ECRM Acquires Esko Polyester CTP

By: E&P Staff ECRM Inc., Tewksbury, Mass., agreed Friday to acquire the tangible and intangible assets of Denmark's Esko Production A/S polyester computer-to-plate product line, including the intellectual property of its polyester plate equipment business.

The agreement covers the manufacture and sale of DPX 4, DPX System, DPX Lite, WorkMates, and all associated software products, consumables, spare parts, and related products.

The acquisition, ECRM CEO and President and Rick Black said in a statement, "allows us to better serve our customers with an even wider portfolio of products covering additional segments of the printing and publishing markets." ECRM, he said, plans to continue working with Esko's channel partners under the ECRM brand.

Esko Graphics CTP Division Manager Torben Rysgaard will continue to be responsible for the polyester business.

The DPX 4 CTP is a daylight-operating, high-precision internal-vacuum drum system featuring fast, accurate punched and processed polyester press-ready plates ready. Using fiber-optic cables to transmit directly into the optics and high-speed spinner, it can output 38 23.8x29.3-inch plates per hour at 1200 dpi (27pph at 2540 dpi). The DPX 4 exposes at any resolution between 1200 and 3000 dpi, automatically adjusting spot size by varying laser intensity and focus. In its 54x42-inch footprint, the DPX 4 includes a built-in twin-bath processor, in which both the temperature-controlled activator tank and stabilizer tank have sensors for controlling the chemistry level and active replenishment, ensuring the correct level of new chemistry and precise activation of the plate.

Also a full-daylight system, the DPX System features an internal-vacuum drum and built-in 220mm and 425mm open punch for precisely registered plates for four-color production. It produces imaged (900-3600 dpi), processed, punched, dried and cut-to-size ready-to-use plates, from 10x10 to 21.6x18.4" inches, and has two magazines and built-in two-bath processor.

The two-up, internal-drum, daylight-operating DPX Lite automatic polyester-plate system images (any resolution, 900-3600 dpi), processes, punches, and dries cut-to-size press-ready plates at 13.3x21.6 inches.

WorkMates workflow modules include raster image processing, automated PDF creation, trapping, color management, screening and proofing, as well as in-RIP CIP 3 generation, imposition, and Windows driver-based proofing. Soon to be added are remote-queue management, a color-merger tool, preview with full zoom and navigation, and direct log-on from any workstation on the network.