03.01.10
100 North St.
Teterboro, NJ 07608-1202
Phone: (201) 478-5600
Fax: (201) 478-5650
www.superiorink.com
Sales: $60 million.
Major Products: Sheetfed, UV, waterless, heatset web, flexo and gravure inks, coatings and varnishes.
Key Personnel: Jeffrey I. Simons, chairman, CEO and president; Stan Hittman, executive VP; Harold Rubin, chief financial officer; James La Rocca, chief operating officer; Peter Nunez, VP, finance & administration; Richard Czarnecki, senior VP, chief technical officer.
Number of Employees: 300.
Operating Facilities: 19 branches and 22 in-plant facilities nationally. The company operates two facilities through its Gotham Ink operations (NY and MA). Spinks Ink Co. is also a subsidiary located in Chicago, IL..
Comments: With the recession having a major impact on the sheetfed printing market, sheetfed ink manufacturers were extremely concerned about 2009. With an eye on the economy, the leaders at Superior Printing Ink were able to make critical decisions during the early part of the year that paid off when sales began improving during the second quarter of 2009.
“The economic recession had a significant impact on sales in early 2009, and we were not optimistic about achieving our business objectives for the year,” said Richard Czarnecki, senior vice president, chief technical officer for Superior Printing Ink. “The company made some strategic decisions to address what we expected to be a significant drop in sales.In reality, sales recovered to some extent by the second quarter, and we stabilized our market share to what we believe was a better-than-average level for the industry.
“If we take a look at our business expectations in January vs. what we actually achieved through December, we are satisfied with our overall performance in an extremely difficult year,” Mr. Czarnecki added.
Mr. Czarnecki said that Superior Printing Ink reorganized its management team in June, with key promotions from within the company.
“These actions clearly reflect the strength of the Superior Printing Ink team, and our recognition of the skills, knowledge and years of experience of some of our most senior managers,” he added.
Mr. Czarnecki noted that while consolidations and closings impacted some of Superior Printing Ink’s customers, the company made up for most of those sales in niche markets that are showing more growth.
“Although we did shoulder our share of customer consolidations and closures, the vast majority of lost sales were replaced with new business at printers in more growth-oriented market niches,” he said. “Our energy curable product line set new sales records in 2009 and continues to open doors for us at new accounts. We also saw significant bottom line contribution from Biolocity, which was originally launched to address the environmental market trend but ended up becoming our highest performance sheetfed process ink.”
Mr. Czarnecki said that Superior Printing Ink is keeping a watchful eye on the raw material market.
“The competitive climate and consolidation of raw material suppliers continues to evolve,” Mr. Czarnecki said. “This is a concern. However, aggressive new suppliers from Asia are developing better distribution channels and adding industry veterans to facilitate stronger customer relationships.Oil prices have trended upward and we are working to minimize any impact on our overall cost of materials.”
On the product side, Mr. Czarnecki said that Superior Printing Ink expects to launch several product innovations in 2010 that will offer improved overall value to the sheetfed market.
“Customers continue to expect quality, service and performance, and Superior is well positioned with our branch network to provide the responsiveness and problem-solving expertise that today’s printer demands,” he added. “We are also planning to boost our growth and market reach through acquisitions.”
Overall, Superior Printing Ink is optimistic about 2010.
“We expect that 2010 will be a year of moderate growth for Superior,” Mr. Czarnecki said. “Emphasis will be placed on the promotion of products in healthier areas of the printing market, especially UV and packaging. This will be augmented with new product offerings and services for printers who are placing a greater emphasis on overall total cost. Superior will never sacrifice product performance for price, and we intend to maintain our reputation as the leading supplier of high quality sheetfed ink in the US.”
Teterboro, NJ 07608-1202
Phone: (201) 478-5600
Fax: (201) 478-5650
www.superiorink.com
Sales: $60 million.
Major Products: Sheetfed, UV, waterless, heatset web, flexo and gravure inks, coatings and varnishes.
Key Personnel: Jeffrey I. Simons, chairman, CEO and president; Stan Hittman, executive VP; Harold Rubin, chief financial officer; James La Rocca, chief operating officer; Peter Nunez, VP, finance & administration; Richard Czarnecki, senior VP, chief technical officer.
Number of Employees: 300.
Operating Facilities: 19 branches and 22 in-plant facilities nationally. The company operates two facilities through its Gotham Ink operations (NY and MA). Spinks Ink Co. is also a subsidiary located in Chicago, IL..
Comments: With the recession having a major impact on the sheetfed printing market, sheetfed ink manufacturers were extremely concerned about 2009. With an eye on the economy, the leaders at Superior Printing Ink were able to make critical decisions during the early part of the year that paid off when sales began improving during the second quarter of 2009.
“The economic recession had a significant impact on sales in early 2009, and we were not optimistic about achieving our business objectives for the year,” said Richard Czarnecki, senior vice president, chief technical officer for Superior Printing Ink. “The company made some strategic decisions to address what we expected to be a significant drop in sales.In reality, sales recovered to some extent by the second quarter, and we stabilized our market share to what we believe was a better-than-average level for the industry.
“If we take a look at our business expectations in January vs. what we actually achieved through December, we are satisfied with our overall performance in an extremely difficult year,” Mr. Czarnecki added.
Mr. Czarnecki said that Superior Printing Ink reorganized its management team in June, with key promotions from within the company.
“These actions clearly reflect the strength of the Superior Printing Ink team, and our recognition of the skills, knowledge and years of experience of some of our most senior managers,” he added.
Mr. Czarnecki noted that while consolidations and closings impacted some of Superior Printing Ink’s customers, the company made up for most of those sales in niche markets that are showing more growth.
“Although we did shoulder our share of customer consolidations and closures, the vast majority of lost sales were replaced with new business at printers in more growth-oriented market niches,” he said. “Our energy curable product line set new sales records in 2009 and continues to open doors for us at new accounts. We also saw significant bottom line contribution from Biolocity, which was originally launched to address the environmental market trend but ended up becoming our highest performance sheetfed process ink.”
Mr. Czarnecki said that Superior Printing Ink is keeping a watchful eye on the raw material market.
“The competitive climate and consolidation of raw material suppliers continues to evolve,” Mr. Czarnecki said. “This is a concern. However, aggressive new suppliers from Asia are developing better distribution channels and adding industry veterans to facilitate stronger customer relationships.Oil prices have trended upward and we are working to minimize any impact on our overall cost of materials.”
On the product side, Mr. Czarnecki said that Superior Printing Ink expects to launch several product innovations in 2010 that will offer improved overall value to the sheetfed market.
“Customers continue to expect quality, service and performance, and Superior is well positioned with our branch network to provide the responsiveness and problem-solving expertise that today’s printer demands,” he added. “We are also planning to boost our growth and market reach through acquisitions.”
Overall, Superior Printing Ink is optimistic about 2010.
“We expect that 2010 will be a year of moderate growth for Superior,” Mr. Czarnecki said. “Emphasis will be placed on the promotion of products in healthier areas of the printing market, especially UV and packaging. This will be augmented with new product offerings and services for printers who are placing a greater emphasis on overall total cost. Superior will never sacrifice product performance for price, and we intend to maintain our reputation as the leading supplier of high quality sheetfed ink in the US.”