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CMYUK appointed as strategic UK channel for Esko

Jon Price, Karston Nygard, Robin East, Judd Perring - Exciting times ahead as CMYUK directors and ESKO review the building design for the new UK Demonstration Centre.
Jon Price, Karston Nygard, Robin East, Judd Perring - Exciting times ahead as CMYUK directors and ESKO review the building design for the new UK Demonstration Centre.

CMYUK, the leading independent supplier of digital print technology and materials, has signed a significant UK agreement with Esko, the manufacturer of the highly-regarded Kongsberg digital cutting systems, and developer of an extensive suite of workflow, automation and production-efficiency software.

CMYUK is one of the longest established independent suppliers of wide-format printers and cutters, representing EFI VUTEk and Mimaki. With immediate effect, CMYUK will take responsibility for new mainland UK sales of Esko hardware and software to the sign & digital market. Esko will continue to service their key account and legacy customer base. Esko’s engineering and support teams will continue to supply after-sales service and support for all Esko system sales.

The primary motivation for this agreement is to combine the complementary strengths of both parties to further increase Esko’s market share in the UK, and to bring a broader portfolio of highly-effective, next-generation print productivity solutions to the UK market. In order to fulfil these objectives, Esko and CMYUK have also begun work on a jointly-developed state-of-the-art showroom, adjoining the existing CMYUK Demo & Training Centre in Shrewsbury.

Robin East of CMYUK explains: “I genuinely believe the next step for the forward-thinking wide-format business is the complete integration of all pre-press, printing and finishing operations into one seamlessly connected production process. It’s what our customers are asking us for; it’s what we wanted in our portfolio; and ultimately there is no-one in the market better positioned and better able to deliver on those requirements than Esko.

Karsten Nygard, Regional Business Director, North & Indirect, of Esko is equally positive “All at Esko are extremely excited with this new collaboration. By combining our product and technical strengths with CMYUK’s proven abilities in sales and marketing, we will be even better positioned to further develop Esko sales and presence in the UK market”.

New UK showroom featuring Esko technology
The Esko technology will be on show from April onwards in CMYUK’s existing demonstration facility. CMYUK are also currently building an extended Esko demonstration facility that will open its doors in September 2017. Both facilities will be used by CMYUK and Esko staff for sales demonstrations and customer training.

Robin East adds: “The new showroom will feature the full range of Kongsberg cutting tables, and a complete suite of Esko workflow software – all of which will be geared towards giving customers an enhanced experience offering a live ‘real-world’ demonstration of complete production facility automation.

We’ve intentionally chosen to integrate the new Esko showroom as an expansion to our existing Demo & Training Centre because we want to showcase a full end-to-end production facility to our customers. We’ll be printing on Mimaki and EFI-VUTEk printers and finishing on Kongsberg tables, and the entire process will be managed by Esko software. It will be a revelation for customers as we will be able to demonstrate how they can amalgamate their entire print production into one single process.

Key within the new demonstration centre will be the ability to view the complete range of Kongsberg digital cutting systems – from entry level systems through to high-end solutions.

East continues: “Printers such as the hugely successful Mimaki JFX flatbed, have completely changed the entry price-point in to UV printing, but to date there hasn’t been a finishing system of comparable performance to match. With Kongsberg tables, we can now offer a high-quality and industry-proven solution without any compromise whatsoever.

Karsten Nygard of Esko concurs with this thinking “We are delighted to be partnering with CMYUK, giving them all of the tools - hardware and software - they need to deliver complete solutions to their customers, at every budget level.

Undoubtedly, in a market where the equipment is increasingly commoditised, the competitive advantage now comes from ensuring that all aspects of a print production operation are working together in harmony, at optimum efficiency levels, Esko products deliver on that remit, and most importantly CMYUK understand completely that this is the direction the market is going in.

To launch the new demonstration centre, CMYUK will shortly be announcing a series of ‘Productivity Open Days’ - staffed by both CMYUK and Esko personnel - that will run throughout the month of September after the launch.

Information on Esko’s full product range is now available on the Esko website: www.esko.com