07.14.22
C/Compositor Carcassi, 6-8
08191 Rubí (Barcelona) Spain
Tel: +34 935 862 040
www.kaoprint.com
Email: md@kaochimigraf.com
Sales: $300 million (Ink World estimate)
Major Products: Kao APS is formed by the companies Kao Chimigraf, Kao Collins and Kao Corporation Business, offering a wide range of flexo and inkjet inks for applications such as packaging, graphic arts, transactional, coding & marking, textiles, décor, 3D and printed electronics. The portfolio of analog inks includes solvent-based and water-based flexography inks, rotogravure inks, primers and varnishes. For the inkjet segment, Kao APS offers products for the piezo printhead as well as for the thermal inkjet printhead. We produce a variety of inkjet inks including UV & UV LED inks, oil-based inks, water-based inks, Eco-friendly biobased inks, mineral oil-free ink, coatings and varnishes, and other functional fluids.
Key Personnel: Esteve Granada, president Kao Chimigraf; Laurence Gamblin, president Kao Collins; Sakamaki Masaharu, business director, Kao Corporation Chemical Business; François Aguilar, CCO Kao Chimigraf; Chris Rogers, VP Kao Collins
Number of Employees: 650
Comments: Kao Group is a worldwide leader in consumer and chemical products, with consolidated sales of $12.3 billion (¥1,418.8 billion) in 2021. Kao APS, its ink subsidiary, consists of Kao Chimigraf, Kao Collins and Kao Corporation Chemical Business, and develops and manufactures packaging and inkjet inks. Kao APS had a solid year in 2021, as the company saw some growth, particularly in the packaging segment.
“2021 was a good year compared to 2020,” said Kao Chimigraf CCO François Aguilar. “We saw some recovery in certain markets. Since the global market situation was still impacted by COVID restrictions, we couldn’t see a full recovery.
“We saw in 2021 that the packaging market was continuously growing and we concentrated our efforts on the development of key items such as water-based inkjet inks,” added Aguilar. “Kao is one of the pioneers of water-based inkjet inks for the packaging industry, and our water-based inks are based on unique pigment dispersion technology that enables us to offer key solutions to the market needs. We also launched a bio-based ink, which is focused on compostability, and we also started delivering solutions to the 3D printing market.”
Aguilar noted that some markets are performing even better than in 2019, but some markets are still not yet recovered.
“Overall, the situation is much better than in 2020,” added Aguilar. “New changes in political and economic situations give additional uncertainties and it is getting more difficult to predict the future.”
Kao APS expects the raw material issues to remain a challenge for the foreseeable future.
“We are strongly impacted by the price increase on raw materials, transportation costs and others,” said Aguilar. “All key materials prices are increased since 2021 and we are not seeing any improvements until now. Unfortunately, we see that the difficult situation may continue until 2023.”
For Kao APS, early returns for 2022 are mixed, as sales are up but so are raw materials and transportation costs.
“The COVID situation seems to be under control for the moment, but unfortunately, we are influenced by other factors (political conflicts, material price increases, high transportation costs, etc.),” said Aguilar. “We saw a good trend in volumes in the first part of the year, but the printing market is severely impacted by the price increases.”
Ultimately, Kao is a major chemical solution provider as well as a brand owner, and the company is putting a huge focus on sustainability.
“Kao is not just an ink manufacturer,” said Aguilar. “Kao is an industrial chemical solution provider serving many different industries, and Kao is a consumer brand owner too. Since we are located in various positions in the supply chain, we need to consider the full lifecycle of the printed materials. Therefore, we are always minding the sustainability throughout the product development such as choice of raw materials, environmental effects, impact on the workplace, end of life of the product, etc. Those are not shown on the specification sheet, but we believe that is our additional contribution to the market.”
08191 Rubí (Barcelona) Spain
Tel: +34 935 862 040
www.kaoprint.com
Email: md@kaochimigraf.com
Sales: $300 million (Ink World estimate)
Major Products: Kao APS is formed by the companies Kao Chimigraf, Kao Collins and Kao Corporation Business, offering a wide range of flexo and inkjet inks for applications such as packaging, graphic arts, transactional, coding & marking, textiles, décor, 3D and printed electronics. The portfolio of analog inks includes solvent-based and water-based flexography inks, rotogravure inks, primers and varnishes. For the inkjet segment, Kao APS offers products for the piezo printhead as well as for the thermal inkjet printhead. We produce a variety of inkjet inks including UV & UV LED inks, oil-based inks, water-based inks, Eco-friendly biobased inks, mineral oil-free ink, coatings and varnishes, and other functional fluids.
Key Personnel: Esteve Granada, president Kao Chimigraf; Laurence Gamblin, president Kao Collins; Sakamaki Masaharu, business director, Kao Corporation Chemical Business; François Aguilar, CCO Kao Chimigraf; Chris Rogers, VP Kao Collins
Number of Employees: 650
Comments: Kao Group is a worldwide leader in consumer and chemical products, with consolidated sales of $12.3 billion (¥1,418.8 billion) in 2021. Kao APS, its ink subsidiary, consists of Kao Chimigraf, Kao Collins and Kao Corporation Chemical Business, and develops and manufactures packaging and inkjet inks. Kao APS had a solid year in 2021, as the company saw some growth, particularly in the packaging segment.
“2021 was a good year compared to 2020,” said Kao Chimigraf CCO François Aguilar. “We saw some recovery in certain markets. Since the global market situation was still impacted by COVID restrictions, we couldn’t see a full recovery.
“We saw in 2021 that the packaging market was continuously growing and we concentrated our efforts on the development of key items such as water-based inkjet inks,” added Aguilar. “Kao is one of the pioneers of water-based inkjet inks for the packaging industry, and our water-based inks are based on unique pigment dispersion technology that enables us to offer key solutions to the market needs. We also launched a bio-based ink, which is focused on compostability, and we also started delivering solutions to the 3D printing market.”
Aguilar noted that some markets are performing even better than in 2019, but some markets are still not yet recovered.
“Overall, the situation is much better than in 2020,” added Aguilar. “New changes in political and economic situations give additional uncertainties and it is getting more difficult to predict the future.”
Kao APS expects the raw material issues to remain a challenge for the foreseeable future.
“We are strongly impacted by the price increase on raw materials, transportation costs and others,” said Aguilar. “All key materials prices are increased since 2021 and we are not seeing any improvements until now. Unfortunately, we see that the difficult situation may continue until 2023.”
For Kao APS, early returns for 2022 are mixed, as sales are up but so are raw materials and transportation costs.
“The COVID situation seems to be under control for the moment, but unfortunately, we are influenced by other factors (political conflicts, material price increases, high transportation costs, etc.),” said Aguilar. “We saw a good trend in volumes in the first part of the year, but the printing market is severely impacted by the price increases.”
Ultimately, Kao is a major chemical solution provider as well as a brand owner, and the company is putting a huge focus on sustainability.
“Kao is not just an ink manufacturer,” said Aguilar. “Kao is an industrial chemical solution provider serving many different industries, and Kao is a consumer brand owner too. Since we are located in various positions in the supply chain, we need to consider the full lifecycle of the printed materials. Therefore, we are always minding the sustainability throughout the product development such as choice of raw materials, environmental effects, impact on the workplace, end of life of the product, etc. Those are not shown on the specification sheet, but we believe that is our additional contribution to the market.”