10.24.05
Superior Printing Ink Co., Inc., held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new varnish manufacturing plant to be added to its central manufacturing facility (CMF) in Hamden, CT. Slated to be operational by next summer, the new 12,000 square foot varnish plant will allow Superior Printing Ink to increase its level of automation in the manufacture of lithographic printing ink.
Michael Brice, president and COO of Superior Printing Ink Co., said, “The new plant will help us improve quality while lowering our costs through greater efficiencies including bulk storage and automatic weighing and transfer. It’s the next step in ensuring our ability to provide products of consistent high quality to the graphics arts community and to stay competitive in the global marketplace.”
Evidence of the company’s current high quality at the CMF—servicing 25 branches around the country—is the upgraded ISO 9001:2000 certification awarded last year. As separate full-service lithographic ink manufacturing facilities, the branches constitute internal customers “who are very exacting in their needs and who are also held to a high level of service,” said Mr. Brice. “Our new plant is therefore also a demonstration to the people in our company that Superior Printing Ink is investing in the future.”
Currently, the company’s varnish plant is in Newark, NJ, necessitating transport of the varnish in drums by truck to the 35,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Hamden. There the varnish is added manually to the pigment used to manufacture ink. “The new plant will eliminate drums and freight costs and allow us to produce larger batches, with varnish pumped directly from our storage tanks into weighing vessels,” Mr. Brice said. Automation will further reduce the possibility of human error, ensuring exact dosing for each batch.
Michael Brice, president and COO of Superior Printing Ink Co., said, “The new plant will help us improve quality while lowering our costs through greater efficiencies including bulk storage and automatic weighing and transfer. It’s the next step in ensuring our ability to provide products of consistent high quality to the graphics arts community and to stay competitive in the global marketplace.”
Evidence of the company’s current high quality at the CMF—servicing 25 branches around the country—is the upgraded ISO 9001:2000 certification awarded last year. As separate full-service lithographic ink manufacturing facilities, the branches constitute internal customers “who are very exacting in their needs and who are also held to a high level of service,” said Mr. Brice. “Our new plant is therefore also a demonstration to the people in our company that Superior Printing Ink is investing in the future.”
Currently, the company’s varnish plant is in Newark, NJ, necessitating transport of the varnish in drums by truck to the 35,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Hamden. There the varnish is added manually to the pigment used to manufacture ink. “The new plant will eliminate drums and freight costs and allow us to produce larger batches, with varnish pumped directly from our storage tanks into weighing vessels,” Mr. Brice said. Automation will further reduce the possibility of human error, ensuring exact dosing for each batch.