed, one user at a time. Because CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner is accessed via a web browser using HTML5, it can uniquely work in a distributed world. Companies also set all their preferences, so everyone is operating under the same, standardized set of rules.

With CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner, users report saving five to 10 or more minutes to patch an entire job, and with far fewer errors. They process many jobs a day and that adds up. Customers document 50 percent prepress savings with the implementation of Patchplanner.

Scrap Control

In the two years that followed, we thought we could do an even better job. So, we took CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner apart and found additional features that could be implemented to address further flexographic plate optimization needs.

We created Tectonics. Now already in version 3.0, Tectonics incorporates all of the original CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner intelligence and adds even more.

For example, Tectonics includes scrap and cutoff inventory management of flexographic plates. Today, most trade shops cut plates, which leaves scraps. Hoping that they might be of future use, they stick them on a shelf. Do they ever use the plates? It’s a manual process—but it shouldn’t be that difficult to identify specific scrap plates that can be used efficiently for other jobs. Tectonics tells plate imaging operators which cutoffs they could use for a job and how to use them. They end up utilizing what could have gone bad on the shelf, invisible to the plate maker.

Tectonics still understands the heterogeneous reality of the production floor and works with customers on creating an application that optimizes plate material and device usage across different material and equipment brands. As a result, the software has a typical return on investment within the first six months.

“CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner was presented as a web-based production tool that separates printed elements in the design file, and consolidates and optimizes them to take up the least amount of image space, minimizing material use.”

Tectonics is able to handle both PDF and TIFF/LEN files for patching. It can handle stagger-cut file layouts. There are further advancements in the different mounting capabilities.

We are working to offer benefits to all flexographic print operations. There will be more utilities to come, with greater optimization beyond corrugated layouts. Trade shops and wide web are most challenging. It will be optimized for flexible packaging and labels as well.

With COVID, print facilities have had to adapt at times, with complete prepress staffs doing work remotely. As with other HYBRID Software web-based solutions—including HYBRID Intelligent Flexo—operators have been able to use all CLOUDFLOW products from home. Of course, plates still have to be physically placed on mounters and sent to cutters. However, they have been able to maintain a streamlined process.

Intelligent Flexo

The challenge for every trade shop or printer/converter is to print as well as they can, cost-effectively. One of the most important determinants is producing high-quality plates as easily and effectively as possible. A popular solution has been to print at 4,000 dpi, combined with a high-definition modulated screening algorithm. This solved many problems for flexographic printers, but it remains a one-dimensional method that introduced, if nothing else, slower plate making imaging speeds.

Intelligent Flexo applies screening modifications to post-RIPped files. This allows for more control, so users can identify problem areas in the images that require intervention before printing on the press, to save time and valuable resources.

We wondered if there was a way to print better without investing so much money; particularly for a smaller shop that does not have the resources to do so. Could someone improve printing, even at lower resolutions? Some have been successful, but only within proprietary systems that were not easily installed in environments with diverse equipment and software.

HYBRID Intelligent Flexo is truly ubiquitous. Printers have the choice to select the RIPs, plates and imaging technologies themselves, even from existing equipment and software systems. Basically, we developed technology to mimic digital dot etching, helping to disrupt ink viscosity and utilize more fluid to reproduce graphics better.

Then there was the creativity: Users can import their own customized special patterns and area parameters into Intelligent Flexo, so that it is truly specific to each printer. The significance is not the screening options HYBRID offers but, more important, the freedom to experiment with any screening a printer wants, delivering unique print results to their clients.

Intelligent Flexo, a 2021 FTA Technical Innovation Award recipient, applies screening modifications to post-RIPped files. This allows for more control, so users can identify problem areas to save time and valuable resources.

HYBRID Intelligent Flexo accepts and outputs any resolution-independent screened file. It does so by being a post-RIP solution; not one that attempts to resolve screening from within the application. It fits into any environment.

Testing has been more difficult with the shortage of media and during the past couple years. But, we do know many vendors have embraced HYBRID Intelligent Flexo and there has been fast adoption among many people. Wide web flexible printing on film has been particularly popular among its largest users.

The challenge reporting individual successes is quite unique. In many cases we do not know about new applications because, quite simply, HYBRID Intelligent Flexo is open to customers’ imaginations. Those who have embraced it are using Intelligent Flexo to help image plates. However, because it is an open, configurable system, they are not telling us what they have uniquely—and proprietarily—achieved.

What we have been able to glean is that those who image flat top dot plates seem to have the best results. That has usually delivered greater ink transfer with less ink and better print quality control.

While our customers are often the heroes of their own applied screening technologies, we have helped them. We have built increased optimization algorithms for greater file processing and faster speeds and throughput. We have also seen and experimented with our own screening algorithms and have come up with new screening technologies as options. Like all of our new and existing product development, we will continue to find others.

About the Author

Mike Agness is executive vice president, HYBRID Software, Americas. The firm delivers innovative prepress software solutions to various packaging-related businesses. HYBRID’s software tools are flexible, open, built on industry standards and have proven to provide significant efficiencies to the packaging industry. HYBRID Software Group is comprised of HYBRID Software, Global Graphics (Harlequin RIP), Meteor Inkjet, Xitron and ColorLogic GmbH.

Download the PDF here.

Also available on the FTA website.

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Hybrid Software Group acquires 3D software business

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 10:04:22 +0000

From left, Mike Rottenborn, Trevor Haworth, and Guido Van der Schueren celebrate the acquisition

Cambridge (UK), 15 March 2022 (08:00 CET): Hybrid Software Group PLC (Euronext: HYSG) announces today that on 14 March 2022 it acquired the business and assets related to iC3D from Creative Edge Software LLC.

The iC3D software suite generates photorealistic 3D virtual mock-ups on the fly, allowing cartons, labels, flexibles, bottles, shrink sleeves, point of sale displays, and in-store visualisation to be accurately rendered for design verification and e-commerce applications. In addition, iC3D offers the industry’s largest library of modelling templates for digital packaging design and prototyping as well as an online viewing platform which allows designers, brands, and print providers to collaborate on new designs with accurate real-time 3D rendering. Further information can be found at https://www.creativeedgesoftware.com/ic3d/.

Mike Rottenborn, CEO of Hybrid Software Group, comments, “3D and additive manufacturing applications are one of our fastest-growing market segments for printhead drive electronics and software, but visualisation of packaging designs in 3D was a gap in our technology portfolio. The acquisition of iC3D strengthens our 3D offering and closes the loop between the design of high-end labels and packaging and industrial print manufacturing. We already have an integration of iC3D in our PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW software with a substantial installed base of users that have licensed the iC3D option and we look forward to broader integration of iC3D in our Digital Front Ends (DFEs) and other software products.”

Trevor Haworth, CEO of Creative Edge says, “We formed Creative Edge Software in 2013 to develop 3D software that would give packaging and label designers an all-in-one product to replace the many partial rendering solutions in use at the time. Since then, iC3D has become the product of choice for many leading brands. Almost since the start, HYBRID Software became one of our largest value-added resellers by combining iC3D’s fast visualization capabilities with their range of packaging production software products, and a close relationship between the development teams was established. Our acquisition by Hybrid Software Group is the logical step in co-development of some exciting new products for the packaging market and I look forward to our expansion under the additional resources provided by such a successful group.”

Consideration for the acquisition is $4.0 million in cash, which has been paid in full.

Watch a video about iC3D here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mHerA0zj9w

Ends

Photo courtesy of Label & Narrow Web

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The earlier the optimization, the better

Maryam Al-Haddad — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 08:31:06 +0000

Courtesy of SIP

A preflight editor is important for prepress automation

The earlier, the better

Automated processes can be used to optimize company workflows as early as the prepress stage.

In printing, it’s a bit like in soccer: at the end, the goal scorer is celebrated by his fans, but without good prepress work by his teammates, he would hardly have scored – and prepress in digital printing is just as important for subsequent printing: “Many prepress processes can be standardized and thus simplified, which in turn influences the downstream processes in digital printing and digital cutting. This helps to save time, eliminate any sources of errors, and simplify staff training,” explains Lars Bendixen, Segment Manager Graphics at Zünd Systemtechnik. Saving as little as five to ten minutes of time on each job has a big impact over the course of a year, adds Tom Elton, Product Manager CLOUDFLOW at HYBRID Software, on the positive effects of investing in automation tools.

In the right places

The first step in automating a prepress operation is to standardize processes such as file delivery. Only then should a company look at how automating certain prepress processes can improve internal workflows. According to Tom Elton, this includes repeatable administrative tasks such as adding info panels to each job, manual imposition when all job details are available, and file submission to a customer when their contact details and file submission platform are available; this can prevent “wasting” skilled prepress staff. “Finding the right digital files in emails or correct trapping specifications in a job bag takes time and talent,” explains Tom Elton.

Other areas of prepress that can be standardized or subsequently automated include preflight or prepress activities. The latter includes barcode generation, color conversion, text changes, step-and-repeat, and die export.

Prepress

Prepress software is used to implement the automation options just mentioned. According to Tom Elton, most software tools today allow for easy communication between prepress and downstream printing processes, ensuring that information is passed on. For larger operations with high volumes of print jobs, the HYBRID Software employee recommends standardizing the way operations receive files with standardized or custom upload portals.

An indispensable automation tool for prepress, he says, is first an editor that can seamlessly preflight incoming files. This should have the necessary tools to prepare files for printing, impose and manage inks. In the best case, the end result is a file that is readable by all digital presses. In addition, he says, it helps if the editor generates accounting reports. Despite the many options for automating print preparation, according to Lars Bendixen, a good software tool is also characterized by the ability to make individual configurations. This means that users can decide for themselves which processes should be automated and also intervene in those manually.

Small mistakes, big effect

The aim of prepress automation using software is, on the one hand, to simplify processes and, on the other, to avoid recurring errors that could potentially affect the entire printing process. According to Tom Elton, it’s often small things that add up in the end and cost print providers dearly; examples include uploading the wrong files to a digital job bag or adding the wrong content to the wrong file. Color conversion with the wrong press profile or printing an old version of a file are also mistakes that can happen due to inattention or multitasking. The result is wasted time, materials as well as money; in the worst case, the relationship with the customer suffers. “Errors in prepress are often only detected during cutting: ‘How and where do you position registration marks correctly on the print image, for example?’ ‘How many registration marks are necessary for which type of job?’ or ‘How do different jobs belong correctly arranged on the material, considering the respective finishing – milling, cutting, creasing, etcetera?” are questions that need to be examined in prepress, according to Lars Bendixen, as different materials bring different requirements. Software for automated data preparation can also be helpful here.

Before the final digital output goes to print, it still needs to be checked by a human eye in the last step – in case any errors have crept in during prepress. After all, a highly automated prepress process is of no use to any company if faulty files end up in the further printing process, the result is unusable, and thus more costs and more time are incurred despite automation.

The Future of Prepress

SIP: Do you see any need for improvement in automation software in prepress in the future?
Lars Bendixen (Zünd Systemtechnik): There is room for improvement, for example, in logistics support, with consistent tracking and tracing of jobs based on assigned metadata.
Tom Elton (HYBRID Software): Today, many tools are “open” but still work with outdated technologies. As more and more technology moves to the cloud, it’s important to leverage it and ensure communication between all relevant systems within the enterprise to enable smarter and tighter integration.

SIP: What innovations regarding prepress software can be expected in the near future?
Lars Bendixen: Innovations are planned for Zünd in the area of robotics and for the ZCC Visualizer cutting software.
Tom Elton: Due to more intelligent software and hardware, more detailed data acquisition and more accurate evaluation is possible. I therefore foresee a tighter coupling of more equipment with live feedback and automatic adjustments spanning across the entire enterprise, not only the department.

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Strengthening our North American sales team

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 10:43:03 +0000

Peter Kincaid (L), Mike Agness

HYBRID Software builds North American presence with the promotion of Peter Kincaid to Vice President of Sales

Brings both sales experience and technical skill sets to his new role.

(Ghent, Belgium) HYBRID Software, the innovative software solutions provider for labels and packaging, has announced the promotion of Peter Kincaid to the role of Vice President of Sales, North America. His responsibilities will include a focus on the direct sales group and channel partners throughout the US and Canada.

Kincaid has more than twenty years of experience in print and prepress for packaging; both on the production and vendor sides of the business. He takes specific interest in helping customers achieve greater efficiencies with the help of modern, innovative software. Kincaid has spent the past seven years in sales roles with HYBRID Software. Previously, he was senior solutions architect at Schawk! and director of software deployment at Esko. He began his career in prepress for the Publication Division at Black Dot Group and at Classic Color.

“Our organization has grown nearly 30% in the past couple of years. As the economy and the world opens up, I need to focus on issues other than sales, particularly the business, OEM relationships, and marketing programs,” states Mike Agness, HYBRID Software’s Executive Vice President, Americas. “HYBRID Software considers developing customer relationships a very important facet of our business. Pete built strong customer connections while maintaining a very special technical skill set. He has also demonstrated effective management skills in the past. It is no surprise that Pete has been one of our company’s top sales performers globally, year over year. I look forward to working with him in his new position.”

Mr. Kincaid’s appointment is effective immediately.

END

Courtesy of Label and Narrow Web

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Connecting data improves operations at Amherst Label

Maryam Al-Haddad — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 09:34:32 +0000

HYBRID Software and Label Traxx suggested that integrating their systems would be helpful for the Milford, NH-based converter.

Streamlining a business can be complex when you have islands of data stored in different software solutions. Data should be in one source and used throughout. Connecting and sharing data between MIS and production systems can gain efficiencies and improve quality for any label printer.

A single, company-wide software solution that consolidates the information from all departments, integrated with the MIS, will optimize production management – and offer more information for informed business decisions – accounting, estimating and more. CSRs can respond in real time to customer queries, and jobs are visible across all business departments. Prepress tasks can be completely driven by job ticket information located from an MIS/ERP. This is particularly helpful with fast-paced, short-run digital jobs. It also eliminates redundancy, like scheduling jobs or creating quotations manually, or creating handwritten job tickets. It also assures consistency in the way companies work internally and with customers.

Milford, NH-based Amherst Label, one of the most respected custom label printers in the Northeast, has helped customers create custom labels, tags, and decals on-time, on-budget and to specifications for over 40 years. The family-owned business continues to put its extensive custom label printing experience to work for customers. The company specializes in digital, flexographic, and screen printing for a wide variety of industries, including bottle/beverage, direct mail, flexible packaging, healthcare, industrial, nutraceutical, and specialty foods.

Amherst installed Label Traxx MIS software in 2013 to replace a system that wasn’t built by people knowledgeable about labels. Meanwhile, in the prepress department, graphic artists did everything manually, utilizing apps like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for tasks like step and repeat. Katie Putnam, prepress/digital print supervisor, recalls, “With 10 sales reps/CSRs, our three graphic artists were getting buried every day.” They installed HYBRID PACKZ and HYBRID CLOUDFLOW to streamline tasks.

HYBRID Software and Label Traxx suggested that integrating their systems would be helpful. “We talked with another label company who had done the same thing and reported how well it improved their ability to process orders,” says Jim Cutler, operations manager.

When integrating MIS and production systems together, there are considerations. “We needed help from Label Traxx and HYBRID Software because we don’t have an on-site IT staff. Another issue is setting up the servers with the right file paths. You have to ensure you have solid help who understands what you’re doing,” suggests Cutler.

“It was great to have help onsite to see what we could do on a day-to-day basis—and contemplate how to automate the process,” adds Putnam.

Cutler also recommends anyone to understand what their customer service department will have to do in advance, because the process will change. “Our biggest challenge has been helping CSRs become comfortable with the new process.”

Since the integration began in 2019, Amherst Label has saved considerable time because it has eliminated many manual tasks. For example, before they took all order information from Label Traxx and wrote it on a piece of paper that was passed to prepress. Then, prepress would retype that data into a proof slug. “Obviously there was a lot of room for transposing numbers incorrectly or forgetting to change something,” says Putnam. “Now, we just import the metadata. That not only saved time but also eliminated errors.”

Working during COVID, Amherst Label tried to limit the walking its people did around it building. Eliminating the paper workflow really helped.

The greatest opportunity for accurate repeatability was step and repeat for their fast-paced digital work. Automating proofing, and different across step and repeat files, have saved a lot of time. “Manually, sometimes you don’t grab a small piece somewhere, and lose it. You’ll have it on the original, but miss it on all the repeats. Now, we create our label repeat file plan in Label Traxx and perform it automatically in HYBRID PACKZ. They’re always correct,” comments Putnam. “It’s very helpful for jobs that hold a large number of lots on the actual ticket. With 50 lots, we hit a button and automate the different ‘across files’ in two or three minutes – versus 10 minutes to create each file manually.”

Over the past couple years, Amherst Label has grown exponentially. Putnam has taken on digital management responsibilities in addition to prepress. “So instead of operating with three dedicated people, we’ve cut back to two and a half, and they’re still handling the increased workload,” marvels Cutler. “With the integration of our MIS and production systems, our customer satisfaction rate has been 99%, which means there was only 1% rejected work – with the same staff.”

“In the future, we’ll be utilizing information that flows back to Label Traxx, so CSRs can review job status without walking on the print floor,” says Putnam. “We’d also like to feed die line drawings back into Label Traxx and populate them into the die tooling information. The CSRs have seen bits and pieces of automation, and they’re pretty excited.”

Amherst Label links this entire innovative system to its pledge to a three-year visioning process called its Painted Picture. That commitment to improvement, progress, and being the very best they can be is often the driver for these kinds of investments.

Learn more about Amherst Label.

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A new level of efficiency

Maryam Al-Haddad — Mon, 07 Feb 2022 12:55:11 +0000

Originally seen in German in

Software can be a powerful tool, and yet the companies behind it are usually small in terms of the number of employees. This is true for HYBRID Software, which is globally successful with its PDF editors and production workflow solutions. By Andreas Tietz

“We are sometimes called the smallest company in the world,” joked Artur Wall, Product Expert at HYBRID Software, during the webinar at Deutscher Drucker’s “Packaging Days” in November 2021. In fact, the 113-employee software house has sold 4,000 licenses around the globe and is constantly winning new customers. Users benefit from an increase in efficiency and the degree of automation thanks to networked processes. Artur Wall explained how this is achieved for example with the digital print of label and packaging, and showcased the example with a sweets packaging label. The software products PACKZ, a PDF editor specializing in labels and packaging, and CLOUDFLOW, a modular workflow suite for file processing, asset management, soft proofing and workflow automation, were demonstrated.

From QC to approval

The demonstration began with checking and correcting customer data using PACKZ. Wall showed how a PDF can be “cleaned up” with just a few clicks, for example by removing separations, layers, paths and objects that are not required. The integrated color management adjusts the print data to the color space of the respective press. Rasterization can also be assessed and modified via Proofscope. Bleed and overprinting can be adjusted or added, as can areas for spot varnish or white. The process continued step by step – for example via the cutting masks and the automated construction of the overall print form – until approval, where the customer receives a link to a soft proof by e-mail.

The email contains all the relevant data and shows the changes made. The customer can then give approval in real time at the click of a mouse. He does not need his own editor for this, as all applications run via a web-based file server and are networked with each other. The subsequent question and answer session took up a lot of time. Many members of the audience were interested in aspects of data security. Artur Wall pointed out that although the workflow software is called CLOUDFLOW, it does not necessarily have to run in a cloud: “It just means that it is a web-enabled application that runs in a browser. The data could just as easily be on an internal file server.” Another question was aimed at interconnectivity, such as linking to other workflow and ERP systems. Here, Artur Wall referred to the large number of cooperation and technology partners of HYBRID Software, including many important players in the global printing and packaging industry such as Efi, HP Indigo, Xeikon, Fujifilm, XSYS, GMG Color or ColorLogic.

It was also fundamentally questioned whether a PDF editor was still needed in view of AI-based, fully automated prepress software. A question that Artur Wall answered by looking at the installation figures of PACKZ. “There are still a lot of templates that need to be rehashed,” Wall said. “In companies with many different and frequently changing jobs, this work is difficult to automate”, he said. “PACKZ offers more security, speed and efficiency here”, he said.

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Release of PACKZ 7.5 PDF Editor

Maryam Al-Haddad — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 09:00:45 +0000

HYBRID Software Announces Release of Version 7.5 of PACKZ PDF Editor for Labels & Packaging

(Ghent, Belgium) Version 7.5 of PACKZ, HYBRID Software’s native PDF editor, delivers the next generation of prepress software for labels and packaging. STEPZ 7.5 is being released concurrently for digital printing applications. Both tools provide bespoke solutions for prepress experts who require high efficiency, quality, and performance in preparing packaging files for conventional or digital printing.

Production jobs in the packaging industry have been increasing and as a result, many package printers and converters are converting to data-driven production. Pactions 7.5, the automated toolset in PACKZ and STEPZ with parameterized action lists, responds to the needs of these customers for advanced automation. This powerful tool decreases the amount of operator time needed to get a new package design edited, approved, and printed and connects seamlessly to packaging RIPs, workflows, and Digital Front Ends (DFEs). Pactions can also be used for barcode generation, including the GS1 Digital Link Datamatrix code.

In-App Solution Store
PACKZ and STEPZ now offer a direct link to HYBRID Software’s online store, allowing customers to download ready-made templates, dynamic marks, and metadata export filters quickly as required for new production methods or job types.

Key Improvements 7.5 Versions
Both PACKZ and STEPZ 7.5 support the newest M1 processors from Apple for real-time editing.

Complex layered artwork can be viewed in color and wired mode simultaneously, and object-based screenings can be inspected per separation. Enhancements to the Smart Flattener guarantee artwork quality and consistency, professionally managing spot color and transparency interactions as well as press gamut conversions.

PACKZ 7.5 automatically tags artwork elements with Processing Steps defined in the ISO 19593 standard, while the Analyze and Fix technology checks incoming files for compliance.

HYBRID Software continues to champion innovation on behalf of label and packaging printers and tradeshops to surpass their requirements for accuracy, cost reduction, process automation, and faster turnaround times.

END

Download the press release here

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Reducing our carbon footprint with Ecologi

Maryam Al-Haddad — Mon, 27 Dec 2021 18:23:29 +0000

Hybrid Software Group reduces carbon footprint with Ecologi

Cambridge UK, 21 December 2021: Hybrid Software Group PLC (Euronext: HYSG) has partnered with Ecologi, the platform that facilitates the funding of carbon offset projects and tree planting around the world, to offset its carbon footprint.

Since October this year, Hybrid Software Group has been working towards compensating for the environmental footprint of every employee in their work and personal life. At work, the Group is implementing policies to reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 footprint such as sourcing renewable energy and low-carbon travel, and is talking with supply chains to measure and push down on Scope 3 carbon footprint. Through the partnership with Ecologi, the Group now offsets the carbon footprint of all Group employees, whether at home or at work.

To date the Company has achieved an offset of 655 tonnes of CO2e and contributed to environmental projects across the globe such as solar power generation in Tamil Nadu and Telangana, India, and using waste biomass to produce electricity in Chile. More information about the projects and the positive environmental impact can be found on the Company’s dashboard at https://ecologi.com/hybridsoftwaregroup.

Chairman Guido Van der Schueren comments, “As a board we are very aware of our responsibilities towards the environment and to our employees. Driving sustainability goals through the business is not only the right thing to do for future generations but it makes good business sense too. For instance, in many of our key growth markets, such as packaging and textiles, environmental factors are influencing how those markets develop. Improving our environmental credentials shows our commitment to the expansion of these markets as they continue to transition towards digital production.”

Hybrid Software Group is the only full stack supplier of all critical core technologies for inkjet printing. Its solutions enable OEMs to be nimble in their response to develop new digital printing equipment for emerging applications and enable print service providers to benefit from the added value of digital production. Inkjet production is inherently more sustainable than analogue, generating less waste, facilitating just-in-time production, and permitting the use of more sustainable raw materials.

END

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Avant-Garde Solutions with Digimarc

Maryam Al-Haddad — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 09:00:30 +0000

HYBRID Software and Digimarc announce avant-garde solutions for packaging printing

(Ghent, Belgium) HYBRID Software, a global software company focused on innovative prepress and workflow tools for the graphic arts industry, has entered into a partnership with Digimarc Corporation. This agreement positions HYBRID Software as the ideal solution for driving sustainability and efficiency in the packaging pricing market.

Combined with HYBRID’s cutting-edge software, this partnership will leverage Digimarc’s expertise in digital watermarking techniques to deliver a seamless solution in the automation of brand protection and traceability.

“Our partnership with Digimarc will allow HYBRID Software to enhance our technology to address our customers’ increasing needs in sustainable packaging and brand integrity solutions,” said Patrick Coussement, Managing Director HYBRID Software. “We look forward to a long relationship with Digimarc and a shared commitment in providing scalable technology for our customers and partners.”

The Industry Benefits from the Forward-Looking Partnership

HYBRID and Digimarc have a longstanding history of providing leading technology to the packaging print market. Digimarc Verify has been available to select customers since 2020, in HYBRID Software’s CLOUDFLOW software to allow for error-free inspection of Digimarc digital watermarks within automated workflow processes. Digimarc digital watermarks offer covert and overt protection for physical products, packaging and digital assets, adding a crucial layer that supports brand protection. These digital watermarks are fully compliant with industry standards, yet imperceptible to the human eye. Since the imperceptible watermark is embedded throughout the artwork’s entire surface area, scanning is expedited.

Users of Digimarc Verify benefit from an extra level of security due to the integrated robust workflow automation. The margin for error from the creation until the approval cycle is drastically reduced, and expensive printing mistakes will be avoided. Building on the integration already available in CLOUDFLOW, HYBRID Software also plans to add Digimarc support to its PACKZ PDF editing software enabling application and detection of digital watermarks during the prepress phase.

SGK, a leading global provider of packaging and brand experiences and trusted partner of HYBRID Software and Digimarc, has implemented new Digimarc functionality in HYBRID’s CLOUDFLOW packaging workflow system, across its facilities worldwide. “We believe that our partnership with HYBRID Software and Digimarc directly benefits SGK’s global clients by offering advanced levels of automation and quality control on jobs with Digimarc watermarks,” said Francois Estellon SVP, Global Operations & Chief Technology Officer. “Our intent is to play a key role in the future development of greater integration of Digimarc watermarking into HYBRID Software solutions, thereby helping the world’s leading brands and retailers accelerate their packaging connectivity and sustainability initiatives.”

Upcoming Availabilities in HYBRID Software Products

The current integrated version of Digimarc Verify with CLOUDFLOW is available today, offering robust reporting and verification tools. The next version, scheduled for early 2022, will include advanced decoding and extended grading of Digimarc digital watermarks.

“We are excited to join in this partnership with HYBRID Software,” said Ken Sickles, Digimarc chief product officer. “Our organizations will continue to work closely to identify further opportunities for integration and a seamless customer experience across both platforms.”

The release of HYBRID Software’s native PDF Editor, PACKZ 8, is scheduled for release mid 2022. The PACKZ user community will be able to recognize the Digimarc digital watermarks using the Barcode Recognition functionality.

END

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Hybrid Software Group acquires ColorLogic GmbH

Maryam Al-Haddad — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 07:52:10 +0000

Thorsten Braun and Barbara Braun-Metz

Cambridge (UK), 28 October 2021 (17:45 CEST): Hybrid Software Group PLC (Euronext: HYSG) (the “Company”) announces today that on 27 October 2021 it acquired the entire issued share capital of ColorLogic GmbH (“ColorLogic”), a company with its registered office in Rheine, Germany.

ColorLogic was founded in 2002 and has developed an extensive portfolio of color profiling and conversion software, recently winning the 2021 Pinnacle Product Award from the PRINTING United. Its products are sold worldwide to both end users with demanding requirements for color quality, as well as to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) of printing equipment.

Hybrid Software Group CEO Mike Rottenborn comments, “Our Harlequin RIP is the market leader in speed and quality for digital printing and is used by many industry-leading OEMs. But its color management has historically been built around the 4-color CMYK process. As the production of labels and packaging shifts to digital printing, more capable 7-color printing devices are required to provide color-accurate matching of brand colors. ColorLogic has long been respected as an industry leader in extended gamut color management, and their tools provide the perfect combination of speed and quality for these demanding applications. ColorLogic will become the fifth operating company in Hybrid Software Group, joining Global Graphics Software, HYBRID Software, Meteor Inkjet, and Xitron, and its products and technology will enhance the offerings of all of these companies.”

Barbara Braun-Metz, ColorLogic’s Founder and CEO, adds, “I founded ColorLogic almost 20 years ago and together with the help of my great team we are proud to say that we are the leading developers of high-end color management technologies. We have great products which are used for the daily print production all around the world and numerous partners using our technology to develop outstanding products on top of it. Now we are ready for the next big step – to ensure the future development of our technology and our products we decided to join forces with Hybrid Software Group PLC. This will allow us to grow and allocate the resources needed for future requirements while continuing to provide uninterrupted support for our existing customers and partners.”

About Hybrid Software Group
Through its operating subsidiaries, Hybrid Software Group PLC (Euronext: HYSG) is a leading developer of enterprise software for industrial print manufacturing. Customers include press manufacturers such as HP, Canon, Durst, Roland, Hymmen, and hundreds of packaging printers, trade shops, and converters worldwide.

Hybrid Software Group PLC is headquartered in Cambridge UK. Its subsidiary companies are printing software developers Global Graphics Software; enterprise software developer HYBRID Software; the industrial printhead driver solutions specialists, Meteor Inkjet; prepress workflow developer Xitron; and most recently color technology developer ColorLogic.

For further information, please contact us via email to investor-relations@hybridsoftware.group

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Hybrid Software Group celebrates name change with the Euronext bell ceremony

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 13:00:18 +0000

Cambridge UK, 20 October 2021: Hybrid Software Group PLC (Euronext: HYSG) celebrates its change of name and corporate identity today by ringing the bell to open trading at the Euronext Stock Exchange in Brussels.

Hybrid Software Group PLC changed its name from Global Graphics PLC following shareholder approval on 13 October 2021. The new name underlines the Group’s position as a software company providing innovative technology for industrial print manufacturing processes at a time when industry is accelerating towards mass customization, smart factories, and Industry 4.0. The Group’s solutions are hybrid because they meet the needs of analogue and digital production processes and because they integrate both software and printhead drive electronics.

The Group’s new strapline “enterprise software for industrial print manufacturing” represents all the solutions available from Hybrid Software Group’s global operating companies: Global Graphics Software, HYBRID Software, Meteor Inkjet and Xitron. The individual branding of these operating companies is unchanged.

Speaking at the Bell ceremony Chairman Guido Van der Schueren said, “For many years, the success of HYBRID Software has been built on a simple formula: our future depends on advanced automation as embodied by Industry 4.0, multiplied by extreme customer care. We partner with our customers for the long term and act upon their input. I believe these concepts equally apply to the broader Hybrid Software Group and look forward to continuing to expanding our support for all areas of industrial print manufacturing.”

CEO Mike Rottenborn added, “Our customers have long viewed Global Graphics as a collection of great companies: Global Graphics Software, HYBRID Software, Meteor Inkjet, and Xitron. But as an integrated group, we offer technology and products that go beyond what’s available from any individual company. It’s important that we communicate the proper brand message at the group level to our customers and investors. Rebranding as Hybrid Software Group brings this group strategy into focus and lays the foundations for continued growth of the company.”

Hybrid Software Group is the only full stack supplier of all critical core technologies for inkjet. Its solutions enable OEMs to be nimble in their response to develop new digital printing equipment for emerging applications and enable print service providers to benefit from the added value of digital production.

Earlier this year the four companies launched their first joint product, the SmartDFE, (digital front end) that is designed to be the heart of a fully automated manufacturing system for labels and packaging, one of the Group’s strategic growth targets.

A webcast of the ceremony can be viewed here: https://channel.royalcast.com/hybridsoftwaregroup/#!/hybridsoftwaregroup/20211020_1
and can also be accessed from the investor section of the new group website www.hybridsoftware.group.

Ends

Download the press release

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2021 Inclusive Company Award

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 07:00:46 +0000

HYBRID Software’s employment activities honored as an ‘Inclusive Company’

(Ghent, Belgium) HYBRID Software, a Hybrid Software Group company, that develops innovative productivity software tools for the graphic arts industry, is proud to announce that it has been recognized as an ‘Inclusive Company’ by Divergent.

Divergent is a Flemish government-funded, and University of Ghent backed, organization that helps people with workplace challenges to be pointed to job openings. They promote the employment of people who may have occupational disabilities, and strive for inclusive recruitment, job retention and reintegration. Among its many responsibilities, Divergent also provides policy support and raises awareness among relevant stakeholders and actors around ‘work experience’, ‘workplace learning’ and ‘work-based learning’.

“HYBRID Software has been building on its initiative to hire very capable employees with the assistance of Divergent. We are committed to engaging people in the labor market through workplace learning. We strongly believe in equal opportunity employment, and being a well-balanced and socially responsible company,” explains Guido Van der Schueren, Chairman of HYBRID Software. “The most significant result has been that we have added very talented people to our staff—individuals who have made significant impacts to our company’s performance. We are both pleased to participate in a significant initiative as well as adding very capable staff.”

A new colleague by HYBRID Software shares, “With Divergent’s help, I was able to overcome my feelings of insecurity about applying for a new job. The fact that I could start at HYBRID Software with an internship eased the pressure. I received excellent coaching from the software development team of HYBRID Software. They gave me small but interesting tasks at first and gradually increased the difficulty. They were very available for help and advice. I have learned a lot in a short time. I am happy to have become a full member of the HYBRID team!”

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New STEPZ Website

Maryam Al-Haddad — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 14:44:40 +0000

HYBRID Software launches revamped STEPZ website designed for digital packaging printers

(Ghent, Belgium) HYBRID Software, the global software development company supplying solutions for label and packaging printing, has announced the re-launch of their product website STEPZ. Based on the award-winning PACKZ technology, STEPZ is the entry-level software perfect for digital printers looking to enter the HYBRID Software world.

The PDF Editor boasts an extensive feature set and encompasses a complete prepress solution for variable data printing, step and repeat, print optimizations, quality control, warping and 3D, and more.

The complete and easy-to-integrate STEPZ software is perfect for digital printers looking to increase production efficiency and improve the quality of their prints.

Christopher Graf, Chief Marketing Officer at HYBRID Software, shares: “The rapid growth of digital printing in the label and packaging segment has galvanized us to validate the market’s needs. We are excited about the relaunch of STEPZ as we give access to our time-saving and cost-effective solution printers have been searching for.”

Visit the website at stepz.hybridsoftware.com.

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Download the press release

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Looking Under the Microscope

Maryam Al-Haddad — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 07:30:17 +0000

Interview with CLOUDFLOW
Product Manager, Tom Elton

Courtesy of:

How important are the correct software and workflow tools to modern day printing environments?

At a high level the printing process can have many moving parts, starting upstream with project management (colour consistency, brand management). Next might be viewed as a service (prepress, approval & collaboration, web2print, artwork hosting). And finally the production, manufacturing & delivery process itself (large volume traditional printing, shipping). It’s no secret Industry 4.0 brings all of these processes in much closer proximity with the ‘Industrial Internet Of Things’ that can allow them to work together as highly efficient unit; and live up to the ever growing demand of increased speed to market. The problem with any process that has moving parts is ensuring they are communicating correctly, and consistently. This is why it’s vital to use the correct tools for the job, in this case prepress editing tools and workflow solutions, that can communicate with MIS/ERPs, manage approvals and asset management, and prepare and drive the digital files for printing whether digital or conventional.

How have these technologies advanced over the last 10 years, and how will they develop in the future?

The landscape has evolved in recent times: more and more software is moving from physical to virtual environments, and moved from being hosted on premises to Cloud hosting, or a combination of the both. This overcomes many challenges business owners face when tackling failover and redundancy. Looking forward we see print professionals utilising the power of a centralised processing cluster that’s available from anywhere, anytime without constraint, thus removing the need to invest in site specific software that is locked to a certain location. In the past decade there has also been an understanding for the need of non-proprietary file formats, and software that communicates openly with one another. At HYBRID software we’re a firm believer of the PDF 2.0 standard, which our PACKZ PDF editor fully supports without need for conversion. Our web based workflow engine CLOUDFLOW also communicates using open and widely adopted protocols and has a rich API to facilitate the interconnectivity described by Industry 4.0.

What role has COVID-19 played in reiterating and confirming the importance of workflow and software?

COVID-19 has been a driver for advancement of many emerging technologies, while expediting the growth and maturity of existing technologies. The main area of advancement has been in the realms of remote access. How can an employee do their job if they’re at home? Simple, identify tasks performed by employees and look how these can be improved or automated using workflow software and applications. Not everything can be automated, so it’s important to have the access to the tools you need from where you are, that’s where CLOUDFLOW’s web accessible architecture shines through.

What are HYBRID Software’s latest and greatest products and developments in the area of workflow and software?

CLOUDFLOW is HYBRID Software’s modular server solution, which is continually growing and advancing its product range. Recently we have released quite a few interesting products (or modules) to the market. Intelligent Flexo is our surface screening module for improving Flexo quality, by allowing prepress providers, tradeshops and printers to apply micro cell patterns to their RIPped data. The unique points to note are that Intelligent Flexo is an agnostic and flexible solution, meaning you can create your own custom patterns and apply these to any TIFF/LEN and send them to any imager for processing.

CLOUDFLOW RIP Farm

In a similar area of interest our CLOUDFLOW RIP Farm is a clustered set of individual RIPs that are all hosted in the cloud. This is a real revolution for multi-site businesses who no longer want to invest in costly RIP software that can only be used locally per site. It also circumvents the bottleneck of high volumes of production not being easily load balanced evenly across other more capable sites. Last but not least is our Proofscope, which is an online collaboration and approval that has some great new inspection functionality, known as ‘LRM’ or Live Render Mode. Those viewing files with LRM can now interact with files on a new level, zooming deeply into small regions to inspect the quality of the file, and also toggling layers to hide obstructing content.

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Celebrating 10 Years

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 09:45:57 +0000

HYBRID Software Celebrates its Tenth Year as a Global Leader in Productivity Tools for Label and Packaging Printing

(Gent, Belgium) HYBRID Software, a Global Graphics company that develops innovative productivity software tools for the graphic arts industry, is excited to announce that it has reached its milestone tenth anniversary as a global company.

The company’s original focus was order lifecycle management based on MIS and Web2Print integration. Two years later, the company pivoted with the birth of PACKZ, a revolutionary application—with native PDF support, color separation, trapping, screening, quality control, and much more—that made high quality editing of packaging and labels accessible to small, medium and high production volume professionals. In 2013, the company also introduced CLOUDFLOW, a modular production workflow suite for file processing, asset management, soft proofing and workflow automation. With these two products, HYBRID Software became the prepress and workflow company people are most familiar with today.

Ten years of milestones
In just ten years, HYBRID Software has enjoyed a series of achievements, building to an admirable position in the industry. Among its many accomplishments over this time span are:

The company made its industry premier appearance during Labelexpo 2011, attended by a number of executives who are still with the company today: Guido Van der Schueren (Chairman of HYBRID Software), Christopher Graf (Chief Marketing Officer), Jan Ruysschaert (Chief Commercial Officer) and Mike Rottenborn, who now serves as Chief Executive Officer, Global Graphics PLC.
Over the years the company has built a network of partners supported by offices based in Belgium, Germany, France, the U.K., Italy, China and the Americas.
The acquisition of HYBRID Software by Global Graphics PLC was completed in January 2021, creating the foremost enterprise software supplier for digital printing, as well as for traditional label and packaging market segments.
Most recently, the company received a 2021 FTA Technical Innovation Award for its new product, Intelligent Flexo. Along with its award last year for CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner, HYBRID Software became the first company ever to win this coveted award in two successive years.

Reliable partner for the past ten years, with a bright outlook for the future
HYBRID Software’s 124 employees work with thousands of customers—including some of the industry’s largest—around the world. HYBRID Software’s mission is to be a driving influence for innovation in the industry. HYBRID Software has been able to distill the prepress craft into software, creating a repeatable manufacturing process that is truly intelligent. And in keeping with its open systems philosophy, they built a solution that would work with any flexo workflow, not just their own. The company believes that everyone should have the freedom to choose any system that offers true quality or productivity benefits.

For example, many existing workflow systems are restrained by outdated core technologies or architectures, but CLOUDFLOW was built from the ground up as a web-based enterprise solution, with no inherent limitations in functionality or flexibility. Because HYBRID’s software is based on the foundation of state-of-the-art industry standards such as native PDF, HTML5, and other technologies, it is much faster to implement innovative systems that resolve today’s customer challenges.

“10 years ago, I realized that the packaging industry was looking for more customer-driven innovation, and I brought this DNA to HYBRID Software. We have always operated on the three pillars of prepress automation, customer collaboration, and tight integration with customers’ systems and processes. We know that this takes hard work and—even more significant—the loyalty and trust of our customers. HYBRID’s biggest strength is our ability and willingness to listen to customers and act upon their feedback. Our successes would not be possible without them,” comments Guido Van der Schueren, Chairman of HYBRID Software. “It’s exciting how far we have come in just ten years. The acquisition with Global Graphics is a continuation of our strategy for innovation. We hope, and expect, that this will bring another decade of exceptional innovation that truly serves our customers.”

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PACKZ 7 Makes its Debut

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 09:00:23 +0000

Fuel your labels and packaging business with the intelligent automation and personalization solutions of the most popular PDF editor in the label and packaging industry.

Pascal Wybo, Product Manager Editors shares, “The web-to-pack-and-label industry is growing rapidly because of the demand for more adorned personalized labels and eye-catching boxes. Folding carton and corrugated converters are entering the digital print space, while prepress and platemaking service providers are using their know-how to refocus on streamlined workflows with direct connectivity to digital pressrooms. The advances on all levels of the industry lead to PACKZ 7.”

Apple M1 and ColorLogic CMM
“The biggest changes are hidden deep inside PACKZ 7”, adds Patrick Coussement, HYBRID’s Chief Operating Officer. The application runs natively on Apple M1 and the newest Mac computers. PACKZ 7 benefits immediately from the processor’s industry-leading performance and incredible efficiency.

PACKZ 7’s fully ICC compliant color management is now powered by ColorLogic. The combination of ColorLogic’s unparalleled range of spectral color technology combined with HYBRID Software’s high level of automation and integration possibilities, brings supreme color matching for any printing technology in PACKZ and the workflows.

PACKZ 7 runs natively on Apple M1 and the newest Mac computers

Patchworker Variable Data
Nothing impacts business growth more than a direct customer connection according to brands. HYBRID Software expands the Variable Data Printing wizard with Patchworker, an innovative and unique approach that shifts and changes design features in the same variable data production run regardless of the digital printing press. Print service providers and press owners can produce an unlimited variation of personalized labels or seasonal packaging and increase their addressable market size.

Packzimizer 7
Packzimizer has become more powerful. The technology gangs multiple jobs on quantity respecting layout templates or diecut libraries. Packzimizer outputs print-ready impositions for digital presses with a maximum substrate usage and press uptime.

Environments
Environments bring an extra level of comfort to the already personalized multi-screen user interface and workspaces. The entire behaviour of PACKZ 7 can be set with a single click. Screensets, barcode presets, preflight checks, color books and profiles, mark libraries, and much more are aligned with the brand you are producing for. Artwork position perfection is easier than ever before. Snap Sets help to align and transform image and linework by showing snap references to guides, points and any artwork elements. PACKZ 7 detects barcodes under any angle, while GS1 QR and Digital Link become part of the already wide range of codes that can be generated and make connections to business-to-business and business-to-consumer information.

PACKZ 7 promises comfort for multi-screen working environments

Pactions workstation automation
Pactions has been enhanced with even more parameterizable actions. The advanced automation tool inside PACKZ allows recording repetitive actions and repeats them at any time on a single or multipage artwork in PACKZ or CLOUDFLOW. The new actions will contribute to an even more improved productivity and profitability.

Record and repeat repetitive tasks with Pactions for reliable results

MARS Solutions store
Starting with PACKZ 7, the user community can search and discover solutions in MARS. The in-app platform contains predefined dynamic marks, digital proof templates, preflight reports and much more. Solutions can be downloaded and are immediately available for use. Experience PACKZ 7 now and shift into a higher gear with the unique blend of automated actions and dedicated prepress tools.

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Groundbreaking Launch: CLOUDFLOW RIP Farm

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 09:00:42 +0000

HYBRID Software Launches Groundbreaking Service for Packaging: CLOUDFLOW RIP Farm

(Ghent, Belgium) HYBRID Software, a Global Graphics company, is pleased to announce the launch of a new enterprise RIP (Raster Image Processor) solution for packaging and label printers and tradeshops: the CLOUDFLOW RIP Farm.

The business model for RIPs in the packaging market has traditionally been simple: each platesetter is sold with a bundled software RIP. This works fine for packaging printers with one CTP device, but it becomes unwieldy when multiple platesetters are needed, and completely unmanageable across enterprise operations with more than one production facility. It does not provide any mechanism for load balancing across multiple CTP devices, and if production constraints force a job to be moved to another press or different location, the job must be RIPped again. Another drawback to this approach is the cost: having a separate RIP for each platesetter is expensive to purchase and inefficient to maintain.

Label and packaging production has fared relatively well during the COVID-19 pandemic, but this segment faces increasing price pressure every day. And the consolidation that continues to take place in the packaging industry means that there are more multi-location enterprises than ever before. These are the companies who can benefit most from a centralized RIP architecture like the CLOUDFLOW RIP Farm, based on the powerful Harlequin® Core.

Unlike digital printing, platemaking places few demands on the RIP. The time required to RIP and screen each color of a packaging job is a small fraction of the total platemaking time. Many customers are looking for efficiency gains and technology improvements with their legacy RIPs, and computing clouds like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure provide the ideal environment for enterprise customers to implement a centralized RIP architecture. This also provides a much more efficient workflow, since jobs can be RIPped and stored in the cloud, then transferred to the printing location for platemaking the day before the job is scheduled to run on press. With CLOUDFLOW’s highly efficient compression technology, the download time for each output-ready bitmap is only a small fraction of the platemaking time, and it’s easy to load balance across platesetters and printing plants if production schedules change. Customers with perpetual licenses can install the RIP Farm in the hosting environment of their choice. Subscription customers utilize the newly-developed multi-tenant MyCLOUDFLOW Gigacluster, which is hosted in AWS and managed by HYBRID Software.

“A large enterprise prepress provider needed to migrate their multitude of legacy RIPs installed at each site, and HYBRID’s CLOUDFLOW RIP Farm suits their needs perfectly, running 24/7 to RIP jobs for their worldwide production. This has delivered massive gains to the customer, as they can simplify and downscale their hardware footprint, and at the same time pool the RIP licenses centrally to drastically reduce the amount of software they need. This customer was able to reduce their footprint from more than 50 dedicated RIPs installed across the world in different locations, to a centralized CLOUDFLOW RIP Farm of 16 RIP engines running in Amazon Web Services (AWS),” explains Nick De Roeck, CTO of HYBRID Software.

Mike Rottenborn, CEO of HYBRID’s parent Global Graphics PLC, adds, “Many companies talk about plans for cloud services and subscription licensing, but HYBRID Software has been walking the talk for years. Since its introduction in 2014, CLOUDFLOW has been available in AWS and other public cloud environments, and centralized RIPping is the perfect application for the combined technology of HYBRID Software and Global Graphics.”

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iMS builds global business with agile solution

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 07:12:44 +0000

iMS builds global business with agile solution from HYBRID Software

Creative design, prepress and artwork production agency iMSGlobal has chosen CLOUDFLOW from HYBRID Software to ensure full production workflow flexibility across its multi-site operation. This is a symbiotic partnership that over the past five years has benefitted both companies and helped lay the foundations for the global expansion of iMS.

Headquartered in Sydney, iMSGlobal provides integrated marketing solutions for many of the world’s best-known brand owners, such as Danone, Nestlé and Unilever. With offices in Australia, Singapore, India, China, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, the company has a global reach, based on a knowledge workflow and single platform system that reduces time to market and improves productivity.

Working with clients, their agencies and print providers, iMS offers artwork, pre-press, colour and print management across all packaging, point of sale formats and print processes. It operates on a “Follow the sun” principle, with teams in different time zones collaborating to support clients and meet deliverables around the clock.

“Although we are a global company, we’re that little bit different to some of the other players, because we really focus on listening to our clients’ needs and being flexible,” says CEO Mark Mahoney. “So, we look for partners that have the same ethos and are happy to work with us to implement agile solutions that support our goals. As soon as we met the team at HYBRID and heard about their innovative approach, we could see that this would be the right fit for us.”

Following the sun
Underpinning the iMS vision is CLOUDFLOW from HYBRID Software, which has been rolled out across the four main production hubs in Sydney, Mumbai, Shanghai and Hull (in the UK). This is an Enterprise Packaging Workflow System that is fully integrated with the company’s own MIS (management information system). As a fully Cloud-based application platform with powerful Share technology, it links across the internet to exchange and synchronise project data and resources to optimise their utilisation.

Andrew Gale, iMS COO, says, “We wanted to find a model that really worked in our industry on a global scale. With CLOUDFLOW, we can easily manage projects around the group and truly ‘Follow the sun’. One of the real game-changers for iMS is access to all the global hubs within the same infrastructure; managing data in real-time is a huge bonus.”

CLOUDFLOW is specifically tailored for the packaging industry with support for PDF, colour separation, trapping, screening, proofing and much more. The modular nature allows users to define their own configuration and create a system that works best for their business. iMS is also using HYBRID Software’s PACKZ native PDF editor, which has been designed for labels and packaging to capture all elements of a print job in a single file for seamless prepress production.

“CLOUDFLOW is great for maintaining consistency across the board, so we have that continuity in every region where we are active. This is a massive advantage, not just for our technical teams, but for the whole business, and most importantly, for our customers,” says Andrew.

With floating licences that can be used irrespective of location, CLOUDFLOW has also proven to be the perfect choice during the COVID-19 pandemic as staff working from home can easily log in online without the need for specialised software.

Streamlining the businesses
It was at drupa 2016 that the two companies first connected and the plan for migrating to CLOUDFLOW and PACKZ was initiated. iMS was in the infancy of developing its own bespoke MIS as part of a drive to remove duplication of data and processes from the business, as they expanded to other countries.

“Australia is a smaller market, and it was a big decision for us to look abroad,” comments Andrew. “To support this move, we wanted a new fresh solution that would set us apart from the competition, because we needed to fundamentally change the business to make that leap.”

The goal was to streamline operations, keep an open platform and have full view of all assets at all times. Almost five years down the line, it is clear that the project with HYBRID Software has been a resounding success.

“During our negotiations with the HYBRID team, they were flexible and prepared to engage with us and help us to get the commercials right to suit the opportunity we had in hand,” says Mark. “Right from the start, we were very excited about what the solution promised to provide, and we are now seeing the real benefits and the technical advantages that this relationship is bringing us.”

Identifying the challenges and developing the software to each customer’s specific needs is the core mission for HYBRID Software. Paul Bates, who is the UK, Ireland & Global Accounts Manager, explains, “Although this sounds like a cliché, we do work very closely with our customers. CLOUDFLOW certainly wouldn’t be where it is today, if it wasn’t for that bi-directional relationship we have with the iMS team. Some of the functionalities you see in the software today were developed specifically for them to the benefit of all our customers. It has been a trailblazing cooperation.”

Mark concludes, “We’re looking to continue growing and we know we have a unique offering that not everyone enjoys. But this is only stage one and we’re excited about continuing the journey with HYBRID Software to see what we together can bring to the market.”

END

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Front-End option for Canon LabelStream 4000 series

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 25 May 2021 13:14:25 +0000

Canon partners with HYBRID Software to offer front-end option for its LabelStream 4000 series

Canon has partnered with HYBRID Software, a leading provider of innovative software productivity tools for the graphics arts and packaging industry, to offer label converters an advanced front-end solution for the LabelStream 4000 series, the LSFE that delivers improved workflow capabilities and automation.

The LabelStream 4000 series offers an entirely open workflow structure that allows label converters to easily integrate the press into existing workflows. With the introduction of LabelStream’s PDF-based front-end solution, Canon offers an additional option, with an easy upgrade path to additional HYBRID Software productivity tools, for customers requiring a cost-efficient, stand-alone front end or advanced automation features.

The LabelStream front-end builds on the fundamentals of HYBRID Software’s CLOUDFLOW and is a tailored solution to enable a cost-efficient, standalone operation with a high-performance workflow based on PDF input. Functionality includes a RIP with integrated colour management, the processing of imposed PDF files, a direct connection to the LabelStream print server for automated print file routing, as well as additional customisation options for advanced workflow automation.

Walter Vogelsberger, Vice President Digital Packaging, Canon Production Printing says, “We’re excited to extend our partnership with HYBRID Software with the introduction of this jointly developed front-end, which enables us to offer our customers even more reasons to integrate LabelStream into their environments. With the new LabelStream front-end, customers get a cost-efficient, production-ready solution with additional automation features for hands-free operation.”

Christopher Graf, Chief Marketing Officer at HYBRID Software, comments, “Streamlined workflow processes based on open standards are key for an efficient print operation. We’re thrilled to work together with Canon to help our joint customers to further extend their product and service offerings and optimize their digital label production.”

For further information about the new LabelStream front end, please visit: https://www.canon-europe.com/business-printers-and-faxes/production-printing/labelstream-4000-series/

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About Canon Europe
Canon Europe is the EMEA strategic headquarters of Canon Inc., a global provider of imaging technologies and services. Canon Europe has operations in roughly 120 countries, with approximately 13,500 employees and contributes to around a quarter of Canon’s global revenues annually.

Founded in 1937, the desire to continuously innovate has kept Canon at the forefront of imaging excellence throughout its 80-year history and has commitments to invest in the right areas and capture growth opportunities, from cameras to commercial printers, and business consultancy to healthcare technologies.

Canon’s corporate philosophy is Kyosei – ‘living and working together for the common good’. In EMEA, Canon Europe pursues sustainable business growth, focusing on reducing its own environmental impact and supporting customers to reduce theirs using Canon’s products, solutions and services.

At Canon, we are pioneers, constantly redefining the world of imaging for the greater good. Through our technology and our spirit of innovation, we push the bounds of what is possible – helping us to see our world in ways we never have before. We help bring creativity to life, one image at a time. Because when we can see our world, we can transform it for the better.

Further information about Canon Europe is available at: www.canon-europe.com

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Collaboration helps propel Creative Labels of Vermont

Maryam Al-Haddad — Mon, 17 May 2021 07:47:33 +0000

(Winooski, Vermont, USA)

With the help of FLAG, HYBRID Software and Label Traxx, Dwane Wall has streamlined CLOV’s prepress processes to drive efficiency.

Creative Labels of Vermont (CLOV) is a second-generation, family-owned label printing company located in Winooski, VT, USA. CLOV was founded in 1983 with three employees, a Vandenburg label press and a handmade screwdriver rewinder. Today over 30 employees service customers in food and beverage, wine, beer and spirits industries, printing labels up to 13” wide and 21” long.

The company operates four conventional flexo presses and two HP Indigo WS6800 digital presses. Although CLOV’s prepress department was equipped with the latest technology from art editing workstations to platemaking, Dwane Wall, president of CLOV, knew something was missing from his workflow.

Over the years, the converter has leaned on industry partnerships to help boost the business. Approximately six years ago, Wall reached the conclusion that there had to be a better way to deal with art files. At the time, he recalls, “Everyone would get a proof, FedEx that proof and handle it in a sneaker net type process. Everyone would name files differently and we would often print the wrong label.”

Wall perceived automation as the only way to be successful, noting, “I knew there was a better way to do it. But I just didn’t know what it looked like.”

Dwane Wall, President of Creative Labels of Vermont

Enter Mike Agness, executive VP, Americas at HYBRID Software, whom Wall met at an industry event where he sketched out his vision on the back of a cocktail napkin. Wall realized that with the growth of digital and proliferation of SKUs, automation would play an even greater role in the coming years. “Dwane really understood his business and wanted to stay in front of it,” says Agness. “Unfortunately, not all converters are that proactive. He knew he would have more jobs coming in because of digital but didn’t want to keep hiring prepress operators.”

From that initial meeting, Wall and Agness sketched out a plan forward. Agness notes that HYBRID’s philosophy is to “right sell” – enabling customers to embrace a product and then move forward when the business is ready. Wall describes the process as giving him the power to “inch worm his way along. Cash is finite so we appreciated the flexibility of doing one thing, figuring it out and then bringing on a new component.”

First CLOV installed PACKZ, a standalone software tool for PDF editing that put file editing and manipulation into operator hands. Unlike Adobe Illustrator, an application for label design, PACKZ prepares PDF files efficiently for print production.

Six months later came CLOUDFLOW with the Proofscope module. This package drove even greater efficiencies through his entire process by providing digital asset database management to ensure that his computer worked in sync with his MIS system. Additionally, Wall could now send customers a web link to view their label on any browser. Files now come in and are automatically pre-flighted and moved along. And everyone is always looking at the latest file tracked by the software.

Agness credits Wall with driving the need for change throughout his organization, noting, “You really have to embrace change to become more efficient. Dwane got his customer service and prepress teams engaged which was critical. He gave reasons that change needed to happen and why they should believe.”

Driving collaboration
In order to maximize HYBRID’s software, Wall needed it to speak seamlessly with his Label Traxx MIS program. He used a FLAG event to broker a relationship between the two companies and convince Label Traxx that it should open up its program to another workflow supplier. As Wall recalls, “I liked HYBRID’s business philosophy – they value their customers and appreciate our business. I’m a small business and I feel comfortable when I’m being treated openly, honestly and fairly. And to make the most out of HYBRID, I needed this collaborative problem solving to occur between the two companies.”

From this first meeting, a very positive relationship was born. Today the two companies talk openly, co-develop programs and bring new solutions to the label industry.

Wall has used his positive experience with HYBRID to encourage other FLAG members to try the software. Agness acknowledges that “every time we saw Dwane talking to another owner at a FLAG event or a trade show and showing label art right on his phone that a sale wasn’t far behind.”

Wall suggests that he’s “probably sold more packages than some of their salespeople.”

HYBRID became a FLAG vendor partner approximately four years ago, and in that time has participated in all available in-person and virtual events, and hosted Lunch and Learns. As FLAG has grown to 100+ members, so has HYBRID’s customer base. FLAG customers who lease software from HYBRID see a big rebate in the first year. Agness notes, “We cut sizable checks to FLAG customers – and always with a smile on our faces.” He acknowledges that FLAG has been a great investment for HYBRID, as the organization doesn’t need to hire a national accounts salesperson.

“FLAG gives us the introduction and gets us to the corner office much quicker. It’s a win-win-win organization,” he adds.

Wall, a 10-year FLAG member, adds, “When we first became members, John McKay had a good vision of what he thought he could build. What he’s actually doing today is extremely valuable for the industry as a whole. It offers a different level of camaraderie, multi-functional learning and fosters a sense of trust and collaboration.”

Wall participates in peer groups, attends all meetings, encourages his buyers to work with FLAG vendor partners and uses contingency backup as a sales tool for his bigger customers. He adds, “Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the rebates. A dollar is a dollar– but I put great value on everything else the group brings to me.”

As with many FLAG members, CLOV has been extremely busy over the past year, printing labels for food, wine and spirits and personal care customers. He realizes that he “just couldn’t do the volume we’re doing today the old way. We used to have four people in our prepress area. We were able to repurpose two of them and now we have only two individuals doing three times the work.”

Investing in software, rather than manpower, is a clear selling point for HYBRID. Agness notes that a fully burdened software solution in a five-year lease is “half the cost of a fully loaded FTE right out of college. And software is there 24/7, 365 days of the year, takes up no space and never goes on vacation.”

Wall adds, “The market has changed and so many of our customers require multiple SKUs, and shorter run lengths. Our beer guys sometimes need labels for 20-30 different beers. And for some applications – for example, nutraceutical labels for people and pets which are then private labeled to chiropractors and vets – we wouldn’t even have been able to gain the business without our automation capabilities from HYBRID.”

He concludes with his usual humor, “I’ve made a lot of dumb mistakes in my career, but HYBRID wasn’t one of them.”

END

Story courtesy of Label and Narrow Web

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Agfa and HYBRID Software to partner

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 12 May 2021 09:11:51 +0000

(Mortsel, Belgium) The OEM partnership with HYBRID Software will provide Agfa’s Offset Solution division with access to the group’s specialized technological knowhow and full product portfolio, which focuses on enterprise software for the packaging printing industry.

Andy Grant, Global Head of Software at Agfa, stated: “We are pleased to be able to extend our existing relationship with Global Graphics thanks to HYBRID Software’s offering. We see this alliance as a logical next step, and as a way to build upon our existing technologies to develop innovative and customer-oriented solutions for our current as well as future printing industry market segments.”

Guido Van der Schueren, Chairman of Global Graphics PLC, added: “We are eager to broaden and intensify our collaboration with Agfa. It will enable us to strengthen and grow the HYBRID Software solutions portfolio and to help optimize the next release of Agfa’s software products.”

END

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Intelligent Flexo receives coveted 2021 FTA Award

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 11 May 2021 16:30:21 +0000

HYBRID Software is delighted to announce that HYBRID Software Intelligent Flexo, a breakthrough module in HYBRID CLOUDFLOW to boost flexo print quality from existing equipment and software systems, has successfully received a 2021 FTA Technical Innovation Award. For more than two decades, FTA has recognized and celebrated the incredible achievements made by individuals and companies, large and small, which have contributed to the growth of the industry. This is the second straight year HYBRID Software has received an FTA Technical Innovation Award. Last year, it won the award for CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner.

One of the most important determinants of high quality printing is producing high quality plates as easily and effectively as possible. For a flexo printer, there are two points to consider. First, are the flexo plates, and the platemaking equipment that makes them, optimized to produce the highest possible print quality? And second, whether those plates are made in-house or by a trade shop, are they produced using a repeatable manufacturing process so print quality will be consistent for every job?

The input to Intelligent Flexo is simply a set of screened color separations. These can come from HYBRID’s own CLOUDFLOW workflow or from any third-party RIP that can generate unencrypted TIFF or LEN files. It optimizes flexo print quality using existing equipment and software as the starting point. It identifies problem areas—looking for different zones in the artwork that warrant intervention—and then applies specific techniques to generate effects that will improve print quality. Its technology mimics “digital dot etching”, helping to disrupt ink viscosity to provide smoother gradations, more uniform solids, and overall better reproduction of graphic images and fine details.

HYBRID Software Intelligent Flexo operates as a configurable, automated workflow process module. For example, with surface screening, Intelligent Flexo will improve ink transfer and boost density repeatably and consistently. It does this while varying many parameters, such as custom patterning, cell wall size, and skipping small dots with enough intelligence to keep micro-dots solid on finished plates.

HYBRID Intelligent Flexo identifies different zones in the artwork that warrant inspection and, in these zones, applies specific editing to generate cleaner effects. The intention of these effects is to help overcome issues that are inherent with the flexo process.

Users can create their own customized area coverage patterns for Intelligent Flexo, so that it is truly unique for each printer. The significance is not only the screening options HYBRID Software offers but, more important, the freedom to experiment with any screening desired. Thus, it allows every trade shop or printer to add their own specially-developed technologies to the screens available—uniquely differentiating themselves from competitors with their own customized platemaking.

Because Intelligent Flexo works in a non-proprietary fashion, it fits into any plate processing environment with different print setups—from inks to substrates to resolutions to plates to anilox rolls, etc. It is compatible with all major flexo plate imagers, with noticeable quality improvements for images and graphics at any resolution. In an automatic, intelligent way, Intelligent Flexo improves the quality and stability of flexo printing, without a considerable investment—or change of prepress workflow or equipment.

The Intelligent Flexo technology is based on a collaborative effort between HYBRID Software and Steurs, a flexo repro house. The company, founded in 1949, is one of the leading repro houses in the Benelux. Their objective was to create a flexo plate that delivers higher quality and more stability, as well as color consistency for the printing of flexible packages and corrugated boxes. Steurs, a respected innovator, has its own R&D department where they develop innovative solutions to answer to the needs of their brand owners and printing companies.

“HYBRID Software is honored and grateful to receive another FTA Technical Innovation award in the Prepress – Graphics category, this year,” remarks Guido Van der Schueren, Chairman of HYBRID Software. “Every flexo trade shop and printer works every day to maximize their print quality, but making the highest quality flexo plates has always been the realm of highly skilled craftsmen. By working with demanding partners like Steurs and SGK, Mavigrafica, and Tadam, HYBRID Software has been able to distill that craft into software, creating a repeatable manufacturing process that is truly intelligent. And in keeping with our open systems philosophy, we built a solution that would work with any flexo workflow, not just our own. We believe that everyone should have the freedom to install any system that offers true quality or productivity benefits—and the power to implement their own technological nuances to differentiate themselves from others. That’s the underlying potential of Intelligent Flexo.”

END

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Colorman Ireland increases efficiencies in prepress with PACKZ

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 11 May 2021 07:38:59 +0000

Colorman Ireland Ltd, the leading print service provider, has chosen to partner with HYBRID Software to speed up operations in the prepress department. The company has seen substantial time and costs savings since introducing PACKZ, the native PDF editor, into its workflow.

Located in Broombridge, Dublin, Colorman’s printing campus covers 200,000 sq ft and employs over 160 staff. With a large portfolio of high-end clients, the company produces a wide range of print and packaging solutions. These include litho, digital, secure print and gift card manufacturing; ranging from healthcare fulfilment to print enhancements.

After investing in two floating PACKZ licenses, which are accessed across four Mac workstations, the time spent preparing each file for print has been cut by up to 50% on average. David Noone, Prepress Manager at Colorman, commented, “The jump up from our existing workflow and processes has been impressive, and we are now able to run a much leaner operation. The transition to PACKZ has also been remarkably simple and the software fits in well with our production workflow.”

New solution for packaging prepress
Colorman was first established in 1959 as a silk screen printing company, specialising in point of sale and poster hoardings for the advertising market. Over the years, it expanded into litho printing, and in the 1980s began diversifying into supplying the multi-national IT sector. Today, it is one of Europe’s leading full-service print and packaging companies, servicing the leading global companies in the technology, FMCG, corporate commercial, medical device and pharmaceutical industries.

In 2005, Colorman ventured into packaging and began supplying folding cartons to pharmaceutical and medical device clients. Since then, that side of the business has continued to expand, and today makes up over 50%. With more and more packaging jobs coming through the prepress department, it was becoming clear that a dedicated, more effective prepress solution was needed to continue on this growth path.

The team at Colorman started investigating the next-level software solutions that could replace the systems that were currently in place, including PACKZ from HYBRID Software.

As a native PDF editor, PACKZ has been developed specifically for labels and packaging with a number of features that eliminate repetitive tasks by introducing higher levels of automation. Version 6 released late last year comes with a redesigned user interface that contributes to an even better user experience.

Proof of concept tested live
During the evaluation process, HYBRID Software conducted a number of tests using job files from Colorman to show how the software would benefit their production. David explained, “The HYBRID team asked me to let them run one of our client’s jobs through the software, so we could compare like for like and really understand how many mouse clicks that could be saved. From there, we were able to quantify how quickly the investment would pay for itself and base our decision on that data.”

The job file testing in PACKZ was done remotely by HYBRID’s Solution Engineer Matt Dutch, who sent videos of the whole process back to Colorman’s prepress team for analysis. “We can demonstrate something until we’re blue in the face,” said Paul Bates, HYBRID Software’s UK, Ireland & Global Accounts Manager, “but Matt took David’s files and ran them as if he was one of their own production guys, so they could see the real-life advantages, rather than looking at one of our pre-prepared demonstration files.”

Once the software was installed, the Mac operators were also trained remotely by Tony Lawrence, who joined HYBRID Software six months ago with extensive experience of using PACKZ from his time as a studio manager. The sessions were scheduled around the productions shifts at Colorman to ensure a smooth and quick transition.

“The training was great and quite straightforward,” said David. “HYBRID was very accommodating and flexible, and the operators were very happy. Hats off to Tony too – his experience with using the product as a client really shone through.

“PACKZ is a big step up from what we had in place before. There’s a lot more efficiency there, and it was obvious from day one that we could get through file preparation so much quicker,” he added.

Set up for future growth
The sale was facilitated through HYBRID Software’s agent in Ireland, Litho Supplies, whose Sales Director is Richard Styles. He said, “Colorman has been able to reduce the number of steps in its processes, greatly increase efficiencies and demonstrate real time savings thanks to PACKZ. It is further proof that our decision to add HYBRID Software to our product offering in Ireland is truly paying dividends for our clients.”

The investment in PACKZ came just at the right time for Colorman and there is no doubt that it will be a vital factor in supporting the company’s future growth. “PACKZ has removed a bottleneck in our workflow and allowed us to free up significant amounts of time that we can now use more productively,” concluded David. “Most importantly, it enables us to respond quickly to our customers’ needs, especially in the packaging market, where we have seen a large increase in demand during the pandemic.”

END

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Global Graphics Group launches SmartDFE for labels and packaging

Maryam Al-Haddad — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 14:51:21 +0000

Designed to be the heart of a fully automated manufacturing system

Cambridge (UK), 19 April 2021: Global Graphics announces its first product co-developed by all group companies today. Global Graphics Software, HYBRID Software, Meteor Inkjet and Xitron have all collaborated to create a smart DFE for labels and packaging applications to transform the role of the digital press in the smart print factory of the future.

The SmartDFE is designed to be part of a fully automated manufacturing solution supporting Industry 4.0 telematics and MIS integration, plus connectivity with automated manufacturing lines via OPC UA. It brings together in one powerful solution the creation of optimized print-ready PDF files; workflow and job automation to connect with enterprise IT systems; RIPping; screening; optimized image quality; and, via Harlequin® Direct, it drives the print data directly to the printheads at blistering speeds through Meteor software and electronics, or through Xitron’s Navigator DFE platform. It meets the need for fully variable data, gives complete control of the print workflow, and provides valuable information for QA and inspection, press maintenance, and stock control.

Mike Rottenborn, Global Graphics Group CEO comments, “Digital printing presses are getting smarter all the time, and innovation is especially strong in the labels and packaging segment. These presses need a “smart” digital front end to take their place in today’s smart print factories, and this is challenging for many OEM developers of digital packaging presses. Global Graphics developed SmartDFE to simplify the integration of the DFE and the digital press and reduce time to market for our OEM customers.”

“SmartDFE relies on tight, high-speed integration, communication and control between components from the job creation all the way to the printheads,” adds Nick de Roeck, Global Graphics Group CTO. “It requires the ability to collect detailed data from an individual press and share with the wider factory and to generate knowledge gathered from the data to predict and control the press. All of this capability is now available from Global Graphics and gives us and our customers a unique position in the market.“

The SmartDFE for labels and packaging comprises PDF editing, layout, and automated Variable Data Printing (VDP) with HYBRID Stepz and CLOUDFLOW, job cost estimation and production controls that connect to the Smart Factory using OPC UA (Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture), rasterization and screening using Harlequin Direct directly to the printhead datapath from either Meteor Inkjet or Xitron.

“SmartDFE gives you everything you need to add label and packaging printing to any industrial production scenario,” says Eric Worrall, VP of products and services at Global Graphics Software. “It provides a complete single source software and electronics stack that does everything from job creation through to printheads. Our Artemis Print Operator AI builds print knowledge into the software to keep the workflow running at maximum speed and quality. We have also joined the OPC Foundation, the organization responsible for the development and maintenance of the OPC Industrial Interoperability Standard, so our SmartDFE can connect print to the Smart Factory.”

“SmartDFE will be a godsend for smart factories requiring large industrial inkjet print systems capable of streaming variable data jobs,” says Clive Ayling, the managing director of Meteor Inkjet. “The integration of Meteor’s proven electronics and software within SmartDFE means that print system builders can select from the widest range of printheads while benefitting from Meteor’s exceptional technical support service.”

“Full automation is the logical next step for Navigator support of presses using Memjet printheads,” said Karen Crews, president of Xitron. “Our base of installed systems has exploded over the last two years and the opportunity to enhance new presses with OPC UA connectivity presents us with a huge technological leap forward.”

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Aztec Label further invests in PACKZ

Maryam Al-Haddad — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 13:13:25 +0000

Having originally invested in PACKZ from HYBRID Software in 2016, Aztec Label has confirmed it is investing in a second license for the native pdf editing software due to accelerating growth of the Kidderminster-based company.

Offering a range of label and tag production capabilities, Aztec has announced a number of new press and equipment investments in recent months, including a 4,000ft2 extension of the facility, to boost the company’s capacity, quality and performance.

Colin Le Gresley, Managing Director of Aztec Label, said of the latest investment: “Adding an extra seat to our prepress department ensures we are eliminating any potential bottlenecks as the company grows. I’m delighted that my eldest son, Oliver, who is currently completing his degree at Birmingham University, will be taking on this work. We desperately need new prepress capacity as we’ve had record sales over the last twelve months, despite the pandemic, and 2021 is looking like another exciting year for the business.

“PACKZ acts like a prepress one-stop-shop for us. With such a broad array of customers, we need the ability to deal with lots of files, coming from multiple sources, in a simple way. There are no file conversions needed, it’s universal, secure and self-contained. PACKZ offers the ability to check font issues and embedded information and deals with trapping, editing, and full step and repeat, all in one file that can go straight to platemaking. Making the decision to invest again, securing the prepress advantages we already have, was simple.”

Greg Heather, Sales Manager, HYBRID Software UK, added: “There are over 3,500 seats for PACKZ in operation now worldwide and we were delighted that Colin and his team wanted to invest again. The software is perfect for businesses like his that have moved from standard desktop applications years ago to a professional prepress software environment. PACKZ grows with the business realising more and more benefits and with our focus on staying close to our customers, it was great to see that HYBRID Software was once again the natural choice for this high growth business.”

To find out more about Aztec Label, please visit www.azteclabel.co.uk

To find out more about HYBRID Software and PACKZ, please visit www.hybridsoftware.com and https://www.packz.com.

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Solutions for corrugated printing

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 08:10:48 +0000

Presenting HYBRID Software’s solutions for corrugated printing!

In this comprehensive video, you will be taken step by step on how HYBRID Software can maximise the performance of your corrugated printing processes.

HYBRID Software’s lights out automation saves you time and money in various touch points. We increase your efficiency by providing an intuitive to use, web-based interface to conduct your data delivery and 1Up editing, quality control and customer approvals, all the way up to plate optimisation and sheet output.

We’d be happy to discuss a personalised solution for your needs.

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Rentons Labels exceeds demands of growth

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 05:51:14 +0000

(Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) Rentons Labels, a rapidly growing label printer from New South Wales Australia, expanded their capabilities by adding the latest HP Indigo press to its arsenal. To better serve their customers, Rentons Labels chose PACKZ to support them in their growth: HYBRID Software’s native PDF prepress production tool designed specifically for the labels and packaging markets.

“We have introduced new value-added solutions at Rentons Labels, such as security features on labels, which have significantly grown our business”, shares CEO, Romeo Sanuri. “This growth has required us to do more with the existing resources that we have. In this regard, PACKZ has helped us tremendously to reduce the time we spend on prepress and increase the speed to market for our valued customers.”

Brenton King, Sales Manager at HYBRID Software for the Australasia market, reflects that, “Just like everyone this year, Rentons Labels needed to make a pivot. One of the main reasons the company decided for PACKZ was the software’s ability to save time in the setup process. This empowered their team to spend more time on the road selling labels, and ultimately, selling recently launched solutions such as their label security solution, which helps protect customers and their brand against counterfeit.”

New PACKZ Nebula Interface for label creation

PACKZ implementation at Rentons Labels

Through the implementation of PACKZ, Rentons Labels’ production time was significantly reduced, especially through the white underprint feature which creates varnish and special colors intelligently and automatically.

The step and repeat and imposition increased their speed and accuracy of output, as approved artwork can be sent to the press just soon after being delivered to the print room. Moreover, the dynamic creation of Rentons Labels’ proof sheets using the Live Objects feature has dramatically reduced the time and reduced the scope for error. As an ongoing project, HYBRID Software and Rentons Labels are aiming to reduce this scope even further via an integration with their PRINT IQ MIS system.

“HYBRID Software is extremely pleased to assist Rentons Labels in this process”, adds Brenton King. “As with all of our installations, we are happy to partner with any size business by supplying software solutions to drive efficiencies, not only for today, but to keep up with the ever-growing demands of the market.”

PACKZ 6 brings further automation

With the most recent version of the software, PACKZ 6 offers even further automations providing customers time-saving benefits by sweeping away repetitive tasks from their workflows.

PACKZ captures all elements of a job in a single PDF file. The software contains all the features required for labels and packaging production such as trapping, full transparency support, colour separation mapping, Live Objects for variable content, barcode pre-flight and creation, tabular step & repeat, and structured assets including fonts, images, separations, object-based screening settings, barcodes, and other PDF objects.
For more information on PACKZ please visit www.packz.com/.

Rentons Labels Bio:

A fast paced labels business recently purchased by Next Printing
Added a HP Indigo label press in January 2020
www.rentonslabels.com.au

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Stronger together with Global Graphics

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 19:00:16 +0000

PRESS RELEASE – REGULATED INFORMATION

GLOBAL GRAPHICS PLC COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF HYBRID SOFTWARE GROUP

Cambridge (UK), 13 January 2021: Global Graphics PLC (Euronext: GLOG) announces that it has successfully completed its acquisition of the HYBRID Software Group S.à r.l. (“HYBRID Software”) from Congra Software S.à r.l (“Congra”) following the passing of a shareholder resolution at a General Meeting held on Friday 8th January 2021.

HYBRID Software is a group of software development and marketing companies focused on enterprise software for the graphic arts industry, with a strong focus on labels and packaging. It becomes the fourth subsidiary company in the Global Graphics group and sits alongside Global Graphics Software, Meteor Inkjet and Xitron.

The acquisition roughly doubles the size of the Global Graphics group of companies in terms of headcount, expanding the global workforce to around 250 people. It adds several more operating locations to the group through HYBRID Software’s offices in Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, Italy, France and the USA. Global Graphics typically invests about one third of its revenues into R&D each financial year and has a strong software development team, which is now expanded to more than 75 engineers with the addition of HYBRID Software.

Global Graphics is dedicated to developing software and hardware solutions for graphics and industrial inkjet printing and has earned a reputation for innovation, with several of its companies being recognised with prestigious industry awards and, in the case of both Meteor Inkjet and Global Graphics Software, with the coveted Queen’s Award for Enterprise. It will continue to be a key supplier of original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”) technology and, through HYBRID Software’s domain expertise in labels and packaging, a customer-focussed supplier of solutions for print service providers and converters as well as OEMs.

Guido Van der Schueren, Chairman of Global Graphics, says, “This acquisition is a great fit strategically. It’s good news for our customers, our employees and our shareholders. We will continue to grow the value of the company by supporting all our stakeholders and reaffirm our intention to remain a listed company. As the packaging industry continues its migration to digital printing, there are tremendous opportunities for Global Graphics’ hardware and software solutions, so bringing HYBRID Software into the group will help us grow our share in labels and packaging. Exciting times lie ahead as we launch new initiatives in response to customer demands, ranging from innovative new products to subscription-based licensing models.”

Global Graphics’ CEO Mike Rottenborn says, “This acquisition makes Global Graphics stronger than the sum of its parts. Market requirements are changing and it’s important for the future growth of the company that we are positioned to respond. Customers are asking for more functionality and we are well placed to offer a broader solution starting with a powerful new digital front end for the labels and packaging segment. Expect to see new product development for the industrial inkjet market too, which, as it evolves and matures, requires a new generation of software and hardware capabilities. We’ll be able to take HYBRID Software’s expertise in file preparation and enterprise production workflow gained in the labels and packaging segments and expand this out across all the industry segments we serve.”

HYBRID Software has been an integrator of the Harlequin RIP® for many years inside their CLOUDFLOW workflow product and in recent times has been working at a technical level with Global Graphics Software on the Fundamentals digital front end. Michigan-based Xitron, also a long-standing customer for the Harlequin RIP, is active in the commercial printing industry providing pre-press and digital solutions to OEMs. Its Navigator DFE supports drive electronics from sister company Meteor Inkjet, a leading developer of printhead driver solutions for industrial inkjet systems. Together with Global Graphics Software, developer of the Harlequin RIP and other technology components for digital printing, the Global Graphics group offers the market a compelling stack of solutions for graphics and industrial inkjet printing.

Consideration for the acquisition of HYBRID Software was EUR 80 million which was satisfied in full by issuing 21,074,030 Global Graphics shares to Congra.

For the year ended 31 December 2020, it is estimated that HYBRID Software’s revenue will be around EUR 17 million and EBITDA will be around EUR 5.5 million (subject to audit). HYBRID Software will be included in the group’s consolidated financial statements with effect from the reporting period that includes the closing date of the acquisition, i.e. for the year ending 31 December 2021, starting with the condensed consolidated financial statements for the six months ending 30 June 2021. Further information in respect of the acquisition can be found on the company’s website at https://investor.globalgraphics.com/investors/hybrid-software-acquisition.

Ends

About Global Graphics

Through its operating subsidiaries, Global Graphics PLC (Euronext Brussels: GLOG) is a leading developer of integrated hardware and software solutions for graphics and industrial inkjet printing. Customers include press manufacturers such as HP, Canon, Durst, Roland, Hymmen and Mark Andy. Global Graphics PLC is headquartered in Cambridge UK. Its subsidiary companies are printing software developers Global Graphics Software; the industrial printhead driver solutions specialists, Meteor Inkjet; and the pre-press software specialists Xitron

Contacts

Jill Taylor
Corporate Communications Director Tel: +44 (0)1223 926489
Email: jill.taylor@globalgraphics.com

Graeme Huttley
Chief Financial Officer
Tel: +44 (0)1223 926472
Email: graeme.huttley@globalgraphics.com

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Joining forces with Global Graphics

Maryam Al-Haddad — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 12:21:27 +0000

HYBRID Software is excited to announce that we will be joining forces with Global Graphics to bring the next level of unique solutions and innovations for our customers. We are proud of this next step as Global Graphics is an industry leader in digital printing and together we will better serve the label and packaging printing markets. We are looking forward to what’s to come!

Read more about the acquisition of HYBRID Software by Global Graphics in the official press release:

PRESS RELEASE – REGULATED INFORMATION

GLOBAL GRAPHICS PLC: PROPOSED ACQUISITION OF HYBRID SOFTWARE GROUP

Cambridge (UK), 10 December 2020 (08.00 CET): Global Graphics PLC (Euronext: GLOG) announces today that it has entered into a binding conditional agreement with Congra Software S.à r.l. (“Congra”) for the proposed acquisition of the entire issued share capital of HYBRID Software Group S.à r.l. (“HYBRID Software”) from Congra.

HYBRID Software is a group of software development and marketing companies focused on enterprise software for the graphic arts industry, with a strong focus on labels and packaging. HYBRID Software is registered in Luxembourg and has subsidiaries in Belgium, Germany, Italy, France and the USA.

HYBRID Software’s two main product lines, CLOUDFLOW and PACKZ, offer a unique set of advantages that include native PDF workflow and editing, variable data linking and imposition, vendor-independent solutions based on industry standards, scalable technology and low total cost of ownership. These products are used by more than 1,000 customers worldwide in all areas of pre-press and printing, including labels and packaging, folding cartons, corrugated, and wide format.

Guido Van der Schueren, Chairman of Global Graphics PLC, explains the rationale behind the proposed acquisition. “Combining Global Graphics and HYBRID Software will create the foremost enterprise software supplier for digital printing, as well as for traditional label and packaging market segments and I’m proud to announce it to the industry. The DNA of both companies is similar – customer-focused innovation in graphic arts and industrial inkjet – and there’s a strong existing relationship and a great fit between HYBRID Software and the Global Graphics companies: Global Graphics Software, Meteor Inkjet, and Xitron.

“The combined company will total more than 250 dedicated employees with a wealth of experience in software and hardware development, but our mission will remain unchanged: developing innovative solutions for both end users and OEM suppliers. HYBRID Software has also established a successful recurring revenue model based on SaaS and subscription licensing, something that Global Graphics’ customers are asking for as well. I look forward to concluding the transaction at the beginning of 2021 and to a very bright future for the new company.”

Mike Rottenborn, Global Graphics’ CEO, adds: “This proposed acquisition is strategically important for our future growth. With HYBRID Software on board, Global Graphics will be able to offer premium products like packaging editors and production workflow solutions to end-users, in addition to continuing our focus on innovative solutions for our OEM partners. While Global Graphics already supplies technology to the labels and packaging market, we will be able to increase our focus on packaging with the acquisition; the labels and packaging segment is the fastest growing in the printing industry and an area in which HYBRID Software has specialized knowledge. It also has feet on the ground across Europe, Asia, and the Americas to facilitate OEM and end-user sales. And we recognize that the way in which we do business would benefit by introducing new models, including SaaS and subscriptions. These are business models that our existing customers have requested and that HYBRID Software offers to its customer base. Their expertise in this area will be valuable to us as we roll out these new initiatives across Global Graphics.”

Consideration for the acquisition is EUR 80 million which will be satisfied in full by issuing 21,074,030 Global Graphics shares to Congra (the “Consideration Shares”). The number of Consideration Shares to be issued to Congra has been calculated based on the volume-weighted average of the closing price per Global Graphics share for each of the last 30 trading days prior to the date of signing the conditional agreement, and represents an implied price per Consideration Share of EUR 3.80. Assuming successful completion of the acquisition and following the issue of the Consideration Shares to Congra, Congra’s aggregate shareholding in Global Graphics will amount to 82.16 per cent of the enlarged issued share capital of Global Graphics (excluding shares held in treasury). The acquisition remains conditional upon, amongst other customary conditions, the passing of a shareholder resolution at a forthcoming general meeting of Global Graphics to be held on 8 January 2021.

More information about HYBRID Software, the proposed acquisition and full details about the meeting and voting can be found in the Notice of General Meeting on the Company’s website at
https://investor.globalgraphics.com/investors/hybrid-software-acquisition.

Shareholders are also invited to attend a Q&A session with Mike Rottenborn and Graeme Huttley via a Zoom conference call on Monday, 14 December 2020, at 15:00 CET. To register for this conference call, please email investor-relations@globalgraphics.com by 14:30 CET on Monday, 14 December 2020. Details of how to join the meeting will then be provided by email.

Ends

About Global Graphics
Through its operating subsidiaries, Global Graphics PLC (Euronext Brussels: GLOG) is a leading developer of integrated hardware and software solutions for graphics and industrial inkjet printing. Customers include press manufacturers such as HP, Canon, Durst, Roland, Hymmen and Mark Andy. Global Graphics PLC is headquartered in Cambridge UK. Its subsidiary companies are printing software developers Global Graphics Software; the industrial printhead driver solutions specialists, Meteor Inkjet; and the pre-press software specialists Xitron.

Contacts
Jill Taylor
Corporate Communications Director Tel: +44 (0)1223 926489
Email: jill.taylor@globalgraphics.com

Graeme Huttley
Chief Financial Officer
Tel: +44 (0)1223 926472
Email: graeme.huttley@globalgraphics.com

Download Press release here

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Solutions for folding carton printing

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 10:11:59 +0000

Presenting HYBRID Software’s solutions for folding carton printing!

In this comprehensive video, you will be taken step by step on how HYBRID Software can maximise the performance of your folding carton printing processes.

HYBRID Software’s lights out automation saves you time and money in various touch points. We increase your efficiency by providing an intuitive to use, web-based interface to conduct your data delivery and artwork editing, quality control and customer approvals, all the way up to step and repeat and statistics reporting.

We’d be happy to discuss a personalised solution for your needs.

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Solutions for flexibles and trade shops

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 10:11:37 +0000

Presenting HYBRID Software’s solution for flexibles and trade shops!

In this comprehensive video, you will be taken step by step on how HYBRID Software can maximise the performance of your flexible printing and trade shops processes.

HYBRID Software’s lights out automation saves you time and money in various touch points. We increase your efficiency by providing an intuitive to use, web-based interface to conduct your data delivery and artwork editing, quality control and customer approvals, all the way up to step and repeat and statistics reporting.

We’d be happy to discuss a personalised solution for your needs.

The post Solutions for flexibles and trade shops appeared first on HYBRID Software.

Solutions for label printing

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 10:11:25 +0000

Presenting HYBRID Software’s solutions for label printing!

In this comprehensive video, you will be taken step by step on how HYBRID Software can maximise the performance of your label printing processes.

HYBRID Software’s lights out automation saves you time and money in various touch points. We increase your efficiency by providing an intuitive to use, web-based interface to conduct your data delivery and artwork editing, quality control and customer approvals, all the way up to step and repeat and statistics reporting.

We’d be happy to discuss a personalised solution for your needs.

The post Solutions for label printing appeared first on HYBRID Software.

Hager Papprint optimizes their prepress process with HYBRID Software

Maryam Al-Haddad — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 10:00:10 +0000

Hager Papprint, replacing its previous system with HYBRID PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW, has been able to make many processes quicker, more efficient and more transparent, requiring about a third of the time previously needed to move a job through prepress.

Hager Papprint, based in Saarland, Germany, has an extensive history in the field of printing. The family business was founded in 1896 as a book printing and bookbinding shop. It has developed itself into a successful mid-sized industrial company specialising in the production of folding cartons and displays in offset and digital printing.

“Our company has consistently advanced itself over the years. Currently we are working on a new building in order to expand our capacities and meet the growing demands. In the future, we will manufacture for our wide range of clients from food, industry, healthcare and other non-food sectors on more than 10,000 m² of production and storage space. Our customers, most of whom have been with us for many years, appreciate our flexibility and our one-stop shop,” explains managing director Günter Merziger, who has been managing and developing the company together with Susanne and Thomas Wirbel for many years.

“In addition to production, proper artwork preparation also plays a major role. We have always recognized the advantages an internal prepress department would deliver us. We clearly benefit from: extensive experience, shorter workflow steps, quicker adjustments, and optimum quality,” states Merziger. “When it comes to their print artwork files, our customers have been happy with our direct and uncomplicated service. We couldn’t have accomplished this with just any software supplier.”

Maurice Cadet, prepress team leader at Hager Papprint, confirms that the production of folding boxes has special requirements. “Although in the end it’s only a printed sheet that passes through the press, producing a folding box brings with it many demands. The production with spot colors, the exact positioning of elements afterwards on the different surfaces of the box, the coding for the finishing process—the list is long!”

Hager Papprint recently changed the direction of their prepress and decided to move forward with HYBRID Software products. Günter Merziger remembers, “It wasn’t easy for me, because we already had a quite sophisticated software prepress environment, which we had been using successfully for many years. However, it was clear that there was an innovation backlog from our previous supplier, to which we had to respond. Our company needed to continue to develop in this area. Since, from the past, we already knew some of the people at HYBRID Software, we decided to examine the possibilities together.”

Along with HYBRID Software, intensive research was conducted to obtain as good a picture as possible of the actual results. “We outlined the processes of our previous software environment and counter-measured them with several benchmarks using HYBRID Software tools. I was aware that HYBRID Software’s PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW had proven their exceptional performance with some of our competitors. However, the results of our own benchmark tests really impressed me,” comments Maurice Cadet. “When you suddenly realize that, beyond proven working methods, results can be achieved much faster, safer and, above all, much easier, you quickly recognize the potential for your own company.”

Hager Papprint decided to implement PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW, which was intensively accompanied by Maurice Cadet’s involvement. “Even on the second day of our team’s PACKZ training, we decided that we could begin replacing the old systems during the following week. To date, we’re very happy with our decision, as it is so much easier working with the PACKZ PDF Editor. Even though we did, of course, take a short period of time getting used to the new system, that is completely normal. I was particularly impressed by the live objects in PACKZ: the application of complex print marks is now really child’s play!”

In order to automate the prepress processes to a greater extent and to increase the capacity of the existing team, a CLOUDFLOW environment was also established to provide departments with central access to production data, direct communication and distributed quality control.

Günter Merziger is satisfied with his decision. “Since the introduction of HYBRID PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW and its corresponding integration with our ERP system, we have been able to make many processes quicker, more efficient and more transparent. All in all, we now find that we need about a third of the time previously needed to move a job through prepress. This gives us the opportunity to handle a significantly higher volume of orders with our existing team.”

Apart from the technical aspects, cooperation was also an important factor for Hager Papprint. Maurice Cadet comments, “We wanted a partner with whom we could work constructively, transparently, and who would be prepared to take unbureaucratic and unconventional paths if necessary. During the joint implementation of PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW we noticed, time and again, that the chemistry with HYBRID Software simply fit the bill.”

As a next step, Hager Papprint customers will become directly involved in the process.

Profile:

Family business with a legacy since 1896
Today: medium-sized industrial company with full service offer
Offset printing company with focus on packaging
Many years of internal prepress
Made the switch from ArtPro/Nexus to PACKZ/CLOUDFLOW
https://www.hagerpapprint.de/

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Higher level of automation at 4Packaging

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 03 Nov 2020 14:59:44 +0000

(Freiburg, Germany) 4Packaging has installed HYBRID Software PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW to assure seamless communication between the 4Packaging MIS/ERP and a fast, efficient means to engrave gravure cylinders for their customers.

Starting as a family business back in 2000, 4Packaging is now a leading company in gravure and embossing tool manufacturing as well as in digital reproduction in Germany and South Africa.

Total Control

4Packaging’s production is controlled by a commercial and ERP/MIS production system (4POS) developed by their own IT team to track all their production jobs, which consists of over 140 gravure cylinders and 4 embossing forms per day. However, along with a successful ERP/MIS system, 4Packaging needed a world-class prepress production system to prepare artwork files and output them quickly for engraving whilst also being able to communicate seamlessly with their ERP/MIS system. They decided upon HYBRID Software’s PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW.

One of the reasons 4Packaging chose PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW was because of the improved efficiency the products would deliver. Especially beneficial for 4Packaging was PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW’s powerful TIFF output capabilities for gravure. Thanks to multi-threading, most of the power is harnessed straight through the power of their state-of-the-art server. Cylinder data can be created much more efficiently, and correction cycles are accelerated.

1. Gravure cylinders lined up at 4Packaging’s shop floor
2. Hell engraving line at work at 4Packaging
3. View of 4Packaging’s modern office building in Germany
4. CEO of 4Packaging, David Möller and CMO of HYBRID Software, Christopher Graf smile for the camera after their meeting in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
5. 4Packaging’s ultra modern production infrastructure

Switch to PDF

PACKZ, HYBRID Software’s PDF Editor, allows quick access to step and repeat tools with simultaneous work on forms, file launch and live file rendering. In fact, 4Packaging transformed their entire system to a PDF workflow.

PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW, HYBRID’s workflow server, form a seamless, integrated integration and allow prepress operators to be involved in the complete job production process. By combining the use of the two products, 4Packaging has built an efficient solution introducing workflow automation and increased manual work efficiency. For example, 4Packaging’s prepress operators no longer need to search for files, as the workflow intelligently supplies the file to them at just the right moment in the process.

In addition, the CLOUDFLOW Packzflow Option provides prepress features that are completely driven by job ticket information. Packzflow effortlessly relocates a job’s order information from the MIS/ERP directly into production information. This information can also allow the system to prepare files before they are manually edited.

David Möller says: “We are always searching for new options to assure the best quality available on the market. Thus, why we made the switch to HYBRID Software. By using their workflow automation software CLOUDFLOW, we can achieve a higher level of automation in our processes and a lower error rate. What´s more, our highly-qualified operators can focus on more complex steps of the orders. PACKZ allows us to prepare delivered data for the printing process and avoid errors caused by file conversions. From now on, we will only be working with common PDF files in which fonts and images are embedded automatically.”

“When you look at the way we have built CLOUDFLOW, a function and its API call have often been developed before its user interface,” reports Christopher Graf, HYBRID Software’s Chief Marketing Officer. “This makes the API very robust, as our developers are using it, from the first step.” That´s why the API comes with such an extensive set of features. Thanks to the API, the 4Packaging IT team can invent new solutions to relieve the operators from some or all of the workload. In fact, after a few weeks of team training and coaching with HYBRID Software Solution Architects, the development team of 4Packaging had already begun building a number of their own new, clever solutions.

Through this cooperation between 4Packaging and HYBRID Software engineers—and a powerful API—a fast, seamless, successful working prepress solution has been put into place that, along with the 4Packaging in-house MIS/ERP, is unlike any other.

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Jupiter Prestige Group enhances process automation with HYBRID Software

Maryam Al-Haddad — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 09:00:21 +0000

(Gent, Belgium) Jupiter Prestige Group (JPG), the global packaging graphics specialist whose European HQ is in Essex, UK, has licensed PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW from HYBRID Software to standardise workflows and enhance process automation across their global studios.

PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW, are installed at three production hubs in the UK, Hong Kong and United States after extensive pilot projects and are in use by more than 250 staff members worldwide.

“HYBRID’s CLOUDFLOW system allowed us to retire multiple legacy production applications and implant a unified framework that provides the foundation to develop further innovative solutions that benefit us and ultimately our customers.” Says Mark White, JPG’s managing director.

“The life cycle of each file has become more efficient at all stages through our production studios. We now control our internal approve cycles behind the scenes removing the latency from production, the status of each file is fed back into our internal management information system automatically so everyone from management to the operators know exactly where and at what stage a task or project is at instantly.”

In addition to licensing PACKZ, the native PDF prepress production tool designed for labels and packaging, JPG has licensed multiple CLOUDFLOW modules – Workspace, Packzflow and Proofscope.

CLOUDFLOW is a modular system that has allowed JPG to link their internal management information system ‘The Hub’ with the CLOUDFLOW system via a custom-built API. This allows JPG to drive data straight from their project teams directly into the CLOUDFLOW system and automate tasks. By automating these tasks JPG has improved efficiency and quality control, taking human error out of the equation.

“The Proofscope module is a big hit for our teams”, adds White. “This product forms part of our internal approval cycles. It allows a streamlined paperless quality control process within production between our Artworkers and QC operators, using just a few simple clicks. Proofscope has great mark-up tools allowing our QC operators to communicate amendments back to our artwork teams effectively through our internal management information system.”

JPG says it chose to replace its internally developed workflow scripts with software from HYBRID because their solutions seemed to be more streamlined, intuitive and intelligent than the other products they researched, as well as being priced more realistically so commercially more competitive. “The team at HYBRID really look after their customers and their support teams are amazing when it comes to providing solutions, which gave us the confidence to move ahead and choose them as a partner”. Added White.

END

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PACKZ 6.0 released

Maryam Al-Haddad — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 10:03:06 +0000

(Gent, Belgium) Accompanying this release, anticipating customers gain access to a new world of automation at their fingertips. Packed with AI automations, this new version boasts a revamped user interface, extended complementary warping solutions and more.

HYBRID Software customers around the globe have one thing in common, no matter the company size, the material they print on, or the customers they serve: it is important that packaging printing businesses continue increasing efficiencies to meet changing demands.

PACKZ 6.0 leads the way in automation giving customers time saving benefits and a higher success rate while completely sweeping away repetitive tasks from their workflows.

Architect of PACKZ and HYBRID’S Chief Operating Officer Patrick Coussement shares that “in the prepress world, we understand that operators have their own ways of working. Instead of forcing PACKZ users to do things our way, HYBRID Software has worked hard to provide flexibility so every PACKZ user feels comfortable using our software. Since the first versions of PACKZ, users could already personalize the interface. With the new Pactions in PACKZ 6.0, they can now also personalize the functionality and tools, which leads to a higher level of productivity and performance.”

1. Pactions completes repetitive tasks
2. PACKZ Nebula interface with Pactions workstation automation
3. AI gangs label or packaging designs on quantity and outputs print-ready impositions
4. Bottleneck labels and cups created with PACKZ Conical Warp

Pactions brings automation to the workstation
PACKZ can now record and edit series of routine tasks and store them as Pactions. The Pactions can be played back at any time on the entire design, a selection or as part of a custom tool. PACKZ’s automated action lists can also be seamlessly merged with CLOUDFLOW Packzflow automation on the server.

Pascal Wybo, Product Manager of PACKZ shares that, “in order to succeed in a highly competitive label and packaging supply chain, companies are constantly looking for opportunities to improve the productivity of their prepress operations. HYBRID Software fulfills this need and accelerates the relentless pace of automation by offering complementary Pactions.”

Nebula user interface is out of this world
PACKZ 6.0 comes with a redesigned user interface, called Nebula. Hereby, HYBRID Software aligns the PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW user interface, but above all the 6.0 version contributes to an even more positive user experience. Interplays between technologies are crucial to companies’ sustainable success. With PDF/x-4 the packaging industry will benefit in their transition from classic to digital printing technologies, or when having to supply ready for print designs. Text is intertwined with almost any label and packaging design and to better serve our customers PACKZ 6.0 now commands Arabic and Hebrew phrases with the improved text processing tools.

Continued improvements in VDP
The digital press explosion in packaging has experienced a strong growth in variable data printing. HYBRID Software brought the amazing award winning VDP technology to the market, and continues to develop the market leading tools with version 6. The VDP allows for the populating of executed variable data into repetitions, and automating of lead in and out for digital finishing and rewind equipment.

Increased productivity and AI with Packzimizer
HYBRID Software’s Packzimizer is a module for PACKZ 6.0 in which AI gangs label or packaging designs on quantity and outputs print-ready impositions for web-fed presses. Packzimizer will reduce down-time, increasing productivity, and can be driven from a CSV, thus linked to a MIS or enterprise business solution. The new AI algorithm also lends itself to creating concise and predictable cost estimation and production planning processes.

Step and repeat extended capabilities
The step and repeat technology has been extended with push-button separation masking for staggered flexible packaging plates. It allows repetitions to be mounted on a cylinder in a seamless way simply by positioning the seam in between the printable objects. The entire process conforms with the ISO 19593-1 processing steps and can be exported to a CFF2 for use on cutting tables. PACKZ Cutting Line Definition will work together with CLOUDFLOW RIP and Tectonics Flexo Production Pack.

Conical warping added to standard PACKZ licenses
A bottleneck label adds an intriguing element to the overall look of a bottle, while personalized cups offer a unique way to serve beverages at special events. The Conical, Numeric and Cup Grid Creation together with Conical Warp will be added to the Standard PACKZ license, starting with PACKZ 6.0. The Live 3D rendering stays an option. All grid creation and warping solutions remain optional in Stepz 6.0.

HYBRID Software is excited for the release of version 6.0, as it has more automations and innovations that will help our customers save time and resources. Discover more about PACKZ at https://www.packz.com/.

END

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HYBRID Software continues on the winning track

Melanie Graf — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 11:16:20 +0000

29 September 2020 – (Gent, Belgium) HYBRID Software, a software development company focused on innovative packaging prepress productivity tools, announces it has met a significant business milestone, recording its 999th, 1000th, and 1001st customers. Tempo Plastics, delo and NSD have recently installed HYBRID Software products in their facilities, joining other HYBRID Software customers—users who work with more than 3,500 PACKZ licenses and 850 CLOUDFLOW installations on a daily basis.

“As can be seen with our three latest HYBRID Software customers, there are many diverse reasons why companies choose to work with us,” says Guido Van der Schueren, Chairman, HYBRID Software. “That said, they all share one desire: a need to work with a company that is willing to become more than a vendor—but a partner.”

Customized tracking systems at Tempo Plastics Limited
Tempo Plastics Limited, based in Innisfil, Ontario Canada and celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year, manufactures over one million packages every day. A manufacturer of flexographic printed flexible packaging, Tempo Plastics produces pouches, polybags, and rollstock solutions for a wide range of markets. Most recently, they have launched an environmental product line focusing on recyclable flexible pouches and rollstock.

HYBRID Software and Tempo Plastic Limited’s work together began when they were looking for an innovative software supplier to develop and integrate a solution to connect to their production systems as well as all their job stakeholders. More specifically, they needed a customizable online system to manage external approvals and to track internal production processes.

“Like many companies in the labels and packaging market, Tempo Plastics faced challenges that sometimes cannot be resolved with out-of-the box solutions,” explains Dino Loiselle, HYBRID Sales Manager for Canada. “Because of the nature of their business, Tempo Plastics’ specific processes, methodologies and existing systems were supplied by a number of different manufacturers.”

“In order for us to be successful, it was crucial that our proposed solution could be integrated in the shortest period of time possible—and at a price that would generate a substantial return on investment for Tempo Plastics,” remarks Mike Agness, Executive Vice President of HYBRID Software for the Americas. “We created a CLOUDFLOW configuration for Tempo Plastics that delivers exactly that, providing a hybrid platform which leverages market standard file formats and customizable interfaces. It efficiently connects people to their systems.”

A customer communication and file management platform for delo
Based in Lohne, Germany, delo is a historic player in the packaging foil and foil wrapping industry, operating the largest flexographic printing plant in Europe. Founded in 1961, delo has more than 1000 customers. Its 300 employees work in a production and warehouse space of over 50,000 square meters. In alignment with their motto, ‘growing together’, every year delo accounts for over 600 million meters of flexible packaging that is extruded, printed, laminated and packaged.

As part of their digitalization initiative, delo chose HYBRID Software as their partner. delo’s project priority was building a communication platform to allow its customers to manage files and data. HYBRID Software was happy to be involved in this project, as workflow automation can save significant time and resources.

When asked how the features of PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW benefit customers like delo, Christopher Graf, Chief Marketing Officer of HYBRID Software, comments, “Constant innovation and HYBRID’s open product standards ensure substantial productivity gains, maximum production quality, and the growth of our customers.”

A more efficient prepress system at NSD International
NSD International in Scotland traces its roots back to 1976 as an experienced supplier and in-house producer of self-adhesive labeling solutions. As a full range supplier, NSD serves a versatile market. NSD International offers complete concepts for labels, stickers, and tags, and delivers secured printing of scratch cards, entrance tickets, badges, coupons, savings stamps, stickers with holograms, and plastics printed in full color offset. The company is capable of printing on any kind of paper, foil, and other materials—with a variety of inks and folding required.

Located in what was previously the Simpson Label Company in Dalkeith, about 12 kilometers from Edinburgh, NSD International has invested in PACKZ software for PDF preflighting and editing in its company studio. Martin Miller, NSD Operations Manager, shares that the overarching factor for switching to PACKZ was its ability to “shorten our design and prepress times significantly and automate our digital workflow.”

A deciding factor for NSD was “Our labels can typically utilise multiple colours, and include foils, embossing and varnish—and often with variable data numbering for casks and bottles,” describes Miller. “Our business model relies on agility and adding value by providing our premium brand drinks customers quick and agile supplies of highly sophisticated labels.” After investing into two additional graphic designers to strengthen their staff, NSD is ready to begin working with PACKZ.

“HYBRID Software is proud to be a very viable option for companies looking to build—or renovate—their packaging prepress production automation processes,” concludes Van der Schueren. “We have a wide range of needs among our 1,000 customers that demonstrates our ability to succeed in just about any use case. We have always welcomed the challenge to partner with new companies and implement demanding prepress systems.”

Those companies that wish to be among the second thousand HYBRID Software global installations are welcome to visit www.hybridsoftware.com.

END

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Global Graphics – Lucky 13 for the new release of the Harlequin RIP

Melanie Graf — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 11:10:24 +0000

Industry’s fastest RIP adds new features for large scale output such as décor, textiles and corrugated packaging

Cambridge, UK, 8 September 2020: Innovative new features, including automatic tiling for processing large scale output at high speed, and extended Advanced Inkjet Screens, for enhanced image quality, are introduced in a major new release of the Harlequin RIP^® today by developers Global Graphics Software. Harlequin Host Renderer 13 raises the bar in terms of productivity features for print service providers and provides new options to press manufacturers for scaling multiple RIPs for high performance digital front ends.

Version 13 of the Harlequin Host Renderer, the printing industry’s fastest RIP, adds automatic tiling to maximize the throughput of huge PDF, TIFF and JPEG files such as those generated in the corrugated packaging, wide and grand format, décor and textile markets. Harlequin 13 automatically tiles these large pages – some can be up to 200 meters/650 feet long – to split them across multiple RIPs for increased speed and improved load balancing.

Output is continuously streamed to the printer so that print service providers don’t have to wait for the entire page to be RIPped before printing can begin. This new feature minimizes RAM requirements and costs for a digital front end (DFE) processing very large output.

“The new tiling feature is specifically for high-speed digital printing”, says Martin Bailey, Global Graphics Software’s CTO. “Automatic tiling helps in maximizing throughput by splitting the output across several RIPs. It also reduces the cost for a DFE built to handle huge PDF pages, either every day or as an occasional occurrence, because the peak memory usage for a tile can be much lower than that for the whole page.

“Speed continues to be a key focus of Harlequin development, because a faster RIP enables presses with very high data rates to be driven at engine speed and reduces the bill of materials for a digital front end (DFE) or controller.”

Version 13 also introduces many other features including:

Direct printing of PNG files, an important file type in some sectors of wide format and product decoration, in addition to PDF, PostScript, EPS, TIFF, JPEG etc. Consistent color management and halftone screening can be added for all input formats using a common API.
Enhanced controls over sizing of output from image file formats such as TIFF, JPEG and PNG where the image does not specify a size.
Extended Advanced Inkjet Screens (AIS) with the introduction of Opal; especially good at mitigating artifacts when inkjet printing on absorbent substrates at higher resolutions. AIS increase the perceived quality, and therefore saleability, of inkjet prints, and can enable the use of lower cost substrates.
Extended support for larger DFEs, scaling from a single RIP instance, through multiple RIPs on the same server, to multiple RIPs on each of multiple servers.

The Harlequin Host Renderer (HHR) is supplied as a component or pre-packaged with a parallel processing pipeline as Harlequin Direct to enable OEMs to achieve the fastest possible time to market and to revenue while building a highly sophisticated and high quality DFE for a high-speed digital press.

It’s the print engine at the heart of the industry’s highest performing digital presses in products from vendors including Roland DG, Durst, HP Indigo and HP PageWide, powering their entire fleet.

Michael Deflorian, business developer at Durst Professional Services, says “HHR – including screening capabilities – is one of the key technologies for our promise to get the best out of the printer as part of our “pixel-to-output strategy”. We share the same vision of industry-leading quality and performance with Global Graphics. We work closely with the Global Graphics team to provide our customers with the best technology available.”

Roland DG’s VersaWorks 6 RIP software is used across all current models of its printers and printer/cutters. Mr. Motohiro Ikemura, R&D general manager, Roland DG Digital Printing Business Division, said, “We integrated the Harlequin engine into our RIP software in only 6 months thanks to the cooperation between Global Graphics and our engineering teams. Its performance is outstanding and, because it processes PDF and PostScript natively, it handles files with ease. Support for PDF 2.0 was also an important factor to future proof our workflow,” Motohiro said. “Since we see more and more use of transparencies in customer jobs, Harlequin’s ability to process transparencies natively speeds up production time and reduces waste media. VersaWorks 6 recently added an important new ‘Job Assistant’function that allows customers to automatically add cut contour lines for PDF design data without returning to the design software.”

“Harlequin Host Renderer has been powering our CLOUDFLOW RIP now for more than 5 years”, Nick De Roeck, CTO of HYBRID Software explains. “HYBRID has a clear focus on the packaging and labels market, both for digital and conventional printing. The HHR has given us the flexibility to add our packaging know-how on top of a super solid HHR product. I am very excited with the continued innovation on the product, and our customers will benefit greatly from this lucky version 13, as it RIPs even faster on packaging files, all the while reducing the amount of hardware resources required.” HYBRID will add version 13 to its upcoming CLOUDFLOW release 20.10.

“The Harlequin RIP platform has been used in the Elan since its initial release,” comments Richard Lee, CEO of Delphax Solutions. “It was selected primarily due to its quality and performance characteristics. Since that time, the RIP’s performance and has increased further, and become more feature rich, which has helped reduce the associated hardware costs required to drive our high-performance devices. Coupled with the support provided by the entire team at Global Graphics, this has easily justified the decision to have not only the Harlequin platform, but also the Global Graphics team, as a key part of our range of high speed inkjet digital production presses both today and into the future.”

Harlequin Host Renderer is supported on 32- and 64-bit Microsoft Windows, 64-bit Linux and Mac OS.

Download the latest product brochure here https://www.globalgraphics.com/products/harlequin.

Ends

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Global Graphics powers Miyakoshi’s high-speed digital press

Melanie Graf — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 11:06:53 +0000

Japanese manufacturer looks to roll out Global Graphics’ technology across all digital presses

Cambridge, UK 18 August 2020: Global Graphics^® Software has licensed Fundamentals to Miyakoshi Printing Machinery Co. Ltd. to create a new software engine for the Miyakoshi MJP20AXW high-speed, high-resolution digital press for commercial and transactional applications. The new engine will be available in presses launched at the end of this year and Miyakoshi plans to adopt it across its entire digital fleet.

The Miyakoshi MJP20AXW is a four colour duplex press which will operate at 160meters/min and 1200dpi resolution. The new engine will be driven by Fundamentals which bundles together Harlequin^® Direct from the new Direct graphics pipeline announced by Global Graphics in April this year with PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW from Global Graphics’ partner company, HYBRID Software. The result is a powerful pipeline that links together seamlessly all the processes in the print production workflow from job submission through to delivering data directly to the Miyakoshi print head electronics.

Global Graphics’ Technical Services team is working alongside Miyakoshi engineers on the project.

END

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HYBRID Software formula for success: F ~ i4.0 * C2

Melanie Graf — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 10:58:52 +0000

HYBRID Software’s—and their customers’—futures are based on the latest, innovative technology multiplied by extreme customer care

16 June 2020 – (Gent, Belgium) HYBRID Software understands that the successes of its customers rely on advanced technologies in combination with exceptional service and care. On the day that was scheduled to open drupa 2020, HYBRID Software has introduced a number of new revolutionary features to its product line of automated production workflow, advanced editing, customizable job ticketing, customer-facing e-commerce portals and version control for critical production files.

“The way we see it, our future is dependent upon the latest, innovative technologies multiplied by extreme customer care: customer squared. We all face a common challenge—the need for connectivity and access to real-time insights. Industry 4.0 focuses on machine and software interconnectivity, which links physical production with smart digital technologies. It lets us serve all our customers on the packaging supply chain—the marriage of technology and customer care,” notes Guido Van der Schueren, Chairman of HYBRID Software. “It means that while our future is reliant upon technology, we must take care of our customers. This will be particularly important during the post COVID-19 restart—and HYBRID is offering new solutions that will do just that.”

PACKZ 6.0: Prepress production, automated and easier for digital and flexo

HYBRID Software has released announced PACKZ 6.0, the latest version of the powerful native PDF prepress production tool designed for labels and packaging. This step change has undergone a metamorphosis with a new user interface and fascinating new features, which include:

Pactions, with revolutionary automation, lets PACKZ record and edit series of routine tasks, and store them as action lists. These Pactions can be played back any time, acting on an entire design, a selection, or as part of a custom tool. Pactions can be seamlessly merged with CLOUDFLOW Packzflow automation on the server.
Packzimizer automatically and optimally imposes designs based on job information such as quantity or substrate, for output on digital presses. Advanced decorating with Live Objects completes the imposition. Layout reports can be generated for MIS and ERP systems.
VDP Execute and Boosters: The PACKZ variable data printing solution lets label and packaging converters augment designs with variable text, varying colors and images, numbers and barcodes. The VDP Execute option combines static and variable design elements in optimized PDF layouts, outputting at lightning fast speeds to any digital press.
PDF X-4 support: To increase the security of file exchange between the different stakeholders in the production chain, PACKZ can now export this widely accepted industry standard.

With Stepz 6.0, HYBRID Software now offers a separate, entry-level version of their award-winning PACKZ product. Its reduced feature set is designed for quick implementation and ease of use; specifically useful for digital print. Stepz is also available with a useful set of optional feature extensions, such as expanded step-and-repeat or variable data printing.

CLOUDFLOW: Enterprise server applications deliver global quality and efficiency

With more than 750 installations, CLOUDFLOW server software for file and asset management, soft proofing, and workflow automation has been updated with new features.

Tectonics software saves flexo plate material, reduces waste, and optimizes the use of flexo CTP devices by optimizing the layout of jobs. As a result, the software has a typical return on investment within the first six months.
Intelligent Flexo: While digital print gets much attention, flexo is still considered the most important packaging print technology. HYBRID has worked with industry partners to improve quality in a repeatable, automated way—independent of CTP brand or plate vendor. The technology analyzes customer feedback, applies years of R&D, and arrives at solutions that deliver measurable quality flexo improvement. Quality is key.
VDP (Variable Data Printing): A prime application for digital printing and an InterTech Technology Awardrecipient, the VDP PDF document structure has been optimized to work seamlessly and quickly on existing digital DFEs. Moreover, the Harlequin-based CLOUDFLOW RIP processes these jobs at lightning speeds, taking full advantage of customers’ investments in digital presses.

HYBRID Software has developed tools and technologies to facilitate deployment and management of its technology across many global sites and companies, large and small.
For many of these, HYBRID Software applications facilitate links to ERP or MIS systems.

HYBRID’s Share file exchange technology helps enterprises exchange files across company sites. The technology is linked to CLOUDFLOW and successfully deployed at many customer sites. With Share as part of a business workflow, printers can eliminate ad-hoc ftp or third party file sharing applications.
Mars configuration management lets companies define sets of workflows that are versioned and managed in a repository. They can be authored centrally and automatically distributed across a group. Managing workflows and UIs, scaled over many sites, suddenly becomes much easier.
Nebula, the new CLOUDFLOW user interface, is modern and structured, with new benefits like improved customizability and fewer clicks to get work done.
With MyCloudflow, HYBRID Software’s Software as a Service (SaaS), printers and converters can utilize the public cloud on Amazon. It lets users perform on-demand document sharing, soft-proofing, and variable data printing.

HYBRID Software technology works with more and more industry applications.

CLOUDFLOW has direct support for many popular digital devices and software systems. New connections include: Xeikon ThermoflexX has chosen HYBRID as OEM partner for its new ThermoflexX Catena flexo plate imagers. HYBRID Tectonics helps optimize flexo plates; new drivers for EyeC, GlobalVision and BST eltromat qualityassurance and inspection systems help improve process automation; HYBRID Software’s Datalink module uses a pre-configured connector to bridge the gap between CERM or Label Traxx MIS and CLOUDFLOW.

For more information about the new, innovative HYBRID Software tools, please visit www.hybridsoftware.com.

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Global Graphics – Full speed ahead to accelerate your variable print productivity

Melanie Graf — Wed, 13 May 2020 10:49:44 +0000

New independent guide contains tips and tricks for all involved in variable data printing

13 May 2020 – Everyone in the digital print supply chain can speed the production of variable data printing (VDP) jobs thanks to a new independent guide to the “dos and don’ts” of optimizing PDF files for the fastest, most efficient processing by digital front ends (DFEs).

‘Full Speed Ahead: How to make variable data PDF files that won’t slow your digital press’ is a concise guide published today that provides objective information and advice to anyone with a stake in VDP: graphic designers, print buyers, production managers, press operators, owners of PSPs, and developers of digital presses and composition tools. The free guide is edited by Martin Bailey, chief technology officer for Global Graphics and the primary UK expert to the ISO committees that maintain and develop PDF and PDF/VT. A number of leading vendors and supporters in the VDP sector have sponsored the guide, including HP Indigo, WhatTheyThink!, Digimarc, Delphax Solutions, Racami, Kodak, HYBRID Software and HP PageWide Industrial.

The impact of poorly constructed PDF files on production schedules has increased as press resolution, colorant count, speed and width rise, greatly increasing the data rate required to drive them.

This increase in data places additional demands on the processing power of the DFE and risks slowing down the digital press: a delay of half a second on every page of a 10,000-page job adds 90 minutes to the whole job, while for a job of a million pages an extra tenth of a second per page adds 24 hours to the total processing time.

In parallel the range of print sectors taking advantage of variable data printing has also grown significantly. VDP has been introduced into wide format, labels and packaging and into some areas of industrial print for décor, textiles, product decoration, and ID cards. Regulation has increased requirements for the tracking of high-value goods and pharmaceuticals. Incorporating unique identifiers in the packaging of those products in a variety of overt and covert ways is partly addressed by using variable data printing.

Martin Bailey says the main aim of the guide is to “provide practical recommendations that help ensure that VDP jobs don’t slow down the print production workflow, without affecting the visual appearance that the brand owner, buyer or marketeer is trying to achieve. If every label, page, carton or tee shirt is different at least some of every instance must be rendered, color managed, half-tone screened and delivered from the DFE to the inkjet heads at engine speed … and that’s a lot of data. If everyone in the chain works together to optimize VDP PDF jobs, processing is much more efficient because presses are kept running and jobs will be delivered on time.”

The content of the guide is organized so that readers can easily find concise, practical and, importantly, actionable information relevant to their role in VDP projects. Illustrations, photos and explanatory diagrams together with examples of real print jobs help to explain the issues clearly. An early chapter provides useful definitions of the different types of variable data explaining the difference between trackable and traceable, unique and personalized. Other chapters cover “What file formats are used for delivering VDP?” “Who is responsible for optimizations?” and “Technologies for printing variable data.” The content then provides more technical detail in a chapter called “Making efficient PDF files” covering topics including optimizing images (for example, by ensuring that images are not placed with excessively high effective resolution) and optimizing transparency.

Richard Lee, the CEO of Delphax Solutions, states: “The need for clear communication on best practices for PDF creation is key to a smooth workflow process and something that we see required on a regular basis across our installed base. Our customers do not always design the documents that they print, and often receive files from many different sources, and not all of them are familiar with PDF creation for print. Even with powerful RIP platforms, this can cause issues with recreation (in print) of the design intent, poor document design for personalization, missing or incorrect resources, all of which can affect delivery times and bottom lines. Having another tool such as this guide to offer our customer base and wider network will benefit not only our customers directly, but allows them to communicate and support their end-customers, strengthen their relationships, and ensure everyone is educated in the foundations of digital workflows for print.”

“We live in a world of short-run, high-volume print production with fast turnaround from order to delivery. When the press is running, sellable content is being created. Stopping, or even slowing down, because of bad PDF content is revenue lost,” explains Tom Bouman, worldwide workflow product marketing manager, HP PageWide Industrial.

Randy Vandagriff, senior vice president print & vice president, Eastman Kodak says “With variable data printing being used for everything from credit card bills and bank statements to direct mail flyers and personalized catalogues, creating efficient files has never been more important. This guide is full of practical tips for the beginner and advanced operators alike.”

“Variable data printing is gaining more traction as brands and retailers look for new ways to personalize consumer engagement or enable item level tracking,” said Scott Wilcox, VP Client Services for Digimarc. “Best practices like those described in ‘Full Speed Ahead’ empower Digimarc’s customers and partners to efficiently produce connected package and print experiences, fight counterfeiting and diversion, and enable automatic identification and data capture across the supply chain.”

HYBRID Software’s CTO, Nick De Roeck, added, “This guide will provide advice to the whole industry, from designers and brand owners to manufacturers and print providers. Our customers look to HYBRID to produce PDF files containing variable data that will not slow down their expensive digital presses, and these guidelines provide practical advice to make this possible.”

Eyal Raz, DFE product manager for HP Indigo, adds “There is a saying in Hebrew that translates as… ‘Appetite comes with the food’ which is to say that very often, trying something for the first time brings an appetite for more. And the same goes with variable data printing. We see that brands and customers have an increased appetite for ideas, tools and capabilities – in particular when it comes to variable data printing. Our goal is to provide the full set of tools and know-how to meet the need, included clear, detailed instructions to put them in action. I am convinced that those who follow the guidelines as suggested here, will see a higher return of investment – and get the most out from the press and workflow as well as enjoying the full creativity of the prepress process.”

Further industry support for the guide

“Personalization in marketing communication and packaging is growing rapidly to support demographic and population segment demands. Whether it is for the sake of targeted marketing or security, understanding how to use variable data printing to support these requirements is critical. This guide is a great primer for anyone who needs to design and produce to these new requirements and breaks down what can be done and how to do it.” Dave Zwang, Zwang.com

“The whole area of digital printing – using both toner and inkjet technologies – has evolved into the mainstream printing markets and new investment is coming close to dominating the world of label printing of the future. All of this would not have been possible without a whole range of new high-tech companies emerging over the past 30 or 40 years to take the industry rapidly forward. Companies involved in digital printing technologies, design, graphics, prepress, management information systems, workflow, file transfer, and much more, that both individually and together have so successfully transformed the VDP market. I’ve little doubt that this new, updated guide will also enjoy ongoing success in continuing to ring all those involved in VDP workflow ever close together, and therefore ensure that the industry stays at the forefront of VDP innovation for many years to come.” Mike Fairley, Founder, Label Academy

“The next level of adoption for some packaging will be for variable data… every package being unique. Moving to this level of implementation will require even more automation and integration of hardware, software and processes all through the packaging supply chain. The complexity of such implementations will require a great deal of cooperation and tools that aid in that cooperation will be extremely valuable. I commend Global Graphics for having the foresight and initiative to develop such a tool and for having Martin Bailey author it.” Kevin Karstedt, CEO, Karstedt Partners LLC.

“Today’s graphics business is about delivering high quality data to the page as fast as possible. It’s about marrying efficient data processing with superb output quality control in a fully automated print workflow. The new Global Graphics guide to Optimizing PDF for Variable Data Printing offers recommendations to maximise variable data delivery, whilst optimising digital press performance, including output quality and speed.” Laurel Brunner, Consultant and trade journalist

“In theory, there are many ways to design for a particular visual effect. In practice, not all will deliver the target results in production. This guide helps designers to understand how their choices impact efficient and accurate reproduction in a variable environment, without restraining creative opportunities. Hats off to Martin Bailey and Global Graphics.” Elizabeth Gooding, Co-founder Inkjet Insight and Co-author of The Designer’s Guide to Inkjet.

To download a free copy of “Full Speed Ahead: how to make variable data PDF files that won’t slow your digital press” go to www.globalgraphics.com/full-speed-ahead

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O-I : EXPRESSIONS invests in HYBRID Software CLOUDFLOW and PACKZ for personalised glass packaging

Melanie Graf — Tue, 28 Apr 2020 10:46:58 +0000

28 April 2020 – (Gent, Belgium) Consumers are demanding sustainable, safe and healthy packaging. However, marketing and design are still very important. With the help of HYBRID Software’s CLOUDFLOW and PACKZ, O-I : EXPRESSIONS is building highly personalized, distinctive and beautiful glass packaging, building brands and driving consumer interest.

O-I : EXPRESSIONS, a service provided by O-I Glass Inc. (O-I) creates new marketing opportunities for brands through customization and personalization by sculpting glass bottles into multi-dimensional works of art, enabled by digital printing. They enable brands to create this packaging at flexible volumes, industrial speeds, and good value, with an unprecedented range of color and design possibilities, compared to traditional decoration solutions. O-I : EXPRESSIONS RELIEF, a premium offering, adds customized tactile effects, such as clear and color embossing.

A year and a half ago, when O-I : EXPRESSIONS began developing digital designing for glass packaging, their mandate was to collaborate with all their customers and employees within one multi-device platform—simple to use without requiring hours of training. O-I : EXPRESSIONS transitioned from a legacy paper-based system to a digital one, with the help of HYBRID Software’s flexible platform. There are no longer paper and exchanges of email, and fewer customer sales representative (CSR) calls. Using HYBRID CLOUDFLOW, O-I : EXPRESSIONS can leverage a cloud service and integrate new people into the system wherever they are within a day. A customer could be in Germany, the CSR in the UK, and production in France. They have online, two-way collaboration.

With HYBRID PACKZ, designers focus more on design, and less on repetitive tasks such as trapping, imposition, and color management. With a native PDF file format workflow decision makers can easily view a file, review it, and approve it before production.

With the new digital system, O-I: EXPRESSIONS can quickly create many different designs for review. They may not have empirical evidence of improved productivity yet, but their designers are managing an exponential increase of work. Meanwhile, others in the organization can learn how a colleague completed an interesting project elsewhere. Everyone will be able to see any project, have a backup, and receive 24/7 graphics design services. Customer assistance will be global.

“Variable data is a key feature in digital printing. My focus is the people. The technology lets our people add value,” explains Apostolos Pratos, Global Sales & Marketing Digital Transformation Leader. “For example, we have done some work sending car owners a personalized gift with their names. That was a small, manual project. We prefer an automated system. With HYBRID CLOUDFLOW and PACKZ, O-I : EXPRESSIONS designers can focus more on design, and less on the repetitive things.”

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HYBRID Software’s CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner receives coveted 2020 FTA Technical Innovation Award

Melanie Graf — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 10:43:36 +0000

22 April 2020 – (Gent, Belgium) HYBRID Software is pleased to announce that its web-based CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner solution for patching flexo plates—particularly in conjunction with automatic mounting systems—has been awarded a 2020 FTA Technical Innovation Award. For more than 20 years, the FTA Technical Innovation Award has recognized the most innovative and impactful technologies for the ever-evolving package printing and converting industry. HYBRID Software captured the honor in the Prepress-Graphics category.

Flexo plates are very expensive. When producing a corrugated box, it is not unusual that only a tiny area is printed, even though the box and plates themselves may be large. Manually, a great deal of work was required to avoid imaging large flexo plates with very few graphics. CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner is a web-based production tool, particularly for corrugated plates, that separates printed elements in the design file and consolidates and optimizes them to take up the least amount of image space, minimizing plate material use. The cutting pattern is sent to a cutting table and, at times, a MOM XML file is delivered to an automatic mounting device.

CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner is unique in a number of ways: a pure PDF workflow, a browser based application using HTML5, and ties to MIS. Using HTML5, it can uniquely work in a distributed world available to anyone, no matter where they are in the world, rather than physically working from the workstation where an app is installed, one user at a time. And, because companies can set all their preferences, everyone is operating under the same, standardized set of rules.

Many of the CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner setup processes are automated, along with capturing all the actual patch reports to calculate job costs. This information can be uniquely sent to MIS/accounting for billing and future estimates. Even sales people can import PDF art files into CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner, patch the job, determine the amount of plate material that will be used, and provide an estimate at the customer’s site, almost instantaneously.

Most important, it’s an open, native PDF system. CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner accepts print-ready PDF files from all standard graphics applications and separates multi-color PDFs into individual separations for patch planning. Because other applications input rasterized TIFF files, any distortions could result in rounding up or down inaccuracies prior to mounting. This is not a problem with one or two-color jobs where registration might not be as important, but is critical for 4-8 color jobs.

CLOUDFLOW Patchplanner helps mount plates faster because users can add extra sets of marks—for example, user-definable marks, such as configuring the distance from ink edge to patch mark placement; not possible with other similar applications—where there are tight trap areas, and clip them out before the plate goes to press.

HYBRID Software recently decided to include Patchplanner into the Flex Production Pack of its new Tectonics product, which saves flexo plate material and optimizes the use of flexo CTP devices. The software allows flexo customers to automatically optimize job layouts, reduce waste and optimize CTP usage. The combination of Patchplanner and Tectonics features—at the same price—is of huge benefit for flexo platemakers.

HYBRID Software is thrilled to receive the FTA Technical Innovation award in the Prepress – Graphics category,” exclaims Guido Van der Schueren, Chairman of HYBRID Software. “It supports our view that there is certainly room to improve existing prepress solutions in the market. We believe that the underlying PDF and HTML5 foundations of CLOUDFLOW and PACKZ from HYBRID Software provide opportunities for greater flexibility for the applications themselves. And, it allows much more flexibility for the operators who, for example, in the ‘new normal’ can do all their work from the comfort of their homes.”

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HYBRID Software announces the release of STEPZ 5.2

Melanie Graf — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 10:35:53 +0000

(Gent, Belgium) HYBRID Software is announcing the release of STEPZ 5.2, the latest version of its powerful, native PDF step & repeat desktop solution for digital label and package printing. Along with its strong variable data printing (VDP) capabilities, STEPZ 5.2 is a modular version from the PACKZ family, allowing its users to build up the complexity of the software when necessary. This simplified version of STEPZ 5.2 allows for a faster learning curve while at a much more attractive entry price.

STEPZ is a powerful tool which can augment high volumes of jobs, optionally with variable designs, text, numbers, and barcodes, translating data from data systems directly to a step & repeat layout. The new capabilities in version 5.2, based on feedback from a number of customers, have been praised for their ease of use, richness of features, and the efficiency and speed of file output.

The solution enables HP Indigo users to create step & repeat templates for their HP Indigo labels and packaging presses. HYBRID STEPZ works efficiently and quickly with the HP PrintOS Production Pro for Labels and Packaging digital front end (DFE). The DFE is based on Global Graphics’ Harlequin^® RIP; FUNDAMENTALS, which utilizes HYBRID CLOUDFLOW technology for digital label and packaging workflows; and HYBRID Software’s Label Layout Station for imposition. It is perfect for ultra-short runs and variable data printing. STEPZ is available to HP Indigo users for subscription or purchase via the HP PrintOS Marketplace.

Processing moves from desktop to server

Rather than at the press, VDP file development with STEPZ has always resided at prepress, where it belongs. To offer even more computing power, STEPZ 5.2 can process all VDP file variants from the desktop to a server level, if desired. The link to STEPZ is still accessible in CLOUDFLOW, making possible the most powerful VDP execution of output files yet. Users can build complete VDP files approximately eight times faster, compared to leaving the work at the desktop workstation.

STEPZ 5.2: Now available as a stand-alone solution

For those who prefer to operate STEPZ for its VDP capabilities alone, HYBRID Software is offering a standalone solution, providing customers the opportunity to handle high volume VDP jobs with a single, easy to use application. With its modern server architecture, STEPZ 5.2 optionally allows users to scale their processes if needed, and output any challenging amount of data with ease.

A number of new step & repeat features

STEPZ 5.2 also includes a number of new step & repeat production enhancements. There are upgrades for roll-to-roll applications as well as for sheetfed solutions. For example, users can now define the bleed distance of common flaps on cardboard folding boxes.

“PACKZ is our flagship product for sophisticated prepress work” explains Guido Van der Schueren, Chairman of HYBRID Software, “Based on this powerful technology, STEPZ now offers just the required tool set for digital printing preparation for a short learning curve and a quick introduction.”

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HYBRID Software launches Tectonics, an innovative new flexo production solution

Melanie Graf — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 10:31:37 +0000

1 April 2020 (Gent, Belgium) HYBRID is pleased to announce Tectonics, an innovative new Flexo production solution.

Tectonics is a brand-new application from HYBRID Software which saves Flexo plate material and optimizes the use of your Flexo CTP devices. The software allows Flexo customers to automatically optimize the layout of their jobs, reducewaste and optimize CTP usage. As a result, the software has a typical return-on-investment within the first six months.

Tectonics works flexibly with any brand of plate and CTP, and this year HYBRID has installed the software already with three customers across the globe.

“With digital printing taking central stage in many technology and product announcements, people tend to forget that Flexo printing is still a hugely relevant printing process in our industry”, Nick De Roeck CTO of HYBRID explains. “The Flexo printing process is well established, and suitable for many packaging applications. Many of our customers create or process Flexo plates for their customers. Our growth the last couple of years gave us access to many great companies doing a lot of work with Flexo.”

HYBRID believes that the Flexo space is in dire need of innovation.

“We identified a true lack of innovation in the Flexo space, and we believe that software could help these customers become more efficient and productive.”, says Nick De Roeck, “With Tectonics we listened to our customers, and acted upon their input to offer a new approach to creating and optimizing Flexo.”

Customers often have many different brands of CTP devices, plate suppliers and software solutions. HYBRID software understands the heterogeneous reality of the production floor, and works with customers on creating an application that allows to optimize plate material and device usage across different brands. This makes the HYBRID solution unique.

With the first production installations of Tectonics by customers around the world in progress, we are on track to provide a much-needed next step of automation to these customers. Ultimately, freedom of choice allows customers to go for best-of-breed hardware and software.

Tectonics is available as a standalone server application or as a module within HYBRID’s powerful CLOUDFLOW workflow software.

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HYBRID Software promises uninterrupted service to its customers, including free, temporary software licenses for those working at home

Melanie Graf — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 11:25:30 +0000

24 March 2020 – (Gent, Belgium) In light of the unprecedented global interruption to everyone’s daily lives, HYBRID Software has announced that while its priority is the safety of its community, staff will continue to be available for consultation. Also, in an attempt to prevent an interruption in its customers’ production, HYBRID Software is making available free temporary software licenses to any customer under maintenance who will be working from home.

“In my 45 years in the graphic arts industry, I have never been confronted with a crisis that emerged and escalated as quickly as the COVID-19 pandemic,” comments Guido Van der Schueren, Chairman, HYBRID Software. “In the spirit of partnership, HYBRID Software has reached out to all of its customers to explain our response to the crisis and how we will help our customers respond to this challenge.”

HYBRID Software’s action plan has a number of objectives. Of primary concern is the health and safety the company’s customers, employees, and partners—which includes acting responsibly and in compliance with all government guidelines to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Although most HYBRID Software employees could be working from home for the next few weeks—in compliance with official guidelines that have been issued in many countries—HYBRID Software intends to ensure business continuity for its customers by providing uninterrupted support and additional assistance; and to continue its development of innovative labels & packaging software solutions without interruption. HYBRID’s cloud-based infrastructure has always been designed to support its distributed global workforce—whether they working remotely or from the office. Customers should not experience any change to HYBRID’s response to support and licensing requests.

Office voicemails are being monitored, and customers are free to contact any HYBRID Software employee directly by mobile phone. Because customer visits for installations and demonstrations will be more difficult with travel restrictions in place, HYBRID Software will contact all customers with scheduled appointments to reconfirm plans or make alternative arrangements for remote installation and training.

Grateful for a flexible software platform that can be operated from home
HYBRID Software understands that COVID-19 presents challenges to its customers’ businesses. Therefore, because just about any HYBRID Software product can be used at home and seamlessly connected to the office, HYBRID Software is happy to offer temporary licenses for PACKZ or CLOUDFLOW, for the duration of the crisis at no cost to its customers. if any customer employees are working from home and need a license, they should reach out to the HYBRID Software sales or service teams.

“If HYBRID can do anything else to lessen the impact of COVID-19, I welcome customers to contact me at any time,” comments Van der Schueren “Together we will weather the storm and return to business as usual, as quickly as possible.”

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Hybrid Software outlines exciting plans for drupa 2024

Maryam Al-Haddad — Sun, 22 Mar 2020 08:57:46 +0000

Hybrid Software, the heartbeat of industrial printing and packaging, outlines exciting plans for drupa 2024 in a pre-conference press event.

The company presentation shared at the pre-drupa media conference can be downloaded here.

Commitment to Innovation
Hybrid Software announced several major new products and technologies that will be demonstrated at their stand during drupa. They include:

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Demo Registrations

The newest advancements in software provided as a service will also be announced: MyPACKZ and MyCLOUDFLOW offer unparalleled security, and efficiency – running in the Cloud and managed by HYBRID.

On showcase will be the brand-new brand color management software, Colorspace, which is embedded directly in customers’ favorite software tools PACKZ and CLOUDFLOW for a centralized workflow.

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Marsh Labels switches to PACKZ and VDP, and sees throughput increase

Melanie Graf — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 10:29:59 +0000

09. March 2020 – (UK, Nottingham,) Marsh Labels, the family-owned digital label printer in Brighton, is branching out since transitioning its prepress department to the PACKZ PDF Editor. PACKZ is the native PDF prepress production tool designed for labels & packaging and developed by HYBRID Software.

“We run two HP Indigo, 6900 & 6800 plus four ABG Digicon’s and a new peel and reveal machine” says Gary Burnley, joint managing director who first joined the company 26 years ago and then took over the running with his sister, Alison Murphy, when their father retired.

“We take in lots of short runs and provide the repro to put the files together. In the past a 500 – 1,000 label run has taken longer to repro than to print. PACKZ has improved turnaround time significantly so that we have more capacity to take in more work. It’s giving us the confidence to branch out into another line of work.”

Marsh takes on about 20,000 new label jobs each year, providing digital capacity for other print shops around the UK, printing labels for most sectors of industry including beverage, pharmaceuticals, retail, cosmetic, healthcare, food, beverage, security and industrial.

“PACKZ is head and shoulders over any other software I’ve used and I’ve been in the business for more than 20 years”, says Leigh Howe, prepress manager. “It has a great feel to it and HYBRID Software is constantly driving it forward. They listen to people like us who’ve got a few ideas and the next thing you know, you see an update with that feature in it.”

“It’s native PDF so the job stays in PDF through prepress so there are no conversions that can slow things down and clutter up the file server.”

The number of variable data (VDP) jobs has doubled over the past year says Howe. It’s mostly barcodes and numbering but because the VDP module is inside PACKZ the prepress department can work on a customer supplied PDF file from start to finish, cutting out unnecessary steps such as importing the file into another application and then exporting the file again.

“It’s very efficient. And I’m much more confident that what I see on the proof is correct than I ever was before because PACKZ reduces the risk of human error: dimensions of crop boxes are computer generated rather than drawn manually; editing and sharing the colour books is simple and no longer a manual process; there’s bar code recognition that is computer generated from the incoming file. All these features take seconds off each part of the checking process. Multiply that up and already the number of jobs we process per day has gone up and the only thing we’ve changed is to move to PACKZ.”

“The transition to PACKZ only took us about a week. It was like getting used to the feel of a new car. Second nature after only a few days.”

PACKZ captures all elements of a job in a single PDF file. It contains all the features required for labels and packaging production such as trapping, full transparency support, colour separation mapping, Live Objects for variable content, barcode pre-flight and creation, tabular step & repeat, and structured assets including fonts, images, separations, object-based screening settings, barcodes, and other PDF objects.

Marsh Label started out in 1983 when Gary’s father Barrie Burnley set up the company with Ron Marsh. It employs around 22 staff with a prepress team of five.

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