07.21.21
1-23-37 Edobori, Nishi-Ku
Osaka 550-0002 Japan
Phone: +81-6-6447-5847
Fax: +81-6-6447-5849
http://www.inx.co.jp/
E-mail: intl-sales@inx.co.jp
Sales: $1.412 billion (¥150,830 million in printing ink and graphic arts); $1.512 billion (¥161,507 million) consolidated.
Major Products: Commercial offset (sheetfed, heatset and newspaper offset inks); gravure inks for flexible packaging; flexo inks for flexible packaging, corrugated carton and paper bag; metal decorating inks and coatings; UV/EB inks for sheetfed, flexible packaging and metal decorating; inkjet inks, toners and coatings.
Key Personnel: Kotaro Morita, chairman; Yoshiaki Ueno, representative director, president and CEO; Masaki Nakamura, director and senior managing executive officer; Hitoshi Nakamura, director and senior managing executive officer; Toshihiko Fukunaga, director and managing executive officer; Yuichi Katura, director and senior executive officer.
Number of Employees: 4,598.
Comments: Headquartered in Tokyo, Sakata INX is the third largest ink manufacturer in the world. COVID-19 impacted Sakata INX in a variety of ways, although its ink and graphic arts sales were relatively flat at $1.412 billion.
“In Japan and Asia, ink sales for information media were sluggish due to a decrease in advertising demand as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Katsuya Tanaka, GM - International Operations Department of the Corporate Planning division for Sakata INX. “Sales of packaging inks declined due to the decrease in leisure and inbound demand, as well as a reduced demand for toner and other office products. On the other hand, profits increased as a result of cost reductions and two other factors - a steady increase of packaging ink sales due to greater consumption caused by people staying home, and increased demand for hygiene-related products.”
“From a business standpoint, we were able to do reasonably well,” said John Hrdlick, president and CEO of INX International Ink Co. “Over 80% of our products are used in the packaging markets that supplied grocery stores, and we were still able to experience growth.”
Sakata INX and INX made some key moves during the past year to ensure growth, including plant expansions.
“Sakata INX acquired M. Ramp & Co. GmbH in Germany, and construction of our plant in Bangladesh will soon be completed. Preparations for production have already begun,” said Tanaka. “We have also formulated our long-term 2030 vision and mid-term 2023 plan. Primarily through ESG and our sustainability initiatives, we will focus on developing new revenue sources and expanding the print ink and functional material businesses.”
“In addition to our employees reacting very well to the COVID guidelines,” said Hrdlick, “we continued with the expansion of the INX facility in Lebanon, Ohio, and reset our long term vision and strategy along with the Sakata global organization. Our acquisition of Ruco Germany and USA was finalized and the transition went very well considering the travel limitations related to COVID. Our company in Brazil also continued to show growth and expansion throughout South America.”
Sustainability is a key focus at Sakata INX and INX, and the company is developing new products and solutions to further its goals.
“Everything we do,” Hrdlick added, “is heavily focused on our long term plan. Most of it involves providing new and improved sustainable products to all markets we are involved in. It is exciting to see where those efforts will take us going forward.”
COVID-19 had a major impact on raw material pricing and availability, and Sakata INX and INX were no exception.
“The price of crude oil and naphtha dropped, which contributed positively to our business as a whole,” commented Tanaka. “However, the alcohol supply was tight due to high medical demand and that negatively impacted business in Europe due to soaring prices. As of June 1, the price of crude oil and naphtha is rising in sync with the economic recovery. Various costs are escalating due to the influence of the severe cold wave in the United States a few months ago and the disruption of logistics due to COVID-19, which had a negative impact on our profits this past year.”
“INX International experienced supply chain challenges in 2020, as did everyone,” pointed out Hrdlick. “However, we again were able to manage through those challenges and maintain our position in the supply chain. The situation did not show signs of stabilizing throughout the year.”
Both Tanaka and Hrdlick say they are seeing improvements in terms of sales, but raw materials remain a concern.
“The economy in Japan remains sluggish and has not yet recovered due to a respread of infections by a mutant coronavirus,” said Tanaka. “In Asia, sales and profits are expected to increase due to steady sales of packaging inks, and a recovery trend taking place in China and India where business activities were severely restricted in 2020.”
“With the many ongoing effects of COVID, raw material supply and extreme freight logistics issues in 2021, we do not see our situation stabilizing until later this year,” said Hrdlick. “This past year has led to unprecedented raw material and freight cost increases and shortages. Sales demand in packaging remains high, and the commercial markets have improved in a few areas but not consistently.”
As a result, Tanaka said that it is very difficult to estimate the outlook for the rest of 2021, as business is being impacted by the ongoing COVID situation.
“Sales are expected to grow on the premise the economy would recover with the expansion of vaccinations,” he added. “That said, costs are expected to increase due to the impact of soaring raw material prices and expenses associated with the resumption of sales activities.”
“We have a very strong team and I’m confident in our ability to weather the challenges in 2021,” said Hrdlick. “However, our ability to do that will rest heavily in how much we are able to mitigate and pass along the increased costs we have been absorbing.”
Osaka 550-0002 Japan
Phone: +81-6-6447-5847
Fax: +81-6-6447-5849
http://www.inx.co.jp/
E-mail: intl-sales@inx.co.jp
Sales: $1.412 billion (¥150,830 million in printing ink and graphic arts); $1.512 billion (¥161,507 million) consolidated.
Major Products: Commercial offset (sheetfed, heatset and newspaper offset inks); gravure inks for flexible packaging; flexo inks for flexible packaging, corrugated carton and paper bag; metal decorating inks and coatings; UV/EB inks for sheetfed, flexible packaging and metal decorating; inkjet inks, toners and coatings.
Key Personnel: Kotaro Morita, chairman; Yoshiaki Ueno, representative director, president and CEO; Masaki Nakamura, director and senior managing executive officer; Hitoshi Nakamura, director and senior managing executive officer; Toshihiko Fukunaga, director and managing executive officer; Yuichi Katura, director and senior executive officer.
Number of Employees: 4,598.
Comments: Headquartered in Tokyo, Sakata INX is the third largest ink manufacturer in the world. COVID-19 impacted Sakata INX in a variety of ways, although its ink and graphic arts sales were relatively flat at $1.412 billion.
“In Japan and Asia, ink sales for information media were sluggish due to a decrease in advertising demand as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Katsuya Tanaka, GM - International Operations Department of the Corporate Planning division for Sakata INX. “Sales of packaging inks declined due to the decrease in leisure and inbound demand, as well as a reduced demand for toner and other office products. On the other hand, profits increased as a result of cost reductions and two other factors - a steady increase of packaging ink sales due to greater consumption caused by people staying home, and increased demand for hygiene-related products.”
“From a business standpoint, we were able to do reasonably well,” said John Hrdlick, president and CEO of INX International Ink Co. “Over 80% of our products are used in the packaging markets that supplied grocery stores, and we were still able to experience growth.”
Sakata INX and INX made some key moves during the past year to ensure growth, including plant expansions.
“Sakata INX acquired M. Ramp & Co. GmbH in Germany, and construction of our plant in Bangladesh will soon be completed. Preparations for production have already begun,” said Tanaka. “We have also formulated our long-term 2030 vision and mid-term 2023 plan. Primarily through ESG and our sustainability initiatives, we will focus on developing new revenue sources and expanding the print ink and functional material businesses.”
“In addition to our employees reacting very well to the COVID guidelines,” said Hrdlick, “we continued with the expansion of the INX facility in Lebanon, Ohio, and reset our long term vision and strategy along with the Sakata global organization. Our acquisition of Ruco Germany and USA was finalized and the transition went very well considering the travel limitations related to COVID. Our company in Brazil also continued to show growth and expansion throughout South America.”
Sustainability is a key focus at Sakata INX and INX, and the company is developing new products and solutions to further its goals.
“Everything we do,” Hrdlick added, “is heavily focused on our long term plan. Most of it involves providing new and improved sustainable products to all markets we are involved in. It is exciting to see where those efforts will take us going forward.”
COVID-19 had a major impact on raw material pricing and availability, and Sakata INX and INX were no exception.
“The price of crude oil and naphtha dropped, which contributed positively to our business as a whole,” commented Tanaka. “However, the alcohol supply was tight due to high medical demand and that negatively impacted business in Europe due to soaring prices. As of June 1, the price of crude oil and naphtha is rising in sync with the economic recovery. Various costs are escalating due to the influence of the severe cold wave in the United States a few months ago and the disruption of logistics due to COVID-19, which had a negative impact on our profits this past year.”
“INX International experienced supply chain challenges in 2020, as did everyone,” pointed out Hrdlick. “However, we again were able to manage through those challenges and maintain our position in the supply chain. The situation did not show signs of stabilizing throughout the year.”
Both Tanaka and Hrdlick say they are seeing improvements in terms of sales, but raw materials remain a concern.
“The economy in Japan remains sluggish and has not yet recovered due to a respread of infections by a mutant coronavirus,” said Tanaka. “In Asia, sales and profits are expected to increase due to steady sales of packaging inks, and a recovery trend taking place in China and India where business activities were severely restricted in 2020.”
“With the many ongoing effects of COVID, raw material supply and extreme freight logistics issues in 2021, we do not see our situation stabilizing until later this year,” said Hrdlick. “This past year has led to unprecedented raw material and freight cost increases and shortages. Sales demand in packaging remains high, and the commercial markets have improved in a few areas but not consistently.”
As a result, Tanaka said that it is very difficult to estimate the outlook for the rest of 2021, as business is being impacted by the ongoing COVID situation.
“Sales are expected to grow on the premise the economy would recover with the expansion of vaccinations,” he added. “That said, costs are expected to increase due to the impact of soaring raw material prices and expenses associated with the resumption of sales activities.”
“We have a very strong team and I’m confident in our ability to weather the challenges in 2021,” said Hrdlick. “However, our ability to do that will rest heavily in how much we are able to mitigate and pass along the increased costs we have been absorbing.”