The International Rankings
(Ink and Graphic Arts Sales) |
|
Dainippon Ink & Chemicals/Sun Chemical | $4.4B |
Flint Ink | $1.4B |
Toyo Ink | $1.0B |
BASF Drucksysteme GmbH | $762.5M |
Sakata Inx | $742.1M |
SICPA | $725M |
Tokyo Printing Ink | $454.3M |
Huber Group | $380M |
Siegwerk Druckfarben AG | $380M |
Inctec Inc. | $360M |
Akzo Nobel Inks | $275M |
T&K Toka | $240M |
Dainichiseika Color & Chemicals | $230M |
Sericol International | $200M |
Royal Dutch Printing Ink Van Son | $150M |
Hindustan Inks and Resins | $127M |
Epple Druckfarben | $60M |
Zeller+Gmelin | $55M |
Environmental Inks & Coatings | $44M |
Ruco Druckfarben | $44M |
Encres Dubuit | $30.9M |
Brancher Company | $26.8M |
Cromos S.A. Tintas Graficas | $23M |
1 | Dainippon Ink & Chemicals, Inc. (Including Sun Chemical Corporation) |
Nihonbashi 3-chome, Chuo-ku
Tokyo 103-8233
Japan
Phone: +81-3-3272-4511
Fax: +81-3-3278-8558
Internet: www.dic.co.jp
E-mail: webmaster@dic.co.jp
Sales: $4.4 billion in graphic arts, including Sun Chemical, which has $3.0 billion in printing ink sales. Total sales: $8.02 billion.
Major Products: Offset, gravure, flexo, news, letterpress, digital inks and metal decorating inks for cans.
Key Personnel: Kozo Okumura, president; Kazuhiko Yoshida, executive vice president; Koji Oe, senior managing director, president of graphic arts materials business operation; Toshiro Sugai, division president, printing inks and supplies; Yougi Togo, division president, liquid ink; Akio Yorisue, division president, news ink; Mitsunobu Miyasaka, general manager, sheetfed ink R&D; Shinichi Yamauchi, general manager, liquid ink R&D.
Number of Employees: 27,000.
Comments: Dainippon Ink & Chemicals’ (DIC) graphic arts operations had a good year in 2002-03, with sales increasing 0.5 percent from 2001. In particular, sales were up sharply in Asia and Oceania, made modest gains in Europe and the U.S., but slipped domestically.
Despite a weak demand in the market which reflected the economic environment in Japan, DIC reported that the result of its domestic operations were fairly good with a series of new, innovative products such as Space Color Values-G, a sheetfed process ink, and Web World Advan, a heatset web offset ink. Gravure ink also fared well with environmental-friendly products, according to DIC officials.
Sales in Asia/Oceania expanded more than 10 percent in 2002 compared with the previous year. Notably, sales in China rose sharply and outpaced the country’s GDP growth, reflecting brisk demand in the Chinese market in offset and liquid inks, particularly in gravure. In some countries, such as Indonesia and Philippines, market conditions were weak due to political instability. DIC also fared well in other Asia/Oceania markets, especially in Thailand, where both liquid and news ink sales increased, and in Australia, where news ink exports rose.
As the printing industry in China continues to expand, so does competition. Despite the double-digit growth in the printing industry in China in recent years, competition in the printing ink industry has become quite intense and price declines have not stopped. DIC said it plans to address this issue by providing technologically advanced products, expanding product lines to extend its customer base and providing total solutions to the printers, especially to export-oriented customers.
To that end, DIC established DIC (China) Co., Ltd. in July. DIC (China) serves as a shareholding company for 20 DIC subsidiaries in PRC, including six graphic arts companies. With a special regional headquarters status approved by the Chinese government, DIC (China) is expected to enhance DIC Group’s performance in China in the years ahead.
The DIC group has more than 15 years’ experience in the Chinese market, and with that advantage, the company will continue to look for an opportunity to further expand business in China.
DIC’s new gravure ink plant in Thailand is now under construction and is expected to commence operation in January 2004 to meet growing demand in the country. Restructuring and streamlining Indonesian operations is also planned in the next year, where currently two organizations (DIC Indonesia and Coates Indonesia) exist.
Overall, DIC’s leadership anticipates that the economic climate will remain difficult in fiscal year 2004, but that it will overcome that through increasing sales and cost reductions.
The company launched a variety of new products in 2002, including its Web World Advan, a high-performance, environmentally-friendly heatset web offset ink, as well as New Champion F-Gloss sheetfed standard color ink.
2 | Flint Ink Corporation |
Ann Arbor, MI 48105-2773
U.S.A.
Phone: +1 (734) 622-6000
Fax: +1 (734) 622-6131
Internet: www.flintink.com
E-mail: webmaster@flintink.com
Sales: $1.4 billion
Major Products: Cold and heatset web offset, sheetfed offset, flexographic, gravure, UV/EB and ink jet inks and coatings for publication, news package, commercial and digital printing applications; advanced and conductive inks for radio frequency identification (RFID), smart/active labels and other printed electronics applications; and dry, flushed and presscake pigments and aqueous dispersions.
Key Personnel: H. Howard Flint II, chairman and CEO; Leonard D. (Dave) Frescoln, president; Linda J. Welty, COO; David B. Flint, executive vice president; William B. Miller, president, Flint Ink North America; Damian Johnson, president, Flint Ink India/Pacific; Henry Leong, president, Flint Ink Asia; Jerko E. Rendic, president, Flint Ink Latin America; James J. Mahony, chairman and CEO, Flint-Schmidt GmbH & Co. KG; Dr. Helmut Schmidt, COO, Flint-Schmidt GmbH & Co. KG; Dr. Kenneth D. Stack, president, Jetrion LLC; James C. Rohrkemper, president, Precisia LLC; W. Rucker Wickline, president, CDR Pigments & Dispersions; Dr. Joseph W. Raksis, senior vice president, research and new product development; Michael J. Gannon, senior vice president and CFO; Dr. Graham C. Battersby, vice president, research and development; Glenn T. Autry, vice president, human resources; John R. (Jack) Benson, vice president, corporate procurement; Dennis L. Cavner, vice president, manufacturing services; Lawrence E. King, vice president, general counsel and secretary; Kathryn P. Marx, vice president, marketing and strategic planning; Diane K. Watt, vice president, emerging business segments; Donald G. Barnowski, vice president and CIO; James A. Steel, vice president and treasurer; David A. Sikorski, vice president, controller; Ron S. Muawad, vice president of business finance.
Number of Employees: 4,600 worldwide.
Comments: 2003 was a banner year for Flint Ink, as the company launched two separate business units, strengthened its position in Europe and Asia, added key executives and introduced numerous innovative new products to the marketplace.
Early in the year, Flint Ink reorganized its worldwide business operations into five divisions: North America, Latin America, Europe, India/Pacific and Asia. The scope and complexity of Flint Ink’s business in the Asia/Pacific region, formerly a single division, have increased significantly in recent years, with the 1998 acquisition of the Manders-Premier operations in Australia and New Zealand, the Flint-Incowax joint venture in India, joint ventures in China and other business activity.
The former Asia/Pacific region is now organized into two divisions: Flint Ink India/Pacific, which includes Australia, New Zealand and India, and is headed by India/Pacific president Damian Johnson; and Flint Ink Asia, which includes southeast Asia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Korea, Japan, and China, and is headed by Asia president Henry Leong.
In announcing the reorganization, Flint Ink president Dave Frescoln said, “I am pleased that our business in the Asia/Pacific region has progressed so well. This change will provide for accelerated growth and continuous improvement of our operations.”
In July, Flint Ink named Linda Welty COO for the corporation, responsible for the company’s ink manufacturing operations on a global basis. Ms. Welty’s broad international experience in the specialty chemical industry includes previous positions with H.B. Fuller, Clariant and Hoechst-Celanese.
“Linda’s international operational experience in specialty chemicals will be a valuable asset as we continue to expand globally,” said H. Howard Flint II, Flint Ink chairman and CEO.
In February, Flint Ink launched the first of two new separate business units. Jetrion, LLC was created to provide a full range of industrial ink jet products, services and custom printing solutions on a global basis. This represented a multi-million dollar commitment by Flint Ink, and was coupled with tripling its dedicated digital staff. Dr. Kenneth Stack, formerly vice president/general manager of Flint Ink’s digital division, was named president of Jetrion.
According to Dr. Stack, Jetrion is unique in its combination of ink, hardware, software and services for continuous ink jet (CIJ) and drop-on-demand (DOD) applications. “No other company can offer such a full range of ink jet solutions as Jetrion,” he said.
Jetrion’s product portfolio includes two dozen ink, makeup and wash products for addressing and coding applications, including solutions for Scitex, Videojet, Domino and Image technology. Black addressing inks and a variety of UV and other solvent inks are available for DOD applications. A recent service agreement with DataJet Services, Norcross, GA, has enabled Jetrion to offer customized hardware support, networking and training for its customers, including both preventive maintenance monitoring and a 24-hour response hotline.
In early 2003, Flint Ink announced its commitment to become the leading provider of conductive and advanced printing inks. In August, the company made its first move to increase its strength, launching Precisia, LLC, a separate business unit responsible for building the company’s radio frequency identification (RFID) business, in addition to other printed electronics applications, including smart/active packaging, printed electronics, lighting and displays. Flint Ink’s multi-million dollar commitment to support its initiatives in the printed electronics segment includes staff expansion and development of a state-of-the-art printed electronics resource center.
At Precisia’s helm is president James Rohrkemper, who was previously vice president of Flint Ink’s emerging business segments.
The Precisia Printed Electronics Resource Center will be located within 10 miles of Flint Ink’s world headquarters in Ann Arbor, MI, and is expected to open later this year.
On the European front, more than a year after Flint Ink Europe merged with Gebr. Schmidt to create Flint-Schmidt GmbH & Co. KG, the integration process has been substantially completed, and Flint-Schmidt is poised to maximize the benefits presented by the merger. Throughout the process, the focus remained on customers, with extensive communications emphasizing the combined strengths of Flint-Schmidt, an enlarged product portfolio, the “best of both worlds” in technical solutions and quality of products, and integrated technical and commercial sales teams to provide greater support and reduced response times.
Significant efforts were made to blend the two company cultures to ensure a smooth transition for new joint management teams, including offering English and German language courses. As a result of these integration activities, Flint-Schmidt customers now benefit from the consolidated base of one of the top three ink manufacturing companies in Europe.
In the Asian region, Flint Ink’s joint venture in China, Flint Ink (Beijing) Printing Ink Company Limited, is proceeding at full speed. Flint Ink is constructing an ink manufacturing and blending facility in Beijing, in cooperation with Graphic-Tech, Flint Ink’s long-time distributor in Hong Kong, and four major Chinese newspapers. The new plant for Flint Ink (Beijing) Printing Ink Company Ltd. is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2003.
Flint Ink announced an alliance with CGM Security Solutions, a manufacturer of brand validation and security products. Together, Flint Ink and CGM will develop products designed to improve protection capabilities for brand owners. CGM holds numerous patents as well as proprietary technology in anti-counterfeiting measures.
Flint Ink and the SICPA Group, based in Switzerland, finalized several business transactions in which SICPA acquired Flint Ink’s worldwide business for security inks used on currency and other negotiable instruments. In return, Flint Ink acquired SICPA’s worldwide heatset and coldset ink business.
The agreement did not include any of the security technology associated with brand protection or supply chain management that Flint Ink is exploring with alliance partners Keymaster and CGM. The acquisition is expected to significantly strengthen Flint-Schmidt’s customer base in Europe and Flint Ink India/Pacific’s market share in Australia and New Zealand.
The company has also been selling off some of its operations. Flint Ink North America sold some of its water-based overprint coatings technology and business assets to Noveon, Inc. The transaction covered water-based formulations, with the exception of moisture barrier, tobacco and security coatings, which Flint Ink will continue to produce. Flint Ink will continue to offer a complete line of coating products to customers.
In August, Flint Ink North America sold Arcar Graphics, LLC, which Flint Ink acquired from Alper Group, LLC in 2000, to Environmental Inks and Coatings Corporation. Arcar Graphics manufactures water-based and UV-curable inks and coating for the flexographic and screen printing label and packaging industries.
Flint Ink North America president Bill Miller explained that while the company “has an ongoing global commitment to the packaging, commercial, publication, newspaper and directory printing markets, at present, conventional narrow web applications are not part of our strategic focus.”
Several new ink systems were added to Flint Ink’s portfolio in 2003, including new Duracure inks, formulated to provide outstanding press performance and adhesion to nonporous substrates; the Arrowmax 1000 ink system, a premium, stay-open ink system ideal for use in commercial printing applications; and X•Treme Dispersions, a high-strength, water-based ink system that uses new color technology to meet the needs of converters that require stronger inks.
In addition, Matrixcure Web was added to Flint Ink’s successful Matrixcure line. In September, Flint-Schmidt announced new, improved formulations of its Arrowstar sheetfed ink systems for folding carton printers, commercial printers and converters.
3 | Toyo Ink Mfg. Co., Ltd. |
3-13 Kyobashi
2-chome, Chuo-Ku
Tokyo 104-8377
Japan
Phone: +81-3-3272-5741
Fax: +81-3-3278-9897
Internet: www.toyoink.co.jp;
www.toyoinkus.com (U.S.)
E-mail: master@toyoink.co.jp;
master@toyoinkus.com (U.S.)
Sales: $1.0 billion in printing ink and graphic arts supplies; consolidated results: $1.81 billion.
Major Products: Heatset/coldset web, sheetfed, waterless and UV/EB, news offset; solvent- and water-based packaging, solvent publication gravure; solvent, water-based and UV/EB flexo; letterpress; solvent-based and UV screen; dry and liquid toners and ink jet inks.
Key Personnel: Mutsuo Nagashima, chairman; Kunio Sakuma, president and CEO; Tsuneo Tanaka, executive vice president and COO; Yoshio Usui, senior managing director and chief project officer; Norio Fukumura, CTO; Kazumi Shiina, CIO; Yasukuni Odaka, CMO; Masaru Suzuki, CFO; Toshio Inaue, chief global business officer.
Number of Employees: 6,411 (consolidated).
Comments: Toyo Ink’s sales were slightly off in 2002-03, although the company did see strong growth in China and Southeast Asia. The company has expanded production and sales bases in Eastern China and in Thailand, while strengthening cooperation with local companies in other regions.
Toyo is maintaining its focus on environmentally-friendly products, with an emphasis on soy oil-based offset inks that are certified by Ecomark and SOY Seal. The company also offers gravure inks and water-based gravure inks that have no toluene that are cured by UV and EB.
As Toyo Ink approaches its 100th anniversary in 2007, the company is in the midst of its “Take Off 2007” program. In 2003, the company began its “Jump 1” phase, to establish a number one brand, with an emphasis on being a good partner in the global market, managing cash flow with capital efficiency, being a responsible chemical manufacturer, and building a dynamic corporate group for its workers.
4 | BASF Drucksysteme GmbH |
70469 Stuttgart-Feuerbach
Germany
Phone: +49(0)711/9816-0
Fax: +49(0)711/9816-700
Internet: www.basf-printingsystems.com
E-Mail: info@basf-drucksysteme.de
Sales: $762.5 million.
Major Products: K+E and Fishburn web coldset, web heatset, sheetfed and UV offset; solvent- and water-based flexo; publication and packaging gravure; letterpress; fountain solutions, overprint varnishes and specialties.
Key Personnel: Jürgen Steinmetz, president; Dr. Stefan Wegener, business director, offset, PG; Frauke Meissner, business director, liquid inks; Dr. Thomas Telser, business director, printing plates.
Number of Employees: 2,500.
Comments: BASF Drucksysteme GmbH had another strong year of growth, as the ink segment experienced an increase of 4 percent throughout its international operations. In a personnel move, Frauke Meissner now heads BASF’s liquid inks business.
The company launched a variety of new products throughout the year, including its Novawave series for corrugated board, NovaArt F 2008 high quality ink for sheetfed offset, which provides high gloss and extreme brilliance; and its Flexodessin WS/7 flexo inks for tissue printing. BASF Drucksysteme GmbH also introduced nyloflex N36 photopolymer printing plates for flexo newspaper printing.
5 | Sakata Inx Corp. |
1-23-37 Edobori, Nishi-Ku
Osaka 550-0002 Japan
Phone: +81-6-6447-5847
Fax: +81-6-6447-5849
Internet: www.inx.co.jp
E-mail: intl-sales@inx.co.jp
Sales: $742.1 million (ink and graphic arts; $808.9 million total (consolidated).
Major Products: Commercial offset, sheetfed, heatset, and newspaper offset inks; gravure inks for flexible packaging; flexo inks for corrugated carton and paper bag; metal decorating inks; UV/EB varnishes; and inks for ink jet printers.
Key Personnel: Kazumi Suzuki, president; Masao Ikemoto, executive vice president, CFO, international operation; Mitsuo Matsuzawa, managing director, newspaper ink, electrographic and information products.; Kunitaka Fujiwara, managing director, production, research and development; Hiroshi Ota, managing director and chairman, INX International Ink Company; Saburo Araki, director, offset printing ink and graphic arts and corporate marketing and development; Kiyoharu Nishimura, director, human resources; Junzou Matsuki, director, packaging ink; Hirotsugu Takamaru, director, gravure ink; Masaaki Komori, director, corporate planning, purchasing and information system.
Number of Employees: 2,777 (consolidated basis); 887 (non-consolidated).
Comments: While the state of the economy worldwide did have an impact in Sakata Inx in 2002, the company did well. Sakata Inx’s sales climbed $92 million compared to fiscal year 2001 in its printing ink business in Japan, with an increase in volume covering the fall in unit price under the impact of Japan’s sluggish economy. In Asian countries, Sakata Inx India had the best results.
In the U.S., ink sales decreased 2 percent in volume and declined 4.2 percent in sales from the previous fiscal year, though the sales volume for both flexo and gravure inks increased significantly and web offset ink sales decreased. In Europe, Sakata Inx registered a 9 percent increase in volume and 12 percent increase in sales.
One key area where Sakata Inx is working with its customers is digital technologies. The printing industry is showing remarkable progress of digitalization from prepress to post-process in printing related equipment and materials not only in commercial offset printing, but also flexo and gravure printing. The company has established a new organization for system development and to offer advice in supplying both software and hardware products for workflow management.
Sakata Inx continues to expand its operations, with particular emphasis placed on China. In Shanghai, Sakata Inx has started construction of a new ink plant to meet the increasing demand of the market. The new plant is expected to start operations in the second quarter of 2004. The company has also been planning expansions for manufacturing plants in Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Spain to meet the demand of the respective countries.
Sakata Inx continues to expand environmentally-friendly products to protect the global environment as one of strategic issue for company’s management. The company has aggressively launched a variety of new products.
For example, Belle Color, a non-toluene and non-MEK gravure laminating ink for reverse gravure printing ink for flexible packaging, has been well accepted by the market. This ink was developed to meet the requirement of rising concern toward environmental issues such as improving the working environment at the press and eliminating air pollution problems. In 2003, Sakata Inx introduced its Diatone Waterless Ecopure SOY CL, waterless and 100% vegetable oil inks such as soybean oil-based offset sheetfed ink, which are firsts for the Japanese ink industry.
6 | SICPA Group |
Avenue de Florissant 41
1008 Prilly
Switzerland
Phone: +41-21-627-5555
Fax: +41-21-627-5515
Internet: www.sicpa.com
E-mail: sicpa@sicpa.com
Sales: $725 million.
Major Products: Security inks for currency, valuable documents and other securities; sheetfed offset inks for packaging; flexo, gravure, UV, letterpress and screen inks for packaging.
Key Personnel: Jean Daloglou, president and CEO (until Dec. 31, 2003), Jan Secher, COO (until Dec. 31, 2003) and CEO as of Jan. 1, 2004.
Number of Employees: 3,500 worldwide.
Comments: While SICPA achieved 6.6 percent overall growth in 2003, notwithstanding the fact that market conditions were not easy, this past year was a time of numerous major changes for the company on quite a few fronts, beginning with the announcement that president and CEO Jean Daloglou will be stepping down on Dec. 31, 2003, with COO Jan Secher taking over as CEO.
In March, SICPA acquired Flint-Schmidt’s security ink division while selling Flint-Schmidt its heatset/coldset division. This move allows SICPA to completely focus on security and packaging inks.
In another major move, SICPA signed a distribution agreement with Encres Dubuit, a French-based screen ink company. The agreement with Dubuit allows for better geographical coverage for the distribution and service of SICPA’s UV/EB reactive inks. The distribution agreement, signed in March 2003, is now fully in place in Southeast and continental Asia as well as in South America.
Encres Dubuit provides SICPA with an extensive network of distributors and with its expertise on CD-DVD printing, and allows better access for all printers, especially for global key accounts, to the UV waterless ink series Sicura Disc, more efficiency in development and promotion, as well as higher sales, reducing the unit operating expenses in production at SICPA and in sales at Dubuit.
In September, SICPA opened its new manufacturing facility in Bornem, Belgium. Once fully operational by the end of 2003, it will produce 25,000 tons of water-based and solvent-based liquid inks annually. Bornem will become SICPA’s main manufacturing site for Europe, with Annemasse in France being the second one. The expected benefits for customers are an optimized supply chain and greatly improved quality assurance.
With its emphasis on security – it is estimated that SICPA makes 90 percent of the inks used worldwide on currency and other sensitive documents – and packaging, the company is always developing new products. This past year has been no exception.
SICPA’s most recently launched products include UNIBox for flexo folding carton applications, UNISoft for the tissue business and UNIMail for the envelope market.
For flexible packaging, SICPA’s strategy is to provide nitro solutions to cover every flexible packaging application. These solutions are now provided around the Access system. Using in-house patented resins, the Access range has recently been extended with Access Lam WB, a unique solution to print gravure and flexo on every substrate, subsequently laminated with either water-based or alcohol-based adhesives, and gets very high bond strength; Access Lam HP, a nitro solution for both flexo and gravure retort packaging; and Access Sleeve, a full NC solution for high definition sleeve printing, both in flexo and gravure.
7 | Tokyo Printing Ink Mfg. Co., Ltd. |
2-7-15, Tabatashinmachi
Kita-ku, Tokyo
Japan
Phone: +3-5692-7314
Fax: +3-5692-7341
Internet: www.tokyoink.co.jp
E-mail: ftd@tokyoink.co.jp
Sales: $454.3 million.
Major Products: Sheetfed and heatset offset inks; gravure inks for paper, plastic film and other applications.
Key Personnel: Atsuo Ohashi, president; Kenzou Kawaziri and Yoshihiko Yokota, senior managing directors; Shigeru Katabami, marketing director; Yasumori Tanaka, managing technical director; Michio Takao, technical director.
Number of Employees: 763.
Comments: Tokyo Printing Ink made gains in 2002-03, as the company’s sales increased 1.1 percent, a major improvement over 2001. The company’s Zipset offset inks, including sheetfed, heatset, UV, metallic, rubber-based and magnetic inks and process and Pantone colors, are its major product lines.
Established in 1923, Tokyo Printing Ink remains one of the leading Japanese printing ink manufacturers, with seven factories in Japan. In addition, Tokyo Printing Ink manufactures specialty chemicals, including color and additive concentrates and compounds, and the company’s expertise in color formulating and polymer modifying technology offers customers strong solutions for making their products even better.
The company also has alliances throughout the Asia/Pacific region, as well as in Mexico and the U.S., where it has a subsidiary, Tokyo Printing Ink Corporation U.S.A., located in Rancho Dominguez, CA.
Tokyo Printing Ink announced a strategic distribution agreement with GraphLine, in which the Tamarac, FL-based graphic arts distributor will sell, service and support the company’s line of Zipset printing ink, varnishes and additives.
8 | Huber Gruppe |
D81111 Kirchheim Heimstetten
Germany
Phone: +49-89-9003-0
Fax: +49-89-9003-222
Internet www.mhm.de
Sales: $380 million (Ink World estimate).
Major Products: Sheetfed, coldset and heatset offset inks; water- and solvent-based gravure packaging inks; water- and solvent-based flexo packaging inks; letterpress inks; security and intaglio inks; heat transfer inks; and toners for laser printers and copiers.
Key Personnel: Heiner Ringer, CEO; Winfried Gleue, president and CEO, Hostmann-Steinberg North America.
Number of Employees: Approximately 1,700 (Ink World estimate).
Comments: Part of MHM Holding Group, the Huber-Gruppe consists of 21 international companies, including Hostmann-Steinberg Printing Inks, Stehlin + Hostag AG and Gleitsman Security Inks GmbH. Overall, the company is an industry leader in both the offset and packaging markets in Germany and abroad, where the company earns more than half of its sales.
Huber-Gruppe has nine companies in Germany, U.S., Canada, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Ireland and many independent marketing subsidiaries, representatives and dealership agreements in approximately 100 countries around the world.
The company also manufacturers printing varnishes, damping solution additives, printing auxiliaries, filler material for telecommunication cables and toner for laser printers and copiers, as well as on special engineering work for machinery manufacture.
8 | Siegwerk Group |
53721 Siegburg, Germany
Phone: +49-2241-3040
Fax: +49-2241-304777
Internet: www.siegwerk.com
E-mail: uk@siegwerk.de
Sales: $380 million.
Major Products: Packaging inks for flexo and gravure, UV inks, publication gravure inks, heatset and coldset (newspaper) web offset inks, printing varnishes and printing auxiliary materials.
Key Personnel: Herbert Forker, president and CEO; Dr. Oliver Wittmann, CFO; Ralf Hildenbrand, president, business unit packaging and member of the board of managers; Dr. Ansgar Nonn, president, business unit print-media and member of the board of managers.
Number of Employees: 1,200 in seven countries worldwide.
Comments: While 2002 was a down year for most companies in the ink and printing industries, Siegwerk Group was able to maintain its sales while opening new subsidiaries in Great Britain, Poland, Brazil and Portugal.
“2002 was a successful year for the Siegwerk group,” said Herbert Forker, Siegwerk Group’s president and CEO. “The turnover could more or less be maintained thanks to the start-up of new subsidiaries abroad. The company could even significantly increase the operational result due to consequent improvements in efficiency. This successful economic development of the Siegwerk group of companies was even more remarkable, as many other companies in the German and European printing industry suffered steep downward tendencies in their business.”
In spite of the troubled publication segment, Mr. Forker said that Siegwerk did well in the publication gravure and heatset markets.
“The print media market went through bad times again in 2003,” Mr. Forker said. “Downturn in the advertising business and dropping numbers of copies lowered the demand for inks significantly. Despite this, we still managed to increase our turnover in publication gravure printing, as we could win new customers, among others, in the U.S. In the web offset ink sector, we are growing the heatset area happily at a two-digit figure. In the coldset area, we are suffering, like all printing ink manufacturers, from the bad conditions in newspaper printing.”
Mr. Forker said that the increased consolidation and globalization of the printing business demands that ink companies continue to work harder to meet the need of its customers.
“The concentration in the printing industry continues,” Mr. Forker said. “The importance of the large printing groups in the print media area and the large consumer goods manufacturers in the packaging area increases steadily. In the business unit packaging, we have set ourselves high growth goals for 2003. The increasing internationalization gives us the possibility to meet the demand of our key accounts as a globally acting printing ink manufacturer. Apart from stimulating organic growth, we repeatedly check the possibilities to grow externally, either through cooperations or acquisitions.”
Siegwerk prides itself on new product development in concert with its customers. In 2003, the company introduced a wide variety of products, including work in the lacquer area through the development and patenting of sealing, embossing and relief lacquers.
Siegwerk also created new inks for retortable pouches, as well as new UV flexo printing inks with its series Z-UV 41 SR white and Z-UV 42 SR colors with low odor level after curing.
Siegwerk Group is continuing its environmental efforts by investing $14 million in a new container cleaning center, which Mr. Forker said is the “most modern and largest container cleaning center in the printing ink industry worldwide.”
Mr. Forker said that 2004 promises to be even more active for the company, including further expanding its subsidiaries. In addition, the company is looking forward to Drupa.
"In 2004, we shall increasingly employ new staff in the subsidiaries
abroad to compensate the increased demand in situ better," he said. "Also, for several months we are preparing ourselves intensively for Drupa. We can already promise one thing now: We will be present with a sensational stand and many technical innovations at the exhibition."
10 | Inctec Inc. |
Yokohama
Japan
Phone: +81-45-932-5121
Fax: +81-45-933-7422
Internet: www.dnp.co.jp/inctec/home.htm
Sales: $360 million.
Major Products: Sheetfed, web offset (heatset, coldset), waterless, UV offset, news, solvent-based and water-based gravure, UV/water-based flexo, digital ink and toner.
Key Personnel: Shigemitsu Hatakeyama, president; Tomio Koike, senior executive officer, sales division; Takao Suzuki and Makoto Isshiki, senior executive officer; Takeo Muranaka, executive officer, manufacturing and technical division.
Number of Employees: 850.
Comments: Because of the severe economic environment, Inctec Inc. had no sales increase in 2002. The sales of products decreased by 1.8 percent in volume and 15 percent in value. However, by strengthening its ink segments and sales expansion of chemical products, Inctec Inc. secured a profit of $18 million, the highest in the company's history.
Affected by a drop in advertising, the sales of news ink decreased slightly, and for letterpress ink, sales decreased drastically due to the shift to offset printing. Sheetfed offset ink increased in shipments by 9 percent, supported by strong demand in China, and web offset ink increased by 1.8 percent. For publishing gravure, sales dropped by 12.2 percent in volume, affected by the drop in number of copies, and by taking the effect of the PRTR law, there was as shift to offset ink for reducing the use of toluene.
Following its ISO 14001 in 2002, Inctec Inc. was certified with ISO 9001:2000 in June 2003. Now, Inctec Inc. intends to strengthen its flexography, water-based and UV ink segment while also trying to shift the company to chemical products, by sales expansion of sublimation transfer ink through the spreading of digital cameras, and also by improving the quality and cost down.
Through the application and development of nano-dispersion technology, both for organic and inorganic particles, there has been a sharp increase in volume in precision processing materials.
In 2002, Inctec Inc. invested $17.1 million, mainly in manufacturing equipment for color photo resist, ink jet ink and high viscosity news ink, where demand for high quality printing with digital processing is rising. Inctec Inc. is further challenging the improvements of its manufacturing method to reduce costs.
11 | Akzo Nobel Inks |
S-231 25 Trelleborg
Sweden
Phone: +46-410-59200
Fax: +46-410-44094
Internet: www.aninks.com
E-mail: info@hq.aninks.com
Sales: $275 million (including Trenal).
Major Products: Full range of web offset inks; sheetfed offset inks; liquid inks; and narrow web inks.
Key Personnel: Peter Koivula, president and CEO; Niclas Nystrom, CFO; Bertil Ahlberg, marketing and communication; Leif Svensson, purchasing; Mikael Aspelin, legal affairs; Peter Håkansson, production and engineering; Börje Börjesson, cash management and HSEQ; Business unit managers: Jens P. Pipper (web offset inks); Allan Humphris (sheetfed offset ink); Fredrik Danielsen (liquid inks) and Ewald Draajer (narrow web inks).
Number of Employees: 960 (including Trenal).
Comments: It has been an exciting time for Akzo Nobel Inks (ANI), which is the worldwide leader in inks and services for the narrow web printing industry.
The company has flourished since its management buyout (MBO) in February 2002, and has begun an aggressive expansion plan, highlighted by the acquisition of Belgium-based Trenal S.A. in May 2003.
Akzo Nobel Inks acquired the entire share capital of Trenal S.A., a leading independent supplier specialized in web coldset news inks and heatset inks that employs nearly 100 people and had a turnover in 2002 of E42 million. The acquisition gives Akzo Nobel Inks access to Trenal's geographic and technological offerings.
“First of all, there was an opportunity as the owner family was looking for a partner to secure the future of Trenal,” said Peter Koivula, president and CEO of ANI. “Secondly, in our strategy, we say that we want to grow in product or geographical areas that fit into our present structure, taking part in the consolidation of the printing ink market.”
Mr. Koivula said that the transition has come along extremely well. “The integration has been smooth and quick,” Mr. Koivula said. “Very little overlapping business and a true spirit of cooperation have made things easy.”
In addition a new production site was opened June 2002 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with expanded laboratory facilities and modern ink dispensing units, especially for liquid inks.
Despite the depressed market, Akzo Nobel Inks did fairly well in 2002 due to various optimization projects started the year before which helped make the company slim and cost-effective. The company maintains a high share of the Nordic market and strong positions in selected areas in Europe.
“The deterioration of the sheetfed market is a problem with decreasing volumes and aggressive pricing,” Mr. Koivula said. “We can only continue to supply top-of-the-line products with high technical support service.”
ANI's new water-based flexo inks are spurring some of the company's growth.
“Our business unit liquid inks has totally renewed the water-based flexo inks series,” Mr. Koivula said. “This means we now can offer products that give better print quality, improved productivity and trouble-free production for our customers.
“The result is clearly visible as we have won some very major accounts since the change,” Mr. Koivula added. The industry can expect Akzo Nobel Inks to continue to explore new opportunities for growth through acquisitions in geographical or product areas that will fit the existing structure of the business.
“We will continue to follow our growth strategy, and that is only possible through acquisitions or mergers,” Mr. Koivula said.
12 | T&K Toka Co. Ltd. |
20 Izumi-cho, Itabashi-ku
Tokyo, Japan.
Phone: +03-3963-0511
Fax: +03-3963-0448
Internet: www.tk-toka.co.jp
Sales: $240 million (Ink World estimate).
Major Products: UV offset, letterpress, flexo and screen inks; sheetfed offset inks ; web offset heatset inks; gravure and flexo packaging inks; water-based varnishes; and metal decorating products.
Key Personnel: Cho Masuda, chairman; Ryozo Masuda, president; Kazushige Nagai, executive managing director; Yasuji Ikeda, managing director; Kazushige Hatakeyama, managing director.
Number of Employees: 880.
Comments: Since its inception in 1947, T&K Toka has been a leading Japanese printing ink manufacturer. Its emphasis on technology and kindness, representing the T&K in its name, shows its commitment to its customers.
In particular, T&K Toka has a sizable share of the UV ink market in Japan and in the countries it serves.
In addition to its headquarters in Japan, the company has operations in China, Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Bangladesh and a U.S. distributor, Top Level Ink in Dallas, TX.
13 | Dainichiseika Color & Chemicals |
7-6 Bakurocho 1-chome
Nihonbashi, Chuo-Ku
Tokyo 103-8383 Japan
Phone: +81-3-3662-7111
Fax: +81-3-3669-3936
Internet: www.daicolor.co.jp
Sales: $230 million (Ink World estimate).
Major Products: Sheetfed, heatset, waterless and UV offset, gravure and specialty inks; security and banknote inks; and overprint varnishes.
Key Personnel: Osamu Takahashi, president and chairman of the board; Minoru Yamamoto, vice president, composite printing systems; Yukio Hayami, senior
managing director, corporate planning and control; Mineo Tosa, senior managing director, prepared color and chemicals group; Shigemitsu Yamazaki, senior managing director, general affairs and personnel; Koji Takahashi, senior managing director, corporate administration department; Shigeaki Yamamoto, senior managing director, pigment and synthetic color group.
Comments: Dainichiseika Color & Chemicals Mfg. Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of heatset and sheetfed offset, gravure, UV and specialty inks, specializes in color-related technologies and products, which it supplies to a vast number of industries. Overall, the company has 57 affiliated companies, tallying $1.2 billion in sales.
Its colorants and printing inks division is its largest, with $887.5 million in sales, an increase of 4.9 percent from 2001, in spite of the continuing economic problems in Japan. The slumping domestic sales were offset by growth in China and other Asian companies.
The company utilized a combination of cost reduction, increased product mix and efficiency in manufacturing to achieve its results.
Dainichiseika has operations in Brazil, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. In the U.S., Dainichiseika has ink operations at Hi-Tech Color, Inc., Odenton, MD.
14 | Sericol International |
Pysons Road
Broadstairs, Kent, U.K. CT10 2LE
Phone: +44-1-843-866668
Fax: +44-1-843-872126
and Sericol, Inc.
1101 W. Cambridge Circle Dr.
Kansas City, KS 66103, USA
Phone: +1-913-342-4060
Fax: +1-913-342-475
Internet: www.sericol.com
Sales: $200 million (Ink World estimate).
Major Products: UV screen, UV flexo, UV digital and solvent-based screen inks.
Key Personnel: Ed Carhart, CEO of Sericol International; Mitch Bode, regional director, North America; Tony Sleight, regional director, Asia Pacific; Bob Watson, regional director, Europe; Peter Kenehan, managing director, digital business; Jerry Avis, strategy and business development director.
Number of Employees: 1,200 (Ink World estimate).
Comments: As digital technologies make headway into the more traditional printing markets, ink companies have had to decide whether to enter the rapidly growing digital market.
For Sericol, a leader in screen inks among other segments, there was a realization early on that ink jet technologies would make gains at the expense of some screen segments, but that there was also the potential for digital to enhance screen printing businesses.
As a result of this opportunity, Sericol made significant strategic investments in people, partnership development and other resources to develop its digital offering. That decision is paying off.
To that end, Sericol became the exclusive worldwide distributor of the Eagle flatbed digital press manufactured by Inca Digital Printers, Ltd. of Cambridge, England. The Eagle was specifically designed to use Sericol's UVijet four-color UV inks, which cure instantly but remain stable in the print head. The Eagle is the first commercially available wide format flatbed UV press that can print on flexible as well as virtually any rigid substrate up to 1.5” thick. Now with the launch of the second-generation machine, the Columbia, there are nearly 85 installations of these presses worldwide.
“Our digital project has been a great success,” said Ed Carhart, Sericol's CEO. “While we still believe strongly in the screen market, digital will continue to take share at the low run length end of the business. We're realistic about the factors that limit screen's growth as well as the pure opportunity digital provides our customers. For continued long term growth for our customers and our own business, we have invested heavily in digital technology.”
“We are finding that our digital platform is filling a niche, and many screen printers are finding it is enhancing their business,” said Bob Watson, Sericol's European regional director.
Peter Kenehan, Sericol's digital business managing director, said that Sericol's UVijet inks are doing exceedingly well. “UVijet is a UV curable pigmented ink jet ink which has immediate cure, excellent adhesion range, as well as lightfastness and durability without over laminates,” Mr. Kenehan said.
Sericol also continues to innovate in its traditional markets, as evidenced by its UVantage single screen ink solution for point-of-purchase applications and its UVivid multiple ink technology offering for the narrow web markets.
“UVantage was a breakthrough for the brand graphics and POP markets, where multiple substrates are frequently decorated by a single printer on a single promotional campaign,” said Mitch Bode, North American regional director. “Our R&D team engineered a one-ink solution for 85 percent of the typical POP substrates used, which reduces changeover time, streamlines printer ink inventory, simplifies color matching, and is employee-friendly.”
The company's UVivid family of UV flexo, rotary screen and letterpress inks offers high color density and consistent viscosity across the color range. A complete Pantone formula guide, produced through physical matches, has greatly improved UVivid's market penetration, according to company officials.
2002 was a landmark year for Sericol, as the company's management team, in conjunction with Saratoga Partners, signed an agreement with BP plc to acquire Sericol for approximately $115 million. The deal was closed on Jan.
31, 2003. Saratoga Partners, a leading independent New York-based firm, is the majority shareholder in the new company, while management has a significant interest.
Sericol officials are upbeat about market recovery and its own future. “The economy and our markets bottomed out in 2001, some recovery was seen in 2002, but the markets remained soft and generally lackluster,” said Mr. Carhart. “Results in 2003 have improved significantly with the business strengthening as the year progressed. The European market remains somewhat soft, but we are seeing recovery in the U.S. and very good results in Asia.
We remain very upbeat on 2004; we expect progressive improvement in all major world markets.”
“Sericol weathered this past economic storm very well,” Mr. Carhart concluded. “We've organized and positioned ourselves to take full advantage of the expected economic recovery.”
15 | Royal Dutch Printing Ink Factories Van Son |
Hilversum
Holland
Phone: +31 35 688 44 11
Fax: +31 35 688 44 04
Internet: www.vanson.nl
E-mail: info@vanson.nl
Sales: $150 million (Ink World estimate).
Major Products: Quickson Signature, Special Fresh and Special offset inks; water-based and solvent-based flexo inks, including the EV series for envelopes and AH series for packaging; digital inks; ink jet inks.
Key Personnel: Paul M. Brouwer, president; W.J. van Mastrigt, marketing director; W. Rosé, marketing director; W.H. De Boer, technical director.
Number of employees: 300 (Ink World estimate).
Comments: Royal Dutch Printing Ink Factories Van Son had a solid year in 2002, as the company continued to put R&D effort into new inks. In particular, the company is working on flexo, digital and ink jet inks, as the decline in the small offset market, Royal Dutch Printing Ink Factories Van Son's longtime mainstay, has led the ink company to work on developing ink jet and flexo technologies while putting new emphasis on the middle and large offset markets.
In personnel news, Robert Speijer was named the president of its U.S. subsidiary, replacing Joe Bendowski, president of the company since 1994.
16 | Hindustan Inks and Resins Ltd. |
Muktanand Marg,
Chala,Vapi-396191,
Gujarat, India.
Phone: +91-260-2460284/461786
Fax: +91-260-2463733
Internet: www.hindustaninks.com
E-mail: info@hindustaninks.com
Sales: $127 million.
Major Products: Heatset inks (low, medium and high tack), base black for heatset (low, medium and high tack), news black, sheetfed offset, no-heat web offset inks; liquid inks (flexo and gravure); coatings (aqua-base and UV); resins (modified hydrocarbon, hybrid, high molecular weight structured phenolics, alkyd resins). vehicles (flushing and gel). pigments (alkali blue 61, azo, phthalocyanine and flush pigments). flushes (alkali blue, phthalocyanine blue and others); wax compounds (microcrystalline and polyethylene).
Key Personnel: Main Board: Yunus Bilakhia, chairman; Anjum Bilakhia, managing director; Prashant Desai; M.L.Bhakta; K.K. Unni; Hasmukh Shah; Shivram Angne. Executive Board: Anjum Bilakhia, chairman of EB and managing director; Shivram Angne, director, technology & systems; Zakir Bilakhia, director, technical; Ramakrishna Kamat, director, domestic sales; Vinay Pandya, director, finance; Sanjay Shah, director, operations; Snehal Shah, director, international business development.
Number of Employees: Approximately 1,100.
Comments: Hindustan Inks & Resins Ltd. had another strong year in 2002-03, with sales increasing 12 percent to $127 million. Company officials attributed the gains to increased enthusiasm among printers globally to try its ink, and to the company's innovative product proposal and quick response times. As a result, the company now sells inks to 51 international markets.
Hindustan Inks & Resins has launched a variety of products in 2002-03, including a new series of sheetfed and heatset inks that offers very good tack stability and faster work and turn abilities. It also launched Nil Setoff coldest inks to meet demand, particularly in Asian markets. In addition, Micro Lam, a solvent-based gravure ink for BOPP and polyester, has
also proved popular. On the intermediate side, Hindustan Inks & Resins launched pre-dispersed products for publication gravure, UV and solvent-based gravure inks.
17 | Epple Druckfarben AG |
86005 Augsburg, Germany
Phone: +49-821-4603-0
Fax: +49-821-4603-200
Internet: www.epple-druckfarben.de
E-mail: info@epple-druckfarben.de
Sales: $60 million (Ink World estimate).
Major Products: Sheetfed inks; inks for perfecting presses; varnishes, fountain solutions and printing additives.
Key Personnel: Karla Berz-Epple, managing director and owner; Rudolf Epple, managing director and owner; Dr. Carl Epple, director of research and development.
Number of Employees: Approximately 200.
Comments: Augsburg, Germany-based Epple Druckfarben AG is a family-run sheetfed ink specialist and a leading supplier of inks for perfecting presses printing eight and more colors.
Epple Druckfarben AG continues to develop new products for its markets. In one such alliance, the company is producing inks for the BrightSign Colour System, a product of BrightSign GmbH. This system permits full four-color offset and screen printing of any photographic image which under normal conditions appears as an above standard high quality printed item, but which lights up as if backlit when an ultraviolet light source is thrown across it.
18 | Zeller + Gmelin GmbH |
Schlossstrausse 20
D-73054 Eislingen/Fils, Germany
Phone: +49-7161-8021
Fax: +49-7161-802-355
Internet: www.zeller-gmelin.de
E-mail: druckfarben@zeller-gmelin.de
Sales: $55 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: (Ink Division) Alex Stevenson, head of ink division; Marcus Ruckstaedter, marketing director, Germany; Dirk Natho, marketing director, export; Dr. Heinz Schweiger, group technical director. Intercolor Ltd. (U.K. subsidiary): Alex Stevenson, managing director; Mark Bowman, marketing director; Clive Surridge, technical director; Zeller & Gmelin Corp. (U.S. subsidiary) Damon Geer, marketing director; Steve Lazure, technical director; Zeller & Gmelin A/S (Scandinavia subsidiary) Per Thomsen, marketing director. Zeller & Gmelin B.V. (Benelux subsidiary) Willem van Lieshout, managing director.
Number of employees: 250.
Comments: 2002 was a solid year for Zeller+Gmelin (Z+G), the German UV ink specialists. While its sales remained at its 2001 level, U.K. and U.S. sales increased although that was offset by a decline in mainland Europe.
“Despite static sales, Zeller+Gmelin recorded a record level of profitability in 2002,” said Alex Stevenson, head of Zeller+Gmelin's printing ink division. “Particularly successful were the U.S., after our problems of 2000-2001, and most pleasing, the parent company in Germany itself.”
To continue its growth, Z+G is constructing an entirely new sales and service building complex at Eislingen, to house all printing ink functions under one roof, and is also upgrading its production equipment in U.K. to allow larger batching.
That the company has improved its profitability is remarkable considering the state of the industry.
“In our view, the print market has become more competitive and demanding in the last few years,” Mr. Stevenson said. “We have moved Zeller+Gmelin from a production-dominated environment to more of a service entity. This was no easy task in Germany. We find the overcapacity in the ink industry is creating a panic-led de-valuation of our products not by the printer, but by the ink companies themselves. We are reacting to it by refusing to follow the Œlemmings.' We are also moving strongly into the next of our Œniche' markets, such as security, brand protection, and UV ink jet. RFID conductive solutions are an area where we have already developed products, and we are now simply waiting for the end-user demand to develop.”
Zeller+Gmelin has developed a variety of new products, including new technologies for RFID applications.
“Our most recently launched products are the introduction of Optiscreen inks for rotary screen printing,” Mr. Stevenson said. “These were launched at Labelexpo in Brussels at the end of September. We have also developed at the laboratories of Intercolor in the U.K. a thin film UV curing conductive ink for intended use in the emerging RFID technology. We think this is a unique product in respect of its UV curing, and also it's thin film application aspect.”
Mr Stevenson said that Zeller+Gmelin added significantly to its personnel in the past year. In Germany, John Fehrenbacher and Norbert Ripprich, both highly experienced in the field of UV narrow web printing, joined the company's field sales team. Z+G also hired Andreas Schulze to strengthen its internal technical service center. John Kilbo was hired to head up Z+G's narrow web efforts in the U.S. market.
In Denmark, the company hired Glen Wieczorek, formerly of Etipol Machinery, to cover the Swedish sales territory. In the U.K., Nigel Gould-Martin was hired to represent Z+G's narrow web interests in the north of England.
19 | Environmental Inks and Coatings Corporation |
Morganton, NC 28655
Phone: (800) 368-4657; (828) 433-1922
Fax: (438) 438-9513
Internet: www.envinks.com
E-mail: marketing@envinks.com
Sales: $44 million (Ink World estimate).
Major Products: Water-based flexo, gravure, UV flexo, UV rotary screen and
UV letterpress inks, and overprint varnishes.
Key Personnel: Edward G. Redman, chairman of the board; Paul Schroeder, president and CEO; Gary Nance, CFO; Richard J. Gloeckler, senior vice president; Michael Harjung, vice president; Don Matthiesen, marketing manager; Kirk Franklin, technical director.
Number of Employees: 255.
Comments: While 2002-03 has been a difficult year for many ink manufacturers, Environmental Inks and Coatings (EIC) maintained its business and continued to implement its productivity initiatives. Meanwhile, the company was active on the acquisition front, acquiring Arcar Graphics from Flint Ink Corporation in August 2003. The purchase fits in with EIC's strategy of seeking growth opportunities through internal sales growth and acquisition, and because Arcar has been a very similar organization to EIC from its beginning, it was an attractive acquisition.
In addition to the increase in sales, the combined company has a larger selection of products to offer the customers of both companies. As both companies work closely together, the combined talent pool in sales, operations and technology have a much greater impact than each organization working independently. The products of both companies will continue to be available and will be made from products provided by the same suppliers they have used in the past.
EIC also made a major personnel move, as Ed Redman, the company's founder, has become chairman of the board, and will concentrate on emerging opportunities. Paul Schroeder, formerly Flint Ink's president of North American operations, has been named EIC's president and CEO.
To help its customers who are experiencing a much more competitive market for their products, EIC has developed several ways to help printers become more productive and make more money, including developing productivity software to reduce make-ready time.
EIC began manufacturing operations in Sneek, Holland in 2001, and its business is growing as European printers are rapidly adopting UV ink technology and the interest in water-based ink in growing in this traditionally “solvent” ink market. The Holland operation is currently establishing distributors and building its export business.
EIC has a strong reputation for product development, and 2002-03 was no exception. EIC introduced Hydro Lam II water-based ink for laminated packaging and upgraded the successful Poly Screen inks system with Poly Screen Plus, an even more press stable formulation. EIC has introduced several more rotary screen UV combination products for use with the Ultra Flex III ink series.
20 | Ruco Druckfarben/ A.M. Ramp & Co. GmbH |
Lorsbacher Strasse 28
D-65817 Eppstein,
Germany
Phone: +49-61-98-3040
Fax: +49-61-98-32288
Internet: www.ruco.de
E-mail: info@rucoinks.com
Sales: $44 million (Ink World Estimate).
Major Products: Publication gravure, full line of packaging gravure and flexo including UV flexo, a full line of silkscreen letterpress and pad printing inks, and UV waterless offset.
Key Personnel: Heinz Walter Menke, managing director; Reiner Schietinger, managing director.
Number of Employees: 200.
Comments: Based in Eppstein, a neighborhood of Frankfurt, Ruco Druckfarben exports more than 50 percent of its products to more than 70 countries through exclusive distributors. Recently the company opened an office in Hong Kong to strengthen growth efforts in the Southeast Asia. Ruco is successfully competing with its high quality and specialty products in a highly competitive market, as evidenced by its 3 percent growth in 2002.
Ruco Druckfarben emphasizes environmentally-friendly products, particularly in UV flexo, where company officials say its products help to avoid waste and reduce noise, wastewater and gas emissions. The company also manufactures screen inks, including for the CD market, and UV curable products for glass decoration in all the segments from beverage containers to flat glass and cosmetics.
The company launched a number of key products in 2003. First, the company developed UV ink jet inks. Ruco Druckfarben also introduced Rucolor, its new color matching system, which contains modern software, a database for all commonly used Ruco printing ink series and spectrophotometers and offers all features which are necessary to mix color shades according the customers' requirements.
The company also introduced Ruco Ink Manager is a complete solution to store and manage formulas for printing inks.
21 | Encres Dubuit |
ZI Mitry Compans
1 Rue Issac Newton
77292 Mitry Cedex, France
Phone: +33 1-6467-4162
Fax: +33 1-6467-1177
Internet: www.encresdubuit.com
E-mail: export@encresdubuit.com
Sales: $30.9 million.
Major Products: Screen printing, offset, flexo and specialty inks.
Key Personnel: Jacques Mounier, president, board of trustees; Jean-Louis Dubuit, president; Philippe Duminy, executive manager; Arnaud Maquinghen, vice president of sales and marketing; Jean-Pierre Sharp, general manager; Franck Meyer, administration and financial manager.
Comments: Encres Dubuit had a strong year in 2002-03, as sales increased 7 percent from fiscal year 2002. The company's international business continues to drive growth, with 60 percent of its business coming from sales outside of France. In particular, Dubuit Color, its company in Brazil, contributed a strong performance.
Meanwhile, the company made a variety of bold moves in 2003 that should pave the way for further gains in the coming years. First, the company opened Encres Dubuit Shanghai Co. Ltd. its latest international division, which will support the Chinese label industry.
In another move, Encres Dubuit entered into a distribution agreement with SICPA to exclusively market SICPA's waterless UV printing inks (Sicura DISC series) for printing CD/DVD blanks in Asia and South America.
In September, Encres Dubuit entered into a strategic marketing alliance with Nazdar, North America's largest manufacturer and distributor of screen and digital inks, equipment, and supplies, as the two companies have agreed to explore mutually attractive business opportunities in screen and digital print markets worldwide.
As for new products, Encres Dubuit launched Rotoprint, a rotary screen UV ink specially adapted for the “No Label Look” that the company introduced at Labelexpo Europe.
22 | Brancher Company |
28170 Tremblay les villages
France
Phone: +33 2 37 38 91 00
Fax: +33 2 37 38 91 21
Internet: www.brancher.com
E-mail: export@brancher.com
Sales: $26.8 million.
Major Products: Offset, flexo and UV inks.
Key Personnel: Olivier Brancher, president; Stephane Atoumo, international development director; Jean Marie Planchon, purchase director; Guillaume Proust, finance director; Thierry Dabadie, technical director.
Number of Employees: 145.
Comments: Brancher Company, a sheetfed offset, flexo and UV specialist, had a solid year in 2002. The company continues to reap the benefits of its new state-of-the-art industrial complex in the Eure-et-Loir Department in France, located 100 kilometers from Paris. The company continues to emphasize R&D, investing 6 percent annually. That strategy is paying dividends, as 25 percent of its sales are from its newly-developed products.
Approximately 25 percent of Brancher's sales are exported, with sales in 50 countries. Brancher Central Europe in Warsaw has been a particular highlight since it was founded in 2000, and the company has strong connections in China.
23 | Cromos S.A. Tintas Graficas |
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
21530-210
Phone: +55-21-2472-2525
Fax: +55-21-2471-3438
Internet: www.cromos.com.br
E-mail: mail@cromos.com.br
Sales: $23 million.
Major Products: Sheetfed, heatset, coldest, metalgraphic, solvent- and water-based flexo and gravure, UV offset and security inks.
Key Personnel: Jacques Antonio Aubry, president; Francisco Veloso Filho, marketing director; Gero Pluecker, technical director.
Number of Employees: 321.
Comments: Despite the worldwide economy, Cromos S.A. Tintas Graficas had a strong year in 2002, as the company's sales increased 1 percent. Cromos S.A.
Tintas Graficas' leaders note that while the market is becoming more and more competitive due to shrinking sales volume, their company keeps its market share through cost-adjusting policies, good service to customers and best quality products. Most recently, the company launched flexo and gravure inks for plastic substrates.
The leadership of Cromos S.A. Tintas Graficas has changed, as Theodor Jagodits, its longtime president, stepped down. He was succeeded by Jacques Antonio Aubry, who had been vice president.