Esko & CERM deliver improved consistency
L’Etiquette Adhésive improves consistency and reduces errors with Esko Automation Engine and CERM MIS
French label specialist uses Esko integrated workflow server and MIS to automate operations after doubling size of its production facilities
Based in Lons, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France, and founded in 1979, L’Etiquette Adhésive designs and manufactures labels for the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, chemical and wine industries in the South West of France and across the country. Company director Stéphane Clavier took over L’Etiquette Adhésive at the beginning of 2019, and the business currently employs 30 people – including three people in the prepress department who have been using Esko and CERM tools and solutions for a long time.
L’Étiquette Adhésive moved offices early 2020, doubling the size of its production site. As a result, the business needed to integrate new equipment to handle both the increased volume of work and to streamline processes to ensure productivity rates could at least be maintained. The company had previously adopted the CERM Management Information System (MIS) in 2006 and begun integrating Esko solutions in 2008, including Automation Engine, PackEdge, Imaging Engine, PackProof, BitMap Viewer and Color Pilot.
“After 15 years of using Esko Automation Engine, and following the move, we needed to handle more challenging automatic step and repeat processes, for more complex jobs” – Stéphane Clavier, CEO, L’Étiquette Adhésive
“We decided to upgrade to the latest version in 2020, in order to fully benefit from the new tools and functionalities offered by the combination of CERM MIS and Automation Engine, and to further improve data exchange between the two systems,” said Stéphane.
This project is part of an overall digital transformation project of the company, financed by the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region. Stéphane said that using the latest technologies available on the market enabled L’Étiquette Adhésive to preflight incoming files according to a customer profile, reassembling the files/product color codes in CERM and automatically link a color strategy to a file. This in turn automatically triggers the production order according to a work status, synchronizes job statuses, reports the release information in CERM, triggers workflow tickets automatically and automates layouts for their booklet labels and multi-page labels.
Esko Automation Engine sets the standard for optimized prepress workflow automation. The workflow software not only automates print production tasks but also integrates business systems, which speeds up the process, and more importantly reduces the error rate and need for operator intervention. Esko collaborated with CERM to ensure that L’Étiquette Adhésive benefited from Automation Engine integrated with a CERM Management Information System across the entire business.
By standardizing processes and migrating tasks to the automated workflow software, businesses using Automation Engine can reduce errors by up to 80% and process 40% more jobs without the need to increase their headcount – particularly beneficial for small and medium-sized businesses like L’Étiquette Adhésive.
“We have actually reduced the number of operators in our team, from four to three, and we have completely eliminated bottlenecks and errors, even for orders containing 300 references and 300 product designs” – Stéphane Clavier, CEO, L’Étiquette Adhésive
Stéphane said that since the company integrated Esko solutions and the CERM MIS into its prepress setup, there has been a reduction in processing times and the business has benefited from synchronized progress job statuses and automatic workflow launches.
“The new version of Automation Engine, integrated with our CERM system, allows us to achieve a large number of files printed in several stages and with different printing technologies. It saves time and improves reactivity and productivity, significantly reducing the risk of errors and omissions,” said Stéphane.
“Thanks to Automation Engine, we are able to initiate workflows and perform a simple visual check online before files are loaded automatically onto the presses”
Stéphane Clavier, CEO, L’Étiquette Adhésive
Read the full case study at https://www.esko.com/en/company/testimonials/etiquette-adhesive-france-consistency-automation-engine
