35 Waterview Blvd.
Parsippany, NJ 07054
Phone: (973) 404-6000
Fax: (973) 404-6001
www.sunchemical.com


Sales: Together with DIC, Sun Chemical has annual sales of more than $6.8 billion in printing inks, coatings and supplies, pigments, polymers, liquid compounds, solid compounds, and application materials worldwide. Sun Chemical has annual sales of $3.5 billion in printing inks and colorants worldwide. North American Ink Sales: $1.5 billion (Ink World estimate).

Major Products: Broad product portfolio with capabilities in web heatset and sheetfed offset; publication and packaging gravure; news ink and publication coldset; flexographic packaging inks; corrugated packaging inks; energy curable inks and coatings; screen inks; label and narrow web inks; toner; inkjet materials; adhesives for packaging; overprint varnishes; specialty coatings; effect inks; flexographic printing plates; digital artwork file management; color software and brand color management; security inks and coatings; organic colorants for inks, plastics, paints, coatings and cosmetics; liquid compounds for printed circuits, printed electronics, solar modules, and digital inkjet printing; solid compounds for automotive components and glossy interiors as well as industrial, construction and other electrical components; adhesives for commercial and industrial electronics; magnetic tapes for plastic cards; and degasification modules for inkjet printing.

Key Personnel: Rudi Lenz, president and CEO, Sun Chemical and Board member; Charles Murray, president, North American Inks; Fernando Tavara, president, Sun Chemical Latin America; Myron Petruch, president, Performance Pigments and executive officer, DIC; Mehran Yazdani, president, Advanced Materials; Greg Hayes, group managing director, Europe Northern Region and Africa; Robert Fitzka, group managing director, Europe Central Region; Kevin Michaelson, VP and CFO; Carlo Musso, group managing director, Europe Southern Region and Middle East; John McKeown, senior VP, chief administration officer; Russell Schwartz, chief technology officer; Martin Cellerier, VP, corporate strategy; Jeffrey Shaw, chief supply chain, quality and business improvement officer; Brian Panczyk, VP operations and engineering; Felipe Mellado, chief marketing officer and Board member; James Van Horn, general counsel and secretary; Bradley Schrader, VP, corporate planning.

Number of Employees: DIC has more than 20,000 worldwide.

Operating Facilities: Sun Chemical has 176 subsidiaries across 63 countries.

Comments: The ink industry is seeing some growth, but there are areas such as coatings and printing markets outside of traditional fields such as publication and packaging that are expanding faster.

For Charles Murray, president of Sun Chemical North American Inks, the ability to formulate innovative new products for these growth areas is essential.

“We are not just an ink company,” Murray said. “We manage fluids. Our new product development is yielding benefits, and we continue to grow and develop in other areas outside of packaging and publication.

“The past year was a good year for Sun Chemical,” Murray added. “There was softness in some markets like publication, and that will only continue in that direction. On the packaging side, we developed into some new areas. Our growth in packaging and new business more than offsets the decline in publication, and we are always looking toward bolt-on acquisitions that bring benefits such as new technologies.”

For Sun Chemical, these new technologies – including pigments, conductive inks, inkjet inks, in-mold electronics, coatings and more – are spurring new revenues and markets.

“We are enjoying growth in our Performance Pigment, Advanced Materials and industrial businesses,” said Murray. “In pigments, we are growing in specialty pigments, metallics, automotive, architectural coatings and particularly in cosmetics. In Advanced Materials, printed electronics has yet to show significant growth in terms of dollars, but it is like when the Internet emerged.

There’s a whole push for intelligence and connectivity. Even in your home, appliances will eventually be connected to your smart phones and devices. The technology of tomorrow is exciting.

“In the industrial market, in-mold electronics are seeing a huge interest from manufacturers of white goods and automotive,” he added. “We have produced in-mold printed circuits for automotive roof controls, and it is one-tenth of the cost of the regular assembly. In coatings, we continue to develop opportunities in areas where we can’t sell inks. These technologies start to move across divisions in our organizations.”

In a major acquisition, Sun Chemical acquired the European publication gravure business from Flint Group. Murray noted that the continued decline in the publication gravure market makes consolidation a necessity.

“In publication gravure, we are seeing an 8% to 12% decline in the printing market,” Murray said. “Publishers and printers are consolidating. In a declining industry, if there isn’t consolidation, the decline will occur much quicker. There just isn’t a market for a large number of players. There’s a lot of merger and acquisition activity and consolidation throughout the supply chain, and while it is a necessary and good thing, my concern is whether it will stifle innovation.”


Sun Chemical is adding to its stable of new technologies for packaging inks, beginning with SunUno Solimax, with some innovative projects nearing their debuts.

SunUno Solimax provides high bond strength, is designed for use on numerous substrates and can be used for lamination or surface printing.

“In terms of highlights, in packaging we developed SunUno Solimax, a new range of inks that can be used for lamination or surface printing,” Murray said. “From the printer’s point of view, there is no need to carry two ranges of inks. For lightweighting, we continue to push the packaging industry with our SunBar oxygen barrier coatings.”

Murray is particularly excited about SunScreen, a new system that provides printers real time information while on press.

“We are currently working with major partners on SunScreen, a bespoke technology in which an ink or coating running on press can recognize in real time if it is being printed at the right place and right weight,” he said. “We developed this in our novel device lab in Carlstadt, NJ. With SunScreen, our printers know with confidence they are printing at the right weight and in the right place. No longer will a printer have to reach the end of the roll to see if there is wasted copy.”

Printers, brand owners and consumers alike are concerned about sustainability, and Sun Chemical has developed new liquid inks with high renewable content.

“One area of interest to our customers is environmental packaging, and we are working closely with our customers’ organizations to drive improvements in the areas of renewability, recyclability and sustainability,” said Murray. “We have just developed a range of liquid inks with a very high renewable content, made with natural products. Our renewable inks will be available across our liquid ink platform for a range of technologies.”

The evolution of the packaging market continues, and Murray sees opportunities for Sun Chemical to capitalize on its R&D acumen.

“At the end of the day, I see packaging continuing to evolve,” Murray observed. “Products will move from one form of packaging to another, and we can do things with packaging that could never have been achieved five years ago. For example, we are still waiting for the move to retort packaging in North America that has occurred in Asia and Europe. It is a proven technology, and there is an expectation that it will become widespread when it does become widely accepted in North America.

“The opportunities in the market will always be there,” Murray concluded. “My biggest concern is maintaining our ability to be reactive and responsive to the needs for change. We can never be content. I have a very positive outlook for the next 12 months.”