EskoArtwork, a supplier of solutions for packaging, commercial printing, and professional publishing recently signed a letter of intent to acquire Mikkelsen Graphic Engineering, Inc. (MGE), a developer of vision-controlled finishing systems for cutting tables in the signmaking, screen-printing, and digital-imaging markets. The transaction is expected to close by end of this month. No financial details were disclosed.

“EskoArtwork and MGE started their close cooperation in 2004 with the integration of MGE's i-cut vision system onto our Kongsberg digital converting tables,” says Carsten Knudsen, president and CEO of EskoArtwork. “The resulting i-XL and i-XE digital finishing systems have seen great success in the market, with today more than 350 such systems installed and operating worldwide…. I am extremely pleased to extend our partnership with MGE, now working as one team to deliver even stronger solutions to our customers.”

MGE has also served as EskoArtwork’s distributor for the Kongsberg i-XL and i-XE digital converting tables into the US since 2004. EskoArtwork reports that MGE's operations will be organized as a strategic business unit within the EskoArtwork structure under the leadership of Steen Mikkelsen, president of MGE.

“It’s not just accurate cutting anymore that drives profitability, it’s the addition of workflow capabilities that increases the competitiveness of our user base,” Mikkelsen says. “By fully aligning our development and distribution efforts with EskoArtwork's hardware and software technologies and global sales and support channels, we will be able to bring even more attractive and [high-performance] converting systems to the digital-printing and sign and display markets.”