Schlossstrausse 20
73054 Eislingen, Germany
Phone: +49 7161 802-0
Fax: +49 7161 802-355
Internet: ZG Europe: www.zeller-gmelin.de; ZG US: www.zeller-gmelin.com
E-mail: druckfarben@zeller-gmelin.de
Sales: $87 million (€69 million)
Major Products: UV web, sheetfed, narrow web label and waterless offset inks; UV flexo and letterpress narrow web inks; UV rotary screen inks; UV inks for pre-formed plastic containers; UV inks for primographic printing of narrow web in-line cartons and labels; oil-based intaglio inks for printing currency; and a range of security inks for document authentication.
Key Personnel: Andreas Mahlich, managing director, sales and marketing; Rolf Schneider, managing director operations; Walther Jerusalem, managing director finance. Marketing Directors: Marcus Ruckstaedter, sales director; Damon Geer vice president sales, ZG USA; Joe Smith, sales director ZG UK; Marc Mulder, sales director ZG Benelux; Dirk van Lieshout, ZG Benelux; Lars Duerr Jakobsen, sales director ZG Skandinavia; Rémy Glories, ZG France. Technical Directors: Dr. Heinz Schweiger, ZG Germany; Dr. Christel Mueller, ZG Germany Steven L. Lazure, ZG, USA; Paul Regan, ZG UK.
Number of Employees: 400 in printing inks.
Comments: As interest in environmentally friendly solutions has increased in spite of the global recession, UV-cured inks and coatings have enjoyed increased growth. Zeller+Gmelin GmbH (ZG), an Eislingen, Germany-based specialist in UV inks and varnishes, is poised to grow in this market.
Marcus Ruckstaedter, ZG’s sales director, noted that the downturn due to the world economic crisis had its impact on commercial printing, whereas packaging remained stabile, with slight growth in different markets.
“Due to our relatively high share in the packaging business, ZG had a stabile business all over in 2009,” Mr. Ruckstaedter said. We have seen exports growing after April 2009 again, and the first five months of 2010 went very well.”
The company is enjoying growth in the U.S., and is looking to expand its operations.
“ZG US plans to move into new and larger premises in Richmond/VA in 2010, which is a consequence of good business development in the past and should enable the US facility to cover future growth as well,” said Mr. Ruckstaedter
There were other important changes at ZG. At the beginning of 2010, Intercolor Ltd, Zeller+Gmelin’s UK subsidiary, was renamed into Zeller+Gmelin UK after belonging to the ZG Group for more then 20 years.
Former managing director finance Dr. Helmut Specht has retired and was replaced by Walther Jerusalem in early 2010.
Higher raw material prices are beginning to affect Zeller+Gmelin, as raw material cost increases have begun in the last three months. As a result, Mr. Ruckstaedter said that price increases for inks and varnishes are likely to happen.
R&D is a major strength of Zeller+Gmelin, which focuses its strong R&D efforts on the packaging field, ranging from plastic containers, flexible packaging and folding carton. Zeller+Gmelin also has made strong inroads in labels, security applications and the commercial market.
As a result of European Commission (EC) legislation, packaging materials regulations are now in place. Mr. Ruckstaedter said that ZG is ideally positioned for these new requirements.
ZG started its development of low migration UV/EB products several years ago, so we have a full product range to fulfill EC and brand owner requirements,” Mr. Ruckstaedter said. “Additionally, we offer analytic services in our own analytic lab in Germany to customers.”
Most recently, Zeller+Gmelin developed a full range of UV curable low migration inks as well as a fully developed EB offset series, with certified low migration properties and Nestlé approval.