Time saved creates new horizons for Israeli Caldera user

Time saved creates new horizons for Israeli Caldera user

Eyal Shemesh, CEO of ES Digital
Eyal Shemesh, CEO of ES Digital

ES Digital has engineered rapid expansion in its five years of trading. From the Israeli company’s modest beginnings as a sign-making specialist to becoming one of the country’s largest and most imaginative wide-format print houses, Caldera has been there to support its production for all these years – and, through time and resources saved, is helping it expand into new territory.

Eyal Shemesh founded his original business 22 years ago, going on to sell his shareand open ES Digital in 2010. It now specialises in digital printing for point-of-sale, outdoor signage and visual merchandising, as well as a lucrative ancillary service in installation and fulfilment. Various iterations of Caldera have been there to keep the machinery of this vital business fluid which explains why, most recently, Eyal decided to upgrade to its latest software suite, V10.

The facility, just outside Tel Aviv, is now a complex fabrication environment that relies on efficient data communications and advanced operability to keep it competitive. A fleet of HP Latex engines, from the recently launched Latex 3500 to its Scitex TJ8600 and FB7600 flat-beds and the veteran roll-to-roll workhorse, XP5300, is supplemented by two Esko Kongsberg XPs, all of which are marshalled to precise order by Caldera V10.

“Caldera is the best program in the market right now,” asserts Eyal. “It is extremely fast, stable, completely user-friendly and has a great interface. I am often approached by manufacturers to use other workflows and I choose Caldera every time.”

For a company with the throughput demands of ES Digital, a complete suite that could optimise the production workflow was a fundamental requirement. The appetite for wide-format collateral in Israel has ballooned in line with the Westernization of the market, providing the firm with jobs varying from wallpapers, wall graphics and Pickboard Pictures; this, its own invention, is a multi-layered cardboard product that serves as a branded artwork. Caldera V10’s sheer rapidity in RIPing files matches its intuitive workflows for particular job types; in addition, Eyal’s team can RIP much larger files thanks to its 64-bit data handling, opening up options with transparencies and variable data.

A number of other finishing lines, such as sewing and assembly, sit alongside ES Digital’s vast production floor, as does a multi-disciplinary sign manufacturing workshop, but its latest development is the purchase of a large-format 3D printer. The Massivit 1800 will enable the creation of single-piece models up to 1.5 x 1.2 x 1.8m for events, promotional items, retail and artistic modelling, amongst other projects – and Eyal knows that Caldera, like his own business, has its eye on the future.

“After growing with digital print, we want to give our customers a new perspective on their marketing materials,” adds Eyal. “Advertisement is extremely visual and we’ve seen a trend in the Israeli market for big brands seeking out new and inventive ways to reach out to customers. Caldera gives us the free resources to be able to meet this need within a client base hungry for inventive new products. We know that Caldera’s vision means 3D print will, like digital signage, soon be available within the suite. This makes it a wise investment on-going.”

“We’ve seen Eyal and ES Digital service contracts for massive multi-national brands as well as new fields you might not associate with wide-format, such as weddings and architecture,” explains Joseph Mergui, CEO of Caldera. “Rather than corner our users into a single type of production, it’s our mission to enable them to take advantage of these opportunities, wherever they lie. Eyal is always learning, finding original applications and creating new avenues for his business – it’s inspiring for us at Caldera to support him in doing that.”

ES Digital foresees a clientele moving forward that expands far beyond its original remit and future products that will satisfy them. While nobody can predict what will happen tomorrow, Eyal knows that his most profitable bet for that future is with Caldera