07.19.23
1-23-37 Edobori, Nishi-Ku
Osaka 550-0002 Japan
Phone: +81-6-6447-5847
Fax: +81-6-6447-5849
http://www.inx.co.jp/
E-mail: intl-sales@inx.co.jp
2022 Sales: $1.566 billion (¥205,844 million in printing ink and graphic arts); $1.640 billion (¥215,531 million) consolidated.
Major Products: Commercial offset (sheetfed, heatset and newspaper offset inks); gravure inks for flexible packaging; flexo inks for flexible packaging, corrugated carton and paper bag; metal decorating inks and coatings; UV/EB inks for sheetfed, flexible packaging and metal decorating; inkjet inks, toners and coatings.
Key Personnel: Yoshiaki Ueno, representative director, president and CEO; Hitoshi Nakamura, director and senior managing executive officer; Toshihiko Fukunaga, director and senior managing executive officer; Hiroshi Morita, director and managing executive officer; Minoru Tateiri, director and senior executive officer.
No. of Employees: 4,862 (consolidated)
Comments: For Sakata INX and its subsidiary, INX International Ink Co., 2022 was another strong year, as the company’s sales grew to $1.566 billion (¥205,844 million) in printing ink and graphic arts. However, the end of the year saw some softening in sales, while raw materials still were a concern.
“Although the sales volume of inks for packaging had increased until the third quarter, sales dropped sharply in the fourth quarter. This was mostly due to less consumption in the U.S.,” said Katsuya Tanaka, GM for the International Operations Department of the Corporate Planning division of Sakata INX. “The South American market, Brazil in particular, performed well, as did India and the Philippines. Raw material prices soared more than we expected at the beginning of our fiscal year. Freight, personnel and utility costs also rose significantly due to global inflation.”
Bryce Kristo, president and CEO of INX International, pointed to challenges from supply chain disruptions that made providing continuity of supply to customers a top priority in the first half of 2022.
“Those disruptions and inflation increased costs for our primary raw materials; in some cases it forced us to find alternative materials at a greater cost that required reformulation,” Kristo observed. “By the end of 2022 we saw more stability and lower demand, which reflected excess inventories that were driven in the first half by supply and recession concerns. It was a down year overall, but we have recovered by staying with our strategy where we continue to focus on sustainability and safety in strong growth market segments.”
INX believes that there will be a general rebound of demand across all segments in the second half of this year.
“Excess inventories have been lowered and the supply chain has stabilized,” Kristo added. “One of the strongest markets is inkjet industrial applications that are beginning to emerge.”
In terms of personnel, the past year was a time of change for Sakata INK and its subsidiary, INX International Ink Company, with new leaders coming into both companies. Dr. Kotaro Morita stepped down as chairman of Sakata INX and there were many changes in the U.S. John Hrdlick retired as president and CEO after 46 years with the company in April 2023. After 32 years with INX, Bryce Kristo is the new president and CEO. In the same month, Toshihiko Fukunaga replaced Dr. Morita as chairman of Sakata INX.
There were other substantial changes at INX: David Rossi became the new CFO; he and Shane Bertsch, SVP of strategy planning and innovation, joined the INX International Board of Directors as senior vice presidents.
Rick Westrom retired as senior vice president of strategic sourcing and was replaced by Anthony DeFrancesco as director of supply chain. He reports to Jim Kochanny, who is now a senior vice president. Joe Kelly also retired as the VP and liquid technical director, and was succeeded by Ross Roxas. Paul Edwards was hired in May 2023 as the VP of the Digital Division.
“In the last 12 months we have seen a series of our long-term employees reach retirement,” Kristo said. “There has been a successful transition for many in taking on new leadership roles and the recruitment of people from outside the industry who have blended well together.”
Tanaka pointed to Sakata INX’s sustainability programs as important highlights from the past year.
“Sustainability activities began based on the company’s long-term vision that was formulated in 2021,” noted Tanaka. “We are strengthening the development of environmentally friendly products to the global market and have expanded our Botanical ink series, which uses plant-derived ingredients. We also endorse the SDGs and Global Compact led by the United Nations, and are actively promoting group-wide initiatives for the sustainable development of society. This includes various aspects such as the environment, human rights and governance.”
“The supply chain disruptions demanded much of our energy, but it was also a catalyst for change,” Kristo said. “We have progressed with our sustainability efforts and learned and adopted much stronger supply chain and product line management tactics.”
Raw materials are stabilizing, although Japan remains hardest hit by higher petroleum prices.
“Since the second half of 2022,” said Tanaka, “the prices of petroleum-derived raw materials gradually stabilized in many regions except Japan. They have now peaked and fallen slightly. In Japan, raw material prices peaked in the first half of 2023.”
“Raw material price volatility has stabilized compared to last year,” said Kristo. “The growing concern is now regulatory. Domestically, the federal government is being displaced by state regulations and it is driving additional complexity. Given the unpredictability of the past few years for numerous and at times unforeseen reasons, we are now more inclined to expect the unexpected.”
As for the rest of 2023, INX’s leaders anticipate further growth.
“We expect the economies of the United States and China - which were depressed from 2022 to the first half of this year - will gradually recover in the latter part of 2023 and lead to an increase in sales volume,” remarked Tanaka. “Although raw material prices have stabilized somewhat, there are concerns that rising logistics and labor costs due to global inflation will cause major cost increases in various regions.”
“The first half of 2023 has been one of recovery and we expect it to flow through the end of the year,” Kristo added. “We also expect demand to increase to normal levels as inventories decrease and inflation gets reined in. We remain committed to providing outstanding service and innovation to the market. INX will continue to pursue investment opportunities with our Corporate Venture Capital effort. It will focus on novel materials and other solutions that support our strategy and market needs.”
Osaka 550-0002 Japan
Phone: +81-6-6447-5847
Fax: +81-6-6447-5849
http://www.inx.co.jp/
E-mail: intl-sales@inx.co.jp
2022 Sales: $1.566 billion (¥205,844 million in printing ink and graphic arts); $1.640 billion (¥215,531 million) consolidated.
Major Products: Commercial offset (sheetfed, heatset and newspaper offset inks); gravure inks for flexible packaging; flexo inks for flexible packaging, corrugated carton and paper bag; metal decorating inks and coatings; UV/EB inks for sheetfed, flexible packaging and metal decorating; inkjet inks, toners and coatings.
Key Personnel: Yoshiaki Ueno, representative director, president and CEO; Hitoshi Nakamura, director and senior managing executive officer; Toshihiko Fukunaga, director and senior managing executive officer; Hiroshi Morita, director and managing executive officer; Minoru Tateiri, director and senior executive officer.
No. of Employees: 4,862 (consolidated)
Comments: For Sakata INX and its subsidiary, INX International Ink Co., 2022 was another strong year, as the company’s sales grew to $1.566 billion (¥205,844 million) in printing ink and graphic arts. However, the end of the year saw some softening in sales, while raw materials still were a concern.
“Although the sales volume of inks for packaging had increased until the third quarter, sales dropped sharply in the fourth quarter. This was mostly due to less consumption in the U.S.,” said Katsuya Tanaka, GM for the International Operations Department of the Corporate Planning division of Sakata INX. “The South American market, Brazil in particular, performed well, as did India and the Philippines. Raw material prices soared more than we expected at the beginning of our fiscal year. Freight, personnel and utility costs also rose significantly due to global inflation.”
Bryce Kristo, president and CEO of INX International, pointed to challenges from supply chain disruptions that made providing continuity of supply to customers a top priority in the first half of 2022.
“Those disruptions and inflation increased costs for our primary raw materials; in some cases it forced us to find alternative materials at a greater cost that required reformulation,” Kristo observed. “By the end of 2022 we saw more stability and lower demand, which reflected excess inventories that were driven in the first half by supply and recession concerns. It was a down year overall, but we have recovered by staying with our strategy where we continue to focus on sustainability and safety in strong growth market segments.”
INX believes that there will be a general rebound of demand across all segments in the second half of this year.
“Excess inventories have been lowered and the supply chain has stabilized,” Kristo added. “One of the strongest markets is inkjet industrial applications that are beginning to emerge.”
In terms of personnel, the past year was a time of change for Sakata INK and its subsidiary, INX International Ink Company, with new leaders coming into both companies. Dr. Kotaro Morita stepped down as chairman of Sakata INX and there were many changes in the U.S. John Hrdlick retired as president and CEO after 46 years with the company in April 2023. After 32 years with INX, Bryce Kristo is the new president and CEO. In the same month, Toshihiko Fukunaga replaced Dr. Morita as chairman of Sakata INX.
There were other substantial changes at INX: David Rossi became the new CFO; he and Shane Bertsch, SVP of strategy planning and innovation, joined the INX International Board of Directors as senior vice presidents.
Rick Westrom retired as senior vice president of strategic sourcing and was replaced by Anthony DeFrancesco as director of supply chain. He reports to Jim Kochanny, who is now a senior vice president. Joe Kelly also retired as the VP and liquid technical director, and was succeeded by Ross Roxas. Paul Edwards was hired in May 2023 as the VP of the Digital Division.
“In the last 12 months we have seen a series of our long-term employees reach retirement,” Kristo said. “There has been a successful transition for many in taking on new leadership roles and the recruitment of people from outside the industry who have blended well together.”
Tanaka pointed to Sakata INX’s sustainability programs as important highlights from the past year.
“Sustainability activities began based on the company’s long-term vision that was formulated in 2021,” noted Tanaka. “We are strengthening the development of environmentally friendly products to the global market and have expanded our Botanical ink series, which uses plant-derived ingredients. We also endorse the SDGs and Global Compact led by the United Nations, and are actively promoting group-wide initiatives for the sustainable development of society. This includes various aspects such as the environment, human rights and governance.”
“The supply chain disruptions demanded much of our energy, but it was also a catalyst for change,” Kristo said. “We have progressed with our sustainability efforts and learned and adopted much stronger supply chain and product line management tactics.”
Raw materials are stabilizing, although Japan remains hardest hit by higher petroleum prices.
“Since the second half of 2022,” said Tanaka, “the prices of petroleum-derived raw materials gradually stabilized in many regions except Japan. They have now peaked and fallen slightly. In Japan, raw material prices peaked in the first half of 2023.”
“Raw material price volatility has stabilized compared to last year,” said Kristo. “The growing concern is now regulatory. Domestically, the federal government is being displaced by state regulations and it is driving additional complexity. Given the unpredictability of the past few years for numerous and at times unforeseen reasons, we are now more inclined to expect the unexpected.”
As for the rest of 2023, INX’s leaders anticipate further growth.
“We expect the economies of the United States and China - which were depressed from 2022 to the first half of this year - will gradually recover in the latter part of 2023 and lead to an increase in sales volume,” remarked Tanaka. “Although raw material prices have stabilized somewhat, there are concerns that rising logistics and labor costs due to global inflation will cause major cost increases in various regions.”
“The first half of 2023 has been one of recovery and we expect it to flow through the end of the year,” Kristo added. “We also expect demand to increase to normal levels as inventories decrease and inflation gets reined in. We remain committed to providing outstanding service and innovation to the market. INX will continue to pursue investment opportunities with our Corporate Venture Capital effort. It will focus on novel materials and other solutions that support our strategy and market needs.”