Pascal Thomas · Director Flexo Business · ESKO · Reporting from Drupa 2024

James Quirk from INKISH talking to Pascal Thomas from ESKO about how technology enables customers to have more sustainable productions!

En Davy Verstaen Appstore & Partner Manager Enfocus Power to Move

Davy Verstaen Appstore & Partner Manager Enfocus Power to Move

At Canon's Power to Move event in Venlo, Morten Reitoft speaks with Davy Verstaen from Enfocus about one of the hottest topics in the printing industry today: how AI, workflow automation, and mass customization are finally coming together to create real business opportunities. While many companies talk about personalization and mass customization, Verstaen demonstrates how to implement these concepts today using Enfocus Switch, AI-powered content generation, and integrated production workflows. Visitors to the Canon event receive highly personalized products, including posters, postcards, and AI-generated storybooks, all produced through automated workflows that combine technologies from Canon, Enfocus, XMPie, Onyx, and other partners. The conversation explores the practical realities behind AI-driven production. While the programming itself can often be completed surprisingly quickly, the real challenge lies in prompt engineering, consistency management, and the creation of repeatable processes that deliver predictable results at production scale. Verstaen shares how months of refinement and testing were required to ensure that AI-generated content consistently met quality expectations. Beyond the demonstration itself, the discussion examines how workflow automation is evolving from traditional rule-based systems toward intelligent automation. Increasingly, printers are connecting Enfocus Switch with AI platforms to automate tasks such as order processing, data extraction, job preparation, and workflow orchestration. Rather than replacing existing automation systems, AI is becoming an additional layer that helps organizations handle more complex and variable processes. The interview also addresses the economics of AI, the role of third-party integrations, and the opportunities available to printers willing to embrace new technologies. For Verstaen, the combination of workflow automation, AI, and personalization represents one of the most exciting developments the industry has seen in years. This is a fascinating conversation about moving from talking about mass customization to actually producing it.

En Piet de Pauw · Head of Marketing Enfocus PRINTING United 2025

Piet de Pauw · Head of Marketing Enfocus PRINTING United 2025

On the final afternoon of Printing United Expo in Orlando, Wayne Beckett from INKISH stopped by the Enfocus booth to speak with Piet de Pauw from Enfocus. With only a few hours left before the show closed, Piet was still full of energy. “It’s been a good show as always,” he said. “Honestly, this is my favorite show of the year. The organization is fantastic, and we partner with many other vendors here. We’ve got six partnerships on display this time, alongside many others at the show. It’s been an amazing run.” Wayne noted that collaboration seemed to be a big part of Enfocus’s approach. “Absolutely,” Piet replied. “That’s the heart of what we do. For example, we’re working with Kongsberg here at the show, demonstrating how our solutions tie together. We’re showing two things in particular—our Mini MIS, which we launched at last year’s Printing United in Atlanta, and this year we’ve added a layer of magic to it. Instead of just uploading a picture and removing the background with AI, we now turn it into a magic version of yourself. We’ve even designed a playable card game where your picture becomes one of the cards you can take home.” After a laugh about the “magic” theme, Wayne asked for an overview of what Enfocus software actually does. “Switch is built to be open at its core,” Piet explained. “I like to joke that Switch doesn’t do anything—of course, it does a lot—but what it really does is connect best-in-class systems. A modern printer has to invest in a wide range of software: imposition, MIS, web-to-print, prepress, finishing automation, and more. That creates a complex tech stack. Printers don’t necessarily want to spend time figuring out how to make all those systems talk to each other—they just want things to work. That’s where Switch comes in. It ties everything together, seamlessly. The best Switch installations are the ones where users forget it’s even there—it just runs quietly in the background doing all the work.” Wayne asked how that applied specifically to the partnership with Kongsberg. Piet smiled and grabbed a sample. “Let me show you,” he said. “Imagine you take a full-body picture at a family gathering and you want to turn it into a life-size cutout. Normally, that’s a long process—you’d use Photoshop to edit the photo, clean the lighting, cut out the background, and then generate a cut path, which takes time. In Switch, it takes 30 seconds.” He explained how the workflow operates: “You upload the image, and Switch sends it to an AI tool that removes the background. It’s then automatically enhanced by Viesus software, which adjusts lighting and image quality. After that, the file goes into PitStop, which generates a smooth, accurate cut path—because if there are thousands of points, the cutting table either crashes or takes forever. We smooth those lines, add the base, and send it to our nesting software, Griffin, where we nest the file on a 48x96 sheet. The whole thing—photo cleanup, enhancement, layout, nesting, and cut prep—happens automatically. At this show, the printed sheets go to the Digitech booth for printing, and then to Kongsberg for cutting. From photo to finished, cut-ready file—30 seconds flat.” Wayne laughed. “That’s incredible.” Piet nodded. “It is. That’s the power of automation when all the systems work together. It saves time, eliminates repetitive manual work, and lets people focus on creativity rather than file prep. That’s the magic behind Switch.” Wayne smiled. “Well, Piet, as always, it’s great to see you. I think next year you’ll have to make the theme a bit more obvious.” Piet laughed. “We’ll work on that for next year. Always a pleasure, Wayne.”

En Davy Verstaen Appstore Manager Enfocus · Hunkeler Innovationdays 2025 · #HID25

Davy Verstaen Appstore Manager Enfocus · Hunkeler Innovationdays 2025 · #HID25

Join in on our interview with Davy Verstaen as he delves into the critical necessity of connecting various systems, both large and small, and across multiple brands. This is where Enfocus is playing an increasingly vital role. It is paramount to ensure that expensive investments and equipment are fully utilized through a seamless, bottleneck-free workflow. With over 300 apps now available in their own App Store, it's no coincidence that they are present, as “Connect" is the theme of the Hunkeler Innovation Days 2025.

De En Es Fi Fr It Pl Pt Sv Jan de RoeckESKO the VIGC talks from the drupa 2024 show floor

Jan de RoeckESKO the VIGC talks from the drupa 2024 show floor

Interview in English - subtitles in Dutch. Jan de Roeck talks passionately about the innovations and cloud strategy that Esko is rolling out with their new online platform. What did they bring to Drupa and what should we pay attention to? Short and clear overview of what you need to know when you visit, and certainly good to get an impression if you can't make it to Düsseldorf. -- NL -- Jan de Roeck vertelt vol passie over de innovaties en cloudstrategie die Esko uitrolt met hun nieuwe online platform. Wat brachten ze mee naar Drupa en waar moeten we op letten? Kort en duidelijk overzicht van wat je moet weten als je langskomt, en zeker goed als eerste ​​indruk als je niet naar Düsseldorf kan komen.

De En Es Fi Fr It No Pl Pt Sv Piet De PauwEnfocus the VIGC talks from the drupa 2024 show floor

Piet De PauwEnfocus the VIGC talks from the drupa 2024 show floor

Interview in Dutch - subtitles in English. VIGC- én INKISH vrienden sinds jaar en dag zijn de mensen van Enfocus. We vragen aan Piet de Pauw wat de nieuwste trends en mogelijkheden zijn die we moeten onthouden na een bezoek aan de grote en gemeenschappelijke beursstand samen met Esko,Pantone en X-Rite. Als vooraanstaand softwarebedrijf zijn ze goed geplaatst om de actuele stand van zaken te schetsen ivm performant werken in the Cloud en meer. -- EN -- The people of Enfocus have been VIGC and INKISH friends for many years. We ask Piet de Pauw what the latest trends and possibilities are that we should remember after a visit to the large and shared exhibition stand together with Esko, Pantone and X-Rite. As a leading software company, they are well placed to outline the current state of affairs regarding high-performance working in the Cloud and much more.

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Jun 09 , 2024
Esko
Raymonde de Larochelaan 13
9051 Gent

Belgium
Tel. : 09 216 93 77
Email : support.eur@esko.com

Wed July 29th

Orchestrating a complex production with CTRL-...

A few years ago, INKISH made a film about Storio Group in the Netherlands with the once-amazing company TiliaLabs, so it was with pleasure that we returned, along with CTRL-S, to see what had happened over the years, and we weren't disappointed. Storio Group is a company specialized in photo products, with production at several sites and the challenge of producing thousands of products of one. Most printers know what a challenge that is, and for Remco Beekhuizen and Florus Plaizier no doubt that they have a great understanding of the challenge, and also what software they need to execute. German CTRL-S was selected among various alternatives, and with their Symphony platform, Storio Group has been able to change a legacy system into a new and modern platform, where even the operators say that it's the same or better. In this film, you will learn more about some of the considerations of investing in a new platform and how Storio Group and CTRL-S are more like partners, rather than "just" a supplier. Great company, great products, and great people! LinkedIn: Remco Beekhuizen Florus Plaizier