07.19.23
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 Chemical 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. Kao produces a variety of inkjet inks including UV & UV LED inks, oil-based inks, water-based inks, Eco-friendly bio-based 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 $10.6 billion (¥1,551.1 billion) in 2022. Kao APS, its ink subsidiary, consists of Kao Chimigraf, Kao Collins and Kao Corporation Chemical Business, and develops and manufactures packaging and inkjet inks.
François Aguilar, chief commercial officer for Kao Chimigraf, noted that 2022 was a very good year for Kao in terms of inkjet growth.
“Many key projects moved to mass-production stage, and we could confirm the best quality level of our ink development, especially on water-based inkjet ink,” Aguilar observed. “Since 2016, Kao has been working on many developments of inks for water-based, and in the last three years we are growing more and more in this area. We are now producing inkjet inks in US, Europe and Japan and we are able to cover a very large range of applications around the world.”
Packaging is also an excellent market for KAO APS.
“Packaging is one the strongest markets for us,” said Aguilar. “We are offering different types of inks for this market, such as UV low migration and water-based ink with certifications like Swiss Ordinance, Nestlé compliance and others.”
“Recently, markets like corrugated were growing with inkjet technology using higher resolution PH and lower viscosity range,” he added. “Kao has been working on new development of low migration UV LED inks for low viscosity printheads and finally this solution was introduced to the market recently. On top of that, we worked also on the development of a water-based ink solution for corrugated and paper. We are now able to provide a full set of water-based inks to be use on different substrates with a combination of primers.”
While Kao APS is seeing some stability in terms of raw material pricing and availability, that could turn quickly.
“The raw material market was very complex in 2022, but we could manage all issues about prices increase and availability of materials,” Aguilar said. “Since the end of 2022, we can see more stability on the raw material market, but we still think that this market can be impacted by sudden change in energy cost and production level.”
As for the rest of 2023 and beyond, Aguilar said that Kao APS wants to continue to grow in the packaging market and launch more projects with its OEM partners, especially for flexible packaging.
“Kao is also providing consumer products into the market, and we are strongly interested in new technologies for flexible packaging, not only for printing but also for recycling and deinking solutions,” Aguilar added.
“Kao is actually developing several solutions around this market, and we will introduce them from 2023 and onward,” Aguilar concluded. “Kao is a global chemical manufacturer, and we are always putting high priority on innovation and R&D development. We are present in a wide range of industries, and we can combine all our knowledge to bring new product solutions to the inkjet industry. We have flexibility to fine-tune our products based on customer and market demand, so we are completely open to new cooperation development with OEM partners.”
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 Chemical 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. Kao produces a variety of inkjet inks including UV & UV LED inks, oil-based inks, water-based inks, Eco-friendly bio-based 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 $10.6 billion (¥1,551.1 billion) in 2022. Kao APS, its ink subsidiary, consists of Kao Chimigraf, Kao Collins and Kao Corporation Chemical Business, and develops and manufactures packaging and inkjet inks.
François Aguilar, chief commercial officer for Kao Chimigraf, noted that 2022 was a very good year for Kao in terms of inkjet growth.
“Many key projects moved to mass-production stage, and we could confirm the best quality level of our ink development, especially on water-based inkjet ink,” Aguilar observed. “Since 2016, Kao has been working on many developments of inks for water-based, and in the last three years we are growing more and more in this area. We are now producing inkjet inks in US, Europe and Japan and we are able to cover a very large range of applications around the world.”
Packaging is also an excellent market for KAO APS.
“Packaging is one the strongest markets for us,” said Aguilar. “We are offering different types of inks for this market, such as UV low migration and water-based ink with certifications like Swiss Ordinance, Nestlé compliance and others.”
“Recently, markets like corrugated were growing with inkjet technology using higher resolution PH and lower viscosity range,” he added. “Kao has been working on new development of low migration UV LED inks for low viscosity printheads and finally this solution was introduced to the market recently. On top of that, we worked also on the development of a water-based ink solution for corrugated and paper. We are now able to provide a full set of water-based inks to be use on different substrates with a combination of primers.”
While Kao APS is seeing some stability in terms of raw material pricing and availability, that could turn quickly.
“The raw material market was very complex in 2022, but we could manage all issues about prices increase and availability of materials,” Aguilar said. “Since the end of 2022, we can see more stability on the raw material market, but we still think that this market can be impacted by sudden change in energy cost and production level.”
As for the rest of 2023 and beyond, Aguilar said that Kao APS wants to continue to grow in the packaging market and launch more projects with its OEM partners, especially for flexible packaging.
“Kao is also providing consumer products into the market, and we are strongly interested in new technologies for flexible packaging, not only for printing but also for recycling and deinking solutions,” Aguilar added.
“Kao is actually developing several solutions around this market, and we will introduce them from 2023 and onward,” Aguilar concluded. “Kao is a global chemical manufacturer, and we are always putting high priority on innovation and R&D development. We are present in a wide range of industries, and we can combine all our knowledge to bring new product solutions to the inkjet industry. We have flexibility to fine-tune our products based on customer and market demand, so we are completely open to new cooperation development with OEM partners.”