07.21.21
Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan 103-8233
Tel: +81 3-5203-7838
DIC: www.dic-global.com/en
Sun Chemical: www.sunchemical.com
Sales: DIC: $4.9 billion (¥532,800 million) in graphic arts sales. Total sales: $6.33 billion (¥701.2 billion, including Sun Chemical, which has more than $3.5 billion in ink and pigment sales.)
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, inkjet materials, adhesives for packaging, overprint varnishes, specialty coatings, effect inks, security inks and coatings, printing consumables, specialty polymers and pigments for inks, plastics, paints, coatings, and cosmetics.
Key Personnel: Kaoru Ino, president and CEO; Masayuki Saito, CFO and Sun Chemical Corp. chairman of the board; Masami Hatao, president, Color & Display Business Group; Naoyoshi Furata, GM, Production Management Unit; Kazuo Hatakenaka, president, Functional Products Business Group; Kiyotaka Kawashima, GM, Technical Management Unit; Myron Petruch, president and CEO, Sun Chemical; Masamichi Sota, president, Packaging and Graphic Business Group.
Number of Employees: 20,242 as of December 2020.
Comments: With more than 170 companies, including Sun Chemical, its North American/EMEA subsidiary, DIC Corporation is the world’s largest ink manufacturer. DIC had a solid year in graphic arts, with sales from its Packaging & Graphic and Color & Display divisions totaling $4.9 billion (¥532.8 billion), which was flat compared to the year before, a good result considering the COVID-19 pandemic.
Masamichi Sota, president, Packaging & Graphic Business Group, GM, Printing Material Products Division, DIC Corporation, noted that the impact of COVID-19 varied widely by country.
“While China recovered sharply after Q2, returning to normal after Q3, India and Pakistan were greatly impacted by infections and the lockdown, followed by Indonesia and the Philippines. Conversely, Vietnam and Taiwan saw relatively low impacts,” Sota observed.
“As infections grew, we were able to constantly supply the market with DIC packaging materials essential for daily living, thanks to the resilience of the robust Asia-Pacific supply chain established through many years of diligence,” added Sota. “I’m proud of DIC’s performance across the board thanks to brilliant management in each country. While demand for packaging materials was relatively unaffected, publishing-related material sales fell sharply, especially for newspaper inks. Although the situation is still unpredictable for some countries, we continue to supply high-quality products to our customers in each country while ensuring the safety of employees.”
Jim Van Horn, chief administrative officer, general counsel and secretary for Sun Chemical, reported that like most other companies during this time, Sun Chemical has been heavily impacted by COVID-19, not just due to changes in the markets served, but also changes in how the company serves those markets.
“We believe that businesses continue to search for the right way to serve and drive value to their customers, and keep their employees safe, productive and engaged,” said Van Horn. “Our talented and dedicated employees are working hard, either at our manufacturing plants, our labs, or remotely from their homes to make sure that we continue to provide the quality products and services that customers have come to depend upon from Sun Chemical.”
DIC and Sun Chemical reported numerous highlights during the past year. DIC obtained biomass certification for gravure inks for general-purpose film surface printing, shrink film and paper, and saw good results in antibacterial varnish for film surface printing for the individual packaging of antibacterial masks.
“Over the past year, DIC Packaging & Graphic Division made a major shift towards greater sustainability,” Sota noted. “In Japan, DIC has converted most of its gravure ink products to biomass, and widely deployed barrier coating agents that complement the barrier function of mono-material packages and PASLIM – an adhesive with added barrier properties – throughout Asia. In terms of new technology, DIC commenced demonstration experiments such as film de-inking and chemical recycling. In China, DIC introduced water-based gravure inks for flexible packaging.”
Throughout the past year, Sun Chemical has placed greater emphasis on sustainability, introducing a Corporate Sustainability Committee to further strengthen its approach to addressing the sustainability needs of the packaging industry.
“Additionally, along with DIC, we’ve introduced what we call ‘the five Rs’ – reuse, reduce, recycle, renew and redesign – as a way to guide a three-pillar approach to our sustainability efforts, each of which contributes to our sustainability initiatives in a unique way,” said Sun Chemical CTO Russ Schwartz.
“The first pillar is operations,” added Schwartz. “We have several key initiatives in place where we aim to reduce water and energy usage, waste and CO2 emissions in our operational processes and at our manufacturing facilities. The second pillar is products. We’re constantly looking to enable recyclability, bio-renewability and/or compostability within our product offerings while minimizing packaging weight and complexities.”
For example, Sun Chemical developed SunSpectro SolvaWash GR, a washable gravure ink technology. Designed to allow inks to be removed in a controlled way from post-consumer printed packaging in typical existing mechanical recycling processes without staining the recovered plastic flake or the process wash water, these inks were developed initially for crystallizable PET shrink sleeves that can be recycled together with PET bottles. The washable inks enable increased recovery of high-quality, clean, recycled plastic resin. Energy curable and water-based products are also being developed.
“Lastly, we prioritize our sustainability efforts through our cross-industry partnerships and collaborations,” Schwartz reported. “These relationships are critical in contributing to sustainability initiatives because they help us understand what the needs and gaps are in becoming more sustainable, especially in certain packaging industries.”
COVID-19 had a major impact on raw material pricing and availability for ink manufacturers, and DIC and Sun Chemical were no exception.
“COVID-19 had a significant impact on raw material prices and supplies,” Sota reported. “In addition, due to force majeure such as the wildfires and the cold wave in North America, several major suppliers experienced disrupted distribution networks, increasing logistics costs and spurring delivery delays that tightened raw material supplies and increased prices. Supply shortages continue for some raw materials. DIC and Sun Chemical continue to secure raw materials for stable production utilizing our global purchasing network.”
Jeffrey Shaw, chief supply chain officer at Sun Chemical, added that COVID-19 has, and continues to have, a significant impact on raw materials both from a pricing and availability standpoint.
“Higher freight charges and carrier availability have impacted shipping costs for over a year, while raw material availability and pricing continue to require price increases be shared with our customers,” Shaw added. “The impact has been across all technologies and will continue for the foreseeable future.
“We continue to work closely with our supply chain – and look for alternative raw material sources – to ensure we can continue to provide our customers with materials in a timely manner.”
DIC Corporation and Sun Chemical leaders report that business is heading toward a new normal, “Business conditions continue to vary by region,” Masaaki Nakagawa, GM, Corporate Communications Department, DIC Corporation, said. “However, as the number of vaccinations increase, we see an overall movement toward normalization.”
“While the vaccine rollout will eventually lead to a new normal, Sun Chemical continues to take a conservative approach to returning to in-office work and business travel,” Chris Parrilli, president, Sun Chemical North American Inks, noted. “This ensures the ongoing safety of our employees while still allowing us to support our customers. The past year has given rise to creative new ways to collaborate and support our business, which will continue into the future.”
Overall, Schwartz said that Sun Chemical is well positioned to weather the continued storm of raw material shortages and changing market dynamics as we head toward the second half of the year.
“We will continue to manage our supply chain to provide on-time, in-full shipments while our technology group will continue to push the boundaries of innovation,” added Schwartz. “By continuing to focus on sustainable solutions, we will help our customers – and their customers – achieve their business goals in 2021 as well as their immediate and longer-term sustainability goals.”
Tel: +81 3-5203-7838
DIC: www.dic-global.com/en
Sun Chemical: www.sunchemical.com
Sales: DIC: $4.9 billion (¥532,800 million) in graphic arts sales. Total sales: $6.33 billion (¥701.2 billion, including Sun Chemical, which has more than $3.5 billion in ink and pigment sales.)
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, inkjet materials, adhesives for packaging, overprint varnishes, specialty coatings, effect inks, security inks and coatings, printing consumables, specialty polymers and pigments for inks, plastics, paints, coatings, and cosmetics.
Key Personnel: Kaoru Ino, president and CEO; Masayuki Saito, CFO and Sun Chemical Corp. chairman of the board; Masami Hatao, president, Color & Display Business Group; Naoyoshi Furata, GM, Production Management Unit; Kazuo Hatakenaka, president, Functional Products Business Group; Kiyotaka Kawashima, GM, Technical Management Unit; Myron Petruch, president and CEO, Sun Chemical; Masamichi Sota, president, Packaging and Graphic Business Group.
Number of Employees: 20,242 as of December 2020.
Comments: With more than 170 companies, including Sun Chemical, its North American/EMEA subsidiary, DIC Corporation is the world’s largest ink manufacturer. DIC had a solid year in graphic arts, with sales from its Packaging & Graphic and Color & Display divisions totaling $4.9 billion (¥532.8 billion), which was flat compared to the year before, a good result considering the COVID-19 pandemic.
Masamichi Sota, president, Packaging & Graphic Business Group, GM, Printing Material Products Division, DIC Corporation, noted that the impact of COVID-19 varied widely by country.
“While China recovered sharply after Q2, returning to normal after Q3, India and Pakistan were greatly impacted by infections and the lockdown, followed by Indonesia and the Philippines. Conversely, Vietnam and Taiwan saw relatively low impacts,” Sota observed.
“As infections grew, we were able to constantly supply the market with DIC packaging materials essential for daily living, thanks to the resilience of the robust Asia-Pacific supply chain established through many years of diligence,” added Sota. “I’m proud of DIC’s performance across the board thanks to brilliant management in each country. While demand for packaging materials was relatively unaffected, publishing-related material sales fell sharply, especially for newspaper inks. Although the situation is still unpredictable for some countries, we continue to supply high-quality products to our customers in each country while ensuring the safety of employees.”
Jim Van Horn, chief administrative officer, general counsel and secretary for Sun Chemical, reported that like most other companies during this time, Sun Chemical has been heavily impacted by COVID-19, not just due to changes in the markets served, but also changes in how the company serves those markets.
“We believe that businesses continue to search for the right way to serve and drive value to their customers, and keep their employees safe, productive and engaged,” said Van Horn. “Our talented and dedicated employees are working hard, either at our manufacturing plants, our labs, or remotely from their homes to make sure that we continue to provide the quality products and services that customers have come to depend upon from Sun Chemical.”
DIC and Sun Chemical reported numerous highlights during the past year. DIC obtained biomass certification for gravure inks for general-purpose film surface printing, shrink film and paper, and saw good results in antibacterial varnish for film surface printing for the individual packaging of antibacterial masks.
“Over the past year, DIC Packaging & Graphic Division made a major shift towards greater sustainability,” Sota noted. “In Japan, DIC has converted most of its gravure ink products to biomass, and widely deployed barrier coating agents that complement the barrier function of mono-material packages and PASLIM – an adhesive with added barrier properties – throughout Asia. In terms of new technology, DIC commenced demonstration experiments such as film de-inking and chemical recycling. In China, DIC introduced water-based gravure inks for flexible packaging.”
Throughout the past year, Sun Chemical has placed greater emphasis on sustainability, introducing a Corporate Sustainability Committee to further strengthen its approach to addressing the sustainability needs of the packaging industry.
“Additionally, along with DIC, we’ve introduced what we call ‘the five Rs’ – reuse, reduce, recycle, renew and redesign – as a way to guide a three-pillar approach to our sustainability efforts, each of which contributes to our sustainability initiatives in a unique way,” said Sun Chemical CTO Russ Schwartz.
“The first pillar is operations,” added Schwartz. “We have several key initiatives in place where we aim to reduce water and energy usage, waste and CO2 emissions in our operational processes and at our manufacturing facilities. The second pillar is products. We’re constantly looking to enable recyclability, bio-renewability and/or compostability within our product offerings while minimizing packaging weight and complexities.”
For example, Sun Chemical developed SunSpectro SolvaWash GR, a washable gravure ink technology. Designed to allow inks to be removed in a controlled way from post-consumer printed packaging in typical existing mechanical recycling processes without staining the recovered plastic flake or the process wash water, these inks were developed initially for crystallizable PET shrink sleeves that can be recycled together with PET bottles. The washable inks enable increased recovery of high-quality, clean, recycled plastic resin. Energy curable and water-based products are also being developed.
“Lastly, we prioritize our sustainability efforts through our cross-industry partnerships and collaborations,” Schwartz reported. “These relationships are critical in contributing to sustainability initiatives because they help us understand what the needs and gaps are in becoming more sustainable, especially in certain packaging industries.”
COVID-19 had a major impact on raw material pricing and availability for ink manufacturers, and DIC and Sun Chemical were no exception.
“COVID-19 had a significant impact on raw material prices and supplies,” Sota reported. “In addition, due to force majeure such as the wildfires and the cold wave in North America, several major suppliers experienced disrupted distribution networks, increasing logistics costs and spurring delivery delays that tightened raw material supplies and increased prices. Supply shortages continue for some raw materials. DIC and Sun Chemical continue to secure raw materials for stable production utilizing our global purchasing network.”
Jeffrey Shaw, chief supply chain officer at Sun Chemical, added that COVID-19 has, and continues to have, a significant impact on raw materials both from a pricing and availability standpoint.
“Higher freight charges and carrier availability have impacted shipping costs for over a year, while raw material availability and pricing continue to require price increases be shared with our customers,” Shaw added. “The impact has been across all technologies and will continue for the foreseeable future.
“We continue to work closely with our supply chain – and look for alternative raw material sources – to ensure we can continue to provide our customers with materials in a timely manner.”
DIC Corporation and Sun Chemical leaders report that business is heading toward a new normal, “Business conditions continue to vary by region,” Masaaki Nakagawa, GM, Corporate Communications Department, DIC Corporation, said. “However, as the number of vaccinations increase, we see an overall movement toward normalization.”
“While the vaccine rollout will eventually lead to a new normal, Sun Chemical continues to take a conservative approach to returning to in-office work and business travel,” Chris Parrilli, president, Sun Chemical North American Inks, noted. “This ensures the ongoing safety of our employees while still allowing us to support our customers. The past year has given rise to creative new ways to collaborate and support our business, which will continue into the future.”
Overall, Schwartz said that Sun Chemical is well positioned to weather the continued storm of raw material shortages and changing market dynamics as we head toward the second half of the year.
“We will continue to manage our supply chain to provide on-time, in-full shipments while our technology group will continue to push the boundaries of innovation,” added Schwartz. “By continuing to focus on sustainable solutions, we will help our customers – and their customers – achieve their business goals in 2021 as well as their immediate and longer-term sustainability goals.”
