Dainippon Ink & Chemicals, Inc.
(Including Sun Chemical Corporation)
DIC Building, 7-20
Nihonbashi 3-chome, Chuo-ku
Tokyo 103-8233
Japan
Phone: +81-3-3272-4511
Fax: +81-3-3278-8558
Internet: DIC: www.dic.co.jp;
Sun Chemical: www.sunchemical.com
Sales: $4.78 billion (532.3 billion yen) in graphic arts, including Sun Chemical, which has $3.0 billion in printing ink sales. Total sales: $8.75 billion (974.8 billion yen).
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, toner, ink jet materials, adhesives for packaging, overprint varnishes, specialty coatings, effect inks, security inks and coatings, and organic colorants for inks, plastics, paints, coatings and cosmetics.
Key Personnel: DIC’s major officers: Kozo Okumura, chairman; Koji Oe, president; Yasuhiro Horikoshi, managing director and president, graphic arts materials business operation; Toshihiro Sugai, executive VP, graphic arts materials business operation. Sun Chemical’s major officers: Wes Lucas, chairman, president and CEO, Sun Chemical Corporation; Mel Cox, senior VP, general counsel and corporate secretary; Dr. David Hill, senior VP, technology and operations; Rudi Lenz, senior VP and CFO; John McKeown, senior VP, people services; David Meldram, senior VP and president, European Inks; Mike Murphy, senior VP and president, North American Inks.
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Wes Lucas, chairman, president and CEO of Sun Chemical, and Dr. Koji Oe, president of Dainippon Ink & Chemicals. |
Additional DIC executives: Kazumi Sumita, division president, printing ink and supplies; Yoji Togo, division president, liquid ink; Akio Yorisue, division president, news ink; Mitsunobu Miyasaka, general manager, graphic arts technical dept.; Hideo Ishii, general manager, paste ink R&D; Shinichi Yamauchi, general manager, liquid ink R&D.
Additional Sun Chemical executives: Gary Andrezejewski, VP environmental affairs; Dr. Cynthia Arnold, CTO; Ronald Baker, president, US Ink; Brad Bergey, VP, Kohl & Madden; Scott Carcillo, CIO; Martin Cellérier, director of strWes Lucas, chairman, president and CEO of Sun Chemical, and Dr. Koji Oe, president of Dainippon Ink & Chemicals.ategical planning, Sun Chemical Europe; Laura Cory, president, Sun Chemical Digital Imaging; Cheryl Davis, VP, people development; Stuart Foster, VP, colors manufacturing and supply chain; Bill Glass, VP, business development; John Gowlett, VP, group operations, Sun Chemical Europe; Michael Greim, VP and group managing director, Sun Chemical Europe; Greg Lawson, VP and general manager, Latin American Inks; Brian Leen, VP and general manager, Performance Pigments; Mark Levin, VP, North American publication inks; Ed Lovas, VP and controller; Richard Martin, global managing director, Coates Screen and Electrographics; Felipe Mellado, VP, marketing and technology, Sun Chemical Europe; Chris Morrissey, VP, marketing; Charles Murray, VP and group managing director, Sun Chemical Europe; Carlo Musso, group managing director, Sun Chemical Europe; Chris Parrilli, VP, North American Inks customer service centers; Richard Pettifor, VP, North American packaging inks; Brad Schrader, VP, strategy and business development; Kevin Smith, VP and group managing director, Sun Chemical Europe; Craig Tompkins, VP, manufacturing and engineering, North American Inks.
Number of Employees: 26,500 (worldwide); 12,000 (Sun Chemical).
Comments: Dainippon Ink & Chemicals and its subsidiary, Sun Chemical, had solid results during the past year, with sales growing 0.7 percent despite the war in the Middle East and SARS outbreaks all over East and Southeast Asia, which significantly affected the company’s results in the first half of 2003.
However, regional economics generally fared well in the second half of the year, and in total, DIC had a steady growth throughout the Asia/Oceania region. Among them, China, Taiwan and Australia especially had strong results because of the growing demand for offset and news ink. In Japan, a newly-introduced heatset ink, Web World Advan, was well accepted among printers for its high performance and productivity.
DIC was one of the first ink companies that began operations in China and presently has more than 15 years’ history of local operation. Currently, DIC has seven subsidiaries for graphic arts in China and sales are growing rapidly. For the last four years, average sales growth is more than 14 percent per year.
During 2003, Nantong DIC began production of pigment and ink intermediates. DIC is now into the second phase of its Nantong DIC expansion, which is scheduled to complete by the end of 2004. Expansion for the new plant in Thailand is also under construction and will be completed in early 2005.
Sun Chemical opened a new manufacturing facility in the city of Marki, near Warsaw. The plant produces both paste and liquid inks, offering a new level of service for Polish printers and other markets in Eastern Europe. The company also opened a new plant in Alcala near Madrid, primarily geared toward coldset inks. In St. Charles, IL, Sun Chemical completed an expansion project, and modernized its Grand Prairie, TX plant to add K&M and Coates.
In June 2004, Yunnan DIC Ink Co., Ltd., a joint venture with Hongta Group, the largest tobacco company in China, was established in Tonghai, China. The company mainly produces and sells gravure ink for tobacco printing.
DIC and Sun Chemical were active on the acquisition front. Sun Chemical acquired the assets of Veritec Group, Inc., which provides technology and services to protect product integrity and brand security; Rycoline, a leading producer of fountain solutions, blankets and consumables; and acquired the assets of ÇBS Printas, a leading supplier of paste inks in Turkey and other countries in the Middle East and Balkan areas.
There were important personnel moves at DIC and Sun Chemical. At DIC, Dr. Koji Oe, former senior managing director and president, graphic arts business operation, was promoted to president in June. Yasuhiro Horikoshi, managing director and general manager, Osaka branch, succeeded Dr. Oe as president, graphic arts business operation. At Sun Chemical, Dr. Cynthia Arnold was named CTO, and Richard Pettifor was named corporate vice president, North American packaging inks.
DIC and Sun Chemical launched a wide variety of products during the past year. In particular, DIC introduced its New Champion Naturalith SP8, an environmentally-friendly sheetfed process ink for 8-color/double-sided printing. Sun Chemical introduced World Series, the first universal ink system designed for global use on virtually all sheetfed applications. The highly versatile inks are formulated with vegetable oils only for better lithographic performance and improved environmental care. The company launched XX-Treme, a sheetfed ink system formulated for stochastic screening from Kohl & Madden in the U.S.; PrintEasy, a line of web heatset inks designed to improve print quality, consistency and productivity; Aquarella, a new European series of water-based inks for flexo printing from Coates; and Solaris, a global product line of inks and coatings formulated to meet the needs of narrow web printers.
Flint Ink Corporation
4600 Arrowhead Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48105-2773
U.S.A.
Phone: +1 (734) 622-6000
Fax: +1 (734) 622-6131
Internet: www.flintink.com
E-mail: info@flintink.com
Sales: $1.45 billion
Major Products: Cold and heatset web offset, sheetfed offset, flexographic, gravure, UV/EB and ink jet inks and coatings for publication, news package, commercial and digital printing applications; advanced and conductive inks for radio frequency identification (RFID), smart/active labels and other printed electronics applications; dry, flushed and presscake pigments and aqueous dispersions; color management services.
Key Personnel: H. Howard Flint II, chairman and CEO; Leonard D. (Dave) Frescoln, president; Linda J. Welty, COO; David B. Flint, executive vice president; William B. Miller, president, Flint Ink North America; Damian Johnson, president, Flint Ink India/Pacific; Henry Leong, president, Flint Ink Asia; Jerko E. Rendic, president, Flint Ink Latin America; Dr. Helmut Schmidt, CEO, Flint-Schmidt GmbH & Co. KG; Dr. Kenneth D. Stack, president, Jetrion LLC; W. Rucker Wickline, president, CDR Pigments & Dispersions; Dr. Joseph W. Raksis, senior VP, research and new market development and CEO, Precisia LLC; Diane K. Watt, president, Progressive Color Media LLC; Michael J. Gannon, senior VP and CFO; Dr. Graham C. Battersby, VP, research and development; Glenn T. Autry, VP, human resources; John R. (Jack) Benson, VP, corporate procurement; Dennis L. Cavner, VP, manufacturing services; Lawrence E. King, VP, general counsel and secretary; Kathryn P. Marx, VP, marketing and strategic planning; Donald G. Barnowski, VP and CIO; James A. Steel, VP and treasurer; David A. Sikorski, VP, controller; Ron S. Muawad, VP of business finance.
Number of Employees: 4,600 worldwide.
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Some of Flint Ink’s employees at its new Beijing news and heatset ink plant, which the company opened in 2004. |
Comments: Four events made 2003 a landmark year for Flint Ink: The launch of Jetrion LLC, its digital inks, equipment, integration and service subsidiary, in February; the launch of Precisia LLC for RFID and other printed electronics applications in August; the opening of the all-new Precisia Printed Electronics Resource Center in November; and the opening of a brand-new ink manufacturing facility in Beijing, China, in December.
As for its convention markets, Flint Ink saw only limited growth in the ink industry as a whole, with flexo representing an exception to this trend.
This is primarily because flexo is most widely used in packaging, and the packaging market as a whole has seen less downturn than traditional litho markets such as commercial, publication and newspaper printing which have suffered as a result of decreased advertising spending during the recent economic downturn.
While the overall economy seemed to be on the road to recovery by the third quarter of 2003, this doesn't appear to be the case for the printing industry. Projections for the major printing and packaging companies indicate weak demand, excess capacity and continuing downward price pressure.
In terms of geographic success, printing growth in mature regions such as North America and Western Europe has historically mirrored the GDP. Now, it lags behind GDP growth. In the India/Pacific and Asian regions, Flint Ink’s growth has been supported both by the majority purchase of Incowax in India and the inauguration of the new ink manufacturing facility in Beijing, China. The Latin American division experienced solid performance, in spite of the unique challenges presented by doing business in countries and markets with continuing economic and political instability.
Following the opening of a news and heatset ink manufacturing center in Beijing, China, Flint Ink has now taken the initial steps toward construction of a fluid ink manufacturing company to serve the rapidly-expanding Chinese package printing market. In addition to manufacturing water- and solvent-based inks for the packaging market, the new plant will serve as a blending site for sheetfed inks.
The Chinese packaging market is expected to grow 10 to 12 percent in the next decade, and together with the Beijing plant, this plant will allow Flint Ink to serve printers in all of the primary printing markets in China. The new plant will be located in Guangzhou, China.
In the digital printing and printed electronics applications markets, both Jetrion and Precisia are witnessing strong demand for products. In the case of industrial digital printing, customers continue to rely on single-source solutions providers to help them choose and implement digital technology for maximum profit potential. With radio frequency identification (RFID) set to become the cornerstone of the global supply chain, Flint Ink’s launch of Precisia LLC has positioned the company well in the printed electronics industry.
Overcapacity is a serious problem for the entire supply chain. This means that pricing continues to be weak. In the publication market, print continues to compete for share with other media. In addition, a growing amount of packaging and publication print continues to move into lower cost production regions, such as Asia. In this type of business environment, one would expect further consolidation and rationalization of capacity.
To remain competitive, Flint Ink will continue to focus on providing just what the customer values, whether that’s exemplary service and support, innovative offerings or strictly competitively-priced products.
In September, Flint Ink launched Progressive Color Media LLC, a new company providing a full range of workflow color management solutions integrating hardware, software and services.
The company’s services enable printers, graphic designers, publishers and brand owners to achieve fast and accurate color reproduction, increase efficiencies and improve brand integrity. Led by president Diane Watt, Progressive Color Media has assembled a management team with extensive industry knowledge, broad technical expertise in pre-press and pressroom and experience in bringing all facets of color management together.
Drupa was a very successful event for Flint Ink, Jetrion and Precisia. In particular, Jetrion and Precisia generated a lot of interest with their advanced technologies, including the Jetrion 3025 Inkjet System which was demonstrated continuously throughout the show, and Precisia’s RFID tags utilizing printed, conductive ink antennae which were also frequently demonstrated.
New products remain a strength for Flint Ink. Late in 2003, Flint Ink introduced Duracure UV-curable inks, a high-performance ink system formulated specifically for use on a variety of non-porous substrates including plastics, films, laminated boards and foils.
Also late in 2003, Flint Ink launched Matrixcure-Web inks, a UV-curable system developed to meet the unique print speed and performance requirements of commercial web printers.
In January, Flint Ink announced a revolutionary, highly-concentrated color technology for water inks called X-Treme Dispersions. The new colorants increase the color strength of water ink systems by 20 percent without compromising the runnability of the ink.
In February, Jetrion launched its new, low-temperature UV ink jet inks for drop-on-demand (DOD) applications. The low-viscosity inks require no heating in the printhead before use, enabling manufacturers to develop simpler, lower-cost ink jet printing systems for UV ink jet technologies. Commercial printers and converters using these high-performing inks gain the flexibility to print on a wide range of heat-sensitive substrates such as plastics, films, foils, metal sheeting and paperboard.
At Drupa 2004, Flint Ink introduced new Rub’nSmell scented inks to enhance the appeal of consumer brands. Rub’nSmell inks extend the scents of products to consumers to drive brand sales at the point-of-purchase. The technology is delivered through a partnership with Scentisphere LLC, an innovative new producer of scented products.
Also at Drupa, Jetrion launched a new drop-on-demand (DOD) ink jet printing system, the Jetrion 3025, featuring breakthrough technology that delivers significantly more flexibility, higher quality and lower cost digital printing capability to the commercial printing, publishing and packaging markets.
Toyo Ink Mfg. Co., Ltd.
3-13 Kyobashi
2-chome, Chuo-Ku
Tokyo 104-8377
Japan
Phone: +81-3-3272-5741
Fax: +81-3-3278-9897
Internet: www.toyoink.co.jp; www.toyoinkus.com (U.S.)
E-mail: master@toyoink.co.jp; master@toyoinkus.com (U.S.)
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Sales: $1.12 billion (118,444 million yen) in printing ink and graphic arts supplies; consolidated results: $2.05 billion (216,406 million yen).
Major Products: Heatset/coldset web, sheetfed, waterless and UV/EB; news offset; solvent- and water-based packaging; solvent publication gravure; solvent, water-based and UV/EB flexo; letterpress; solvent-based and UV screen; electronics and optronics; dry and liquid toners and ink jet inks.
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Kunio Sakuma, president and CEO of Toyo Ink. |
Key Personnel: Mutsuo Nagashima, chairman; Kunio Sakuma, president and CEO; Tsuneo Tanaka, executive vice president and COO; Norio Fukumura, senior managing director and CTO; Yasukuni Odaka, managing director and chief marketing officer; Masaru Suzuki, managing director and CFO; Mutsuo Nagashima, director and general counsel.Number of Employees: 2,146 persons (Toyo Ink Mfg. Co., Ltd.); 6,039 (consolidated).
Comments: Although Toyo Ink’s sales were down slightly in 2003, the company’s decision to improve its product mix paid off with higher profits and better ROE and ROI. In particular, Toyo Ink has developed its technique and sales performance for products related to electronics and optronics in terms of products, and has launched products related to electronics and optronics.
Geographically, the company’s business in China and Southeast Asia fared extremely well. In addition, specialty chemicals with highly added value made a big contribution in drawing more attention to Toyo Ink’s brand in the market.
Company officials note that the print market is matured in developed countries, and Toyo Ink is beginning to change how it works in the situation like that by centering on providing customers with good suggestions and total solutions.
As Toyo nears its 100th anniversary in 2007, the company is moving forward with its “Take Off 2007” program, with an eye toward establishing a number one brand, with an emphasis on being a good partner in the global market, managing cash flow with capital efficiency, being a responsible chemical manufacturer and building a dynamic corporate group so that workers can be happy.
Sakata Inx Corp.
1-23-37 Edobori, Nishi-Ku
Osaka 550-0002 Japan
Phone: +81-6-6447-5847
Fax: +81-6-6447-5849
Internet: www.inx.co.jp
E-mail: intl-sales@inx.co.jp
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Sales: $821 million (87,930 million yen) in printing ink and graphic arts); $892.9 million (95,655 million yen) consolidated.
Major Products: Commercial offset, sheetfed, heatset, and newspaper offset inks; gravure inks for flexible packaging; flexo inks for corrugated carton and paper bag; metal decorating inks; UV/EB varnishes; and inks for ink jet printers.
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Kazumi Suzuki, president of Sakata Inx. |
Key Personnel: Kazumi Suzuki, president; Masao Ikemoto, executive vice president, CFO, international operation; Mitsuo Matsuzawa, managing director, newspaper ink, electrographic and information products; Kunitaka Fujiwara, managing director, production, research and development; Hiroshi Ota, managing director and chairman, INX International Ink Company; Saburo Araki, managing director, offset printing ink and graphic arts and corporate marketing and development; Hirotsugu Takamaru, managing director, gravure ink; Kiyoharu Nishimura, director, human resources; Junzou Matsuki, director, packaging ink; Masaaki Komori, director, corporate planning, purchasing and information system; Yoshihiro Matsui, director, offset printing ink and graphic arts.
Number of Employees: 2,748 (consolidated basis); 852 (non-consolidated basis).
Comments: Sakata INX Corp. climbed 6.0 percent in terms of sales volume compared to the previous fiscal year in printing ink business in Japan, showing an increase in volume covering the fall in unit price due to price competition. In the U.S., INX International Ink Co.’s total inks sales volume decreased 0.3 percent, although offset ink sales volume increased 2.3 percent from the previous fiscal year. Last year, the company’s Asian subsidiaries showed a remarkable increase of the sales volume target against the previous fiscal year at the average ratio of 10 percent, surpassing the GDP of each country. In particular, PT Sakata Inx Indonesia had the best results in offset and gravure inks. Overall, the company’s sales declined slightly by 1.2 percent in ink and graphic arts.
Sakata INX and its subsidiaries had an active year in 2003 and early 2004. INX International Ink Co. acquired Holliday Encres, S.A. in France in May 2004, with the company now named INX International France S.A.S. Sakata Inx Shanghai and Sakata Inx Vietnam have been successfully built and have started supplying products since July 2004.
In Guangdong province, China, MaoMing Sakata Inx Co. Ltd., a joint-venture company for offset ink production, was established in July 2004. In addition, INX International’s Charlotte, NC factory was newly constructed to strengthen two-piece metal can ink production and establish an on-time supplying system.
In addition, the company has been planning expansions at manufacturing plants for printing ink in Indonesia, Malaysia and India in order to meet the demand in the respective countries.
One key area Sakata Inx continues to work with its customers is with digital technologies. The printing industry is showing remarkable progress in digitalization from prepress to post-process in printing related equipment and materials not only in commercial offset printing but also flexo and gravure printing.
In October 2003, Webmaster Ecopure Soy HD, a low-temperature drying type of web offset ink, was launched, which is designed to reduce 20 percent to 30 percent of CO2 and gas consumption by decreasing 10 degrees of web oven temperature. NT DIA, a non-toluene type of gravure ink, was developed, and is applicable to a wide range of films such as applications for shopping bags. Water-based functional coating varnish AC Coating Varnish NO1 was introduced, as was Ecostage GB, which was developed to protect film from oxygen by coating on it.
To supply environmentally friendly products is the most important strategic issue for Sakata Inx. Sakata Inx launched environmentally friendly products such as Webmaster Ecopure Soy HD, NT DIA and Ecostage GB, and the company takes pride in its reputation as “Environmentally Conscious Sakata Inx.” Finally, in total, in terms of units sales volume, the proportion of environmentally friendly inks rose from 84 to 87 percent, based on the company’s standard. Sakata Inx continues to publish an environmental report of the company annually, as the first edition in 2002 had received favorable notice from shareholders.
BASF Drucksysteme GmbH
Sieglestrasse 25
70469 Stuttgart-Feuerbach
Germany
Phone: +49(0)711/9816-0
Fax: +49(0)711/9816-700
Internet: www.basf-printingsystems.com
E-mail: info@basf-drucksysteme.de
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Sales: $746 million (E600 million).
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Dr. Michael Stumpp, managing director of BASF Drucksysteme GmbH. |
Key Personnel: Dr. Michael Stumpp, managing director; Dr. Stefan Wegener, business director, offset, PG; Frauke Meissner, business director, liquid inks; Dr. Thomas Telser, business director, printing plates.
Major Products: K+E and Fishburn web coldset, web heatset, sheetfed and UV offset; solvent- and water-based flexo; publication and packaging gravure; letterpress; fountain solutions, overprint varnishes and specialties.
Number of Employees: 2,600.
Comments: In a major move in September, CVC Capital Partners acquired BASF Drucksysteme GmbH together with all printing system companies of BASF as well as ANI Printing Inks. The businesses of the two companies will be merged and headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.
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BASF’s headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. |
The company launched a variety of new products throughout the year, including its Novastar F 916 Champion, a new duct fresh series of process inks; Newsking TOP newspaper ink series, based on a new technology; Printclean Web, a highly effective water-based cleaning agent for litho blankets and impression cylinders of web offset printing presses; and nyloflex infinity, a new technology for manufacturing seamless sleeves.
There has been some restructuring in Latin America, as BASF closed its printing ink sites in Brazil and Chile.
SICPA Group
Avenue de Florissant 41
1008 Prilly
Switzerland
Phone: +41-21-627-5555
Fax: +41-21-627-5515
Internet: www.sicpa.com
E-mail: sicpa@sicpa.com
Sales: $740 million.
Major Products: Security inks for currency, valuable documents and other securities; sheetfed offset inks for packaging; flexo, gravure, UV, letterpress and screen inks for packaging.
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Jan Secher, CEO of SICPA Group. |
Key Personnel: Jan Secher, CEO.
Number of employees: 3,500.
Comments: SICPA had a strong year in 2004, with sales on the rise and a wide variety of new technologies launched. In particular, Drupa 2004 served as a showcase for the company. The SICPA Group brought new technologies as well as a new emphasis on providing solutions to its customers, through innovative inks such as MasterBlend Die Inks for tobacco packaging and its new Krysalid color system. By far the leading manufacturer of inks for currency and security applications, SICPA is further leveraging its expertise into the packaging field.
With several thousands visits registered at the SICPA booth during the 14 days of the exhibition, company officials said that Drupa 2004 was a real success for the SICPA Group, with the numerous visitors looking for advice and expertise finding innovative answers for the high requirements of the graphic arts market. Throughout the exhibition, visitors had the opportunity to see live demonstrations of SICPA solutions performances, organized in collaboration with major printing machines manufacturers, equipment and other consumable suppliers.
The company recently announced it has launched a joint venture in Turkey, SICPA-SAMO Printing Inks, and in May, SICPA opened a new wholly owned subsidiary in St. Petersburg, SICPA St. Petersburg.
Huber Gruppe
Feldkirchenerstrasse 15
D81111 Kirchheim Heimstetten
Germany
Phone: +49-89-9003-0
Fax: +49-89-9003-222
Internet: www.mhm.de
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Sales: $570 million (approximately E450 million, Ink World estimate).
Major Products: Sheetfed, coldset and heatset offset inks; water- and solvent-based gravure packaging inks; water- and solvent-based flexo packaging inks; UV offset, flexo and metal decoration inks; security and intaglio inks; and toners for laser printers and copiers.
Key Personnel: Heiner Ringer, managing director; Dr. Erich Reich; managing director; marketing directors: Heiner Klokkers and Inge Moenckmeier; technical directors: Ursula Borgmann and Klaus Hanke.
Number of Employees: Approximately 2,050 worldwide.
Comments: Part of the MHM Holding Group, the Huber Group had a strong performance in 2003, with organic growth of 5 percent, with particularly strong growth in packaging inks, both liquid and offset, in Europe, Eastern Europe and NAFTA.
“Huber Group achieved its goals in 2003, and also 2004 seems OK,” said managing director Heiner Ringer “We expect drastic raw material increases for 2005, however. 2005 will bring raw material shortages caused by increased demand from China and the oil price increase.”
Packaging has become a major market for Huber Group, and the company is meeting the more stringent legislative initiatives, developing MGA, a new low migration, low odor ink product line for primary food packaging.
Huber Group has been in the forefront of a variety of new developments which the company showcased at Drupa. Huber Group is the supplier of inks for the innovative Metal FX (mfx) system, which has been drawing rave reviews for being able to create literally millions of metallic colors using silver as a fifth color.
“Our co-development with mfx has turned into a good success and is about to change the world of design for many areas,” Mr. Ringer said. “We foresee a similar development like in the automotive industry, where metallic is in.”
Service is also crucial, and Huber’s Hit Order Transfer (HOT) inventory software and InkAcademy, Huber’s educational establishment for professional training, have struck a chord with customers.
“HOT represents the service philosophy for our clients,” Mr. Ringer said. “The number of implementations is growing. The most fascinating service of the Huber Group, however, is the InkAcademy, a training and communication platform outside the day-to-day routine business for our customers amongst themselves and with the Huber Group. InkAcademy was well received by our visitors at Drupa, and the Huber Group has positioned itself well, as one of the most innovative ink companies, whilst not being one of the biggest.”
Tokyo Printing Ink
Mfg. Co., Ltd.
2-7-15, Tabatashinmachi
Kita-ku, Tokyo
Japan
Phone: +3-5692-7314
Fax: +3-5692-7341
Internet: www.tokyoink.co.jp
E-mail: ftd@tokyoink.co.jp
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Sales: $503 million (53,077 million yen).
Major Products: Sheetfed and heatset offset inks; gravure inks for paper, plastic film and other applications.
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Atsuo Ohashi, president of Tokyo Printing Ink. |
Key Personnel: Atsuo Ohashi, president; Kenzou Kawaziri and Yoshihiko Yokota, senior managing directors; Yasumori Tanaka, managing technical director.
Number of Employees: 763.
Comments: Established in 1923, Tokyo Printing Ink remains one of the leading Japanese printing ink manufacturers, with four offset ink and one gravure ink factories in Japan. In 2003, Tokyo Printing Ink suffered a slight decline in sales in 2003, as the company’s sales decreased 2.5 percent.
Tokyo Printing Ink’s major product lines are its Zipset offset inks, including sheetfed, heatset, UV, metallic, rubber-based and magnetic inks and process and Pantone colors. In addition to ink, the company manufactures synthetic resins, color and additive concentrates and compounds and other chemical products.
The company also has alliances throughout the Asia Pacific region, as well as in Mexico and the U.S., where it has a subsidiary, Tokyo Printing Ink Corporation U.S.A., located in Rancho Dominguez, CA.
Siegwerk Group
Alfred-Keller-Strasse 55
53721 Siegburg, Germany
Phone: +49-2241-3040
Fax: +49-2241-304777
Internet: www.siegwerk.com
E-mail: uk@siegwerk.de
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Sales: $490 million (E380 million).
Major Products: Packaging inks for flexo and gravure, UV inks, publication gravure inks, heatset and coldset newspaper web offset inks, printing varnishes and printing auxiliary materials.
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Herbert Forker, president and CEO of Siegwerk Group. |
Key Personnel: International Management Board: Herbert Forker, president and CEO; Ralf Hildenbrand, packaging Europe; Dr. Ansgar Nonn, print media; Dr. Oliver Wittmann, CFO; Dan McDowell, packaging North America; Dr. Chumrat Phichitkul, packaging Asia/Pacific.
Number of Employees: 1,500 worldwide.
Comments: 2003-04 was a tremendously exciting time for Siegwerk Group, as the company acquired Color Converting Inc. (CCI), Des Moines, IA, the fourth-largest U.S. ink manufacturer and a specialist in packaging inks. As a result, the company’s sales grew 24 percent to E388 million worldwide.
Herbert Forker, president and CEO of the Siegwerk Group, said that the integration of CCI into the Siegwerk Group is on the fast track.
“The acceptance of the Siegwerk ink systems in the U.S. market is overwhelming. The product portfolio of Siegwerk and CCI complement one another in an outstanding manner,” said Mr. Forker.
Many U.S. customers who previously received their deliveries from the German headquarters have been supplied and taken care of by CCI, and proven Siegwerk ink series such as PV 77 are very popular with U.S. customers. International brand-name manufacturers have already shifted their printing of high-quality packaging to Siegwerk inks. In return, the first European Siegwerk business partners have been supplied with CCI ink series such as Sealtech.
The acquisition of CCI means that the worldwide business partners of the Siegwerk Group are now able to draw on a broad, best-of-breed product portfolio.
In addition, CCI is, in the U.S., also renowned for its quite exceptional know-how in the field of services and consulting.
Clients of the enlarged Siegwerk Group around the globe will thus now benefit from the full range of skilled consulting and other services available as part of the “value by Siegwerk” package. This presents the company’s business partners with genuine added value, enabling them to improve economic efficiencies and to cut costs.
The fastest growing markets for the Siegwerk Group in Europe are Poland, where the sales of packaging inks have increased rapidly, Russia and the surrounding areas. In North America, CCI is expected to increase sales by 7.5 percent this year.
Asia is one of the main subjects for 2005, as Siegwerk offers toluol-free packaging inks there for an increasing market. During the next year, Siegwerk is also working to build up its business in France, Italy, Spain and Great Britain, and is looking for experienced employees in these markets.
The Drupa trade fair in Dusseldorf in May was an important milestone in the integration of CCI. At the trade fair booth, CCI employees met European customers who also have plants in the U.S. At the same time, Siegwerk took advantage of CCI’s contacts with American packaging companies who are active in Europe as well. New contacts were also established with Brazilian customers.
The Siegwerk Group had a very successful Drupa in Dusseldorf. More than 6,000 clients and new prospects called at the Siegwerk Group booth, and the large number of foreign visitors stopping off at the Siegwerk booth shows that the Siegwerk Group has, following the acquisition of CCI, established a reputation for itself in the international marketplace as a global player. As a result, the company is optimistic about reaching its ambitious objectives in a difficult market in the future.
At Drupa, the Siegwerk Group unveiled a new logo designed to act as a synonym for the group’s international activities and global presence in North America, Europe and Asia. With a view to ensuring that CCI is rapidly integrated at the wider corporate level, an international project code-named “Post Merger Integration” (PMI) was recently initiated with a variety of project groups comprising members of both Siegwerk and CCI into the Siegwerk Group. After 100 days, the first successes have already been seen.
Siegwerk Group prides itself on new technologies, and this past year has seen the company introduce a wide variety of new products.
New products in packaging printing inks include MR 133-4, a new, universally-applicable nitrocellulose-based ink series suitable for lamination; the low odor UV ink series Z-UV 42 SR; and the ZWPT 76 ink series for paper and tissues.
In publication rotogravure printing inks, Siegwerk Group presented new special extender varnishes which ensure the highest printing quality, even on difficult papers. Combining highest quality with optimal cost efficiency, these varnishes are tailor-made to meet the requirements and the order structure of clients.
In web offset inks. Siegwerk developed “Aridas,” a process ink series for keyless presses for waterless web offset coldset. It enables excellent printing results and high productivity even at high press speeds. The second main product is “Duotec,” a process ink series for web offset coldset/heatset for the production of semi commercials on absorbent substrates at a quality level between coldset and heatset. It has a well balanced drying performance with and without additional heating and assures universal use and easy finishing processes.
The Siegwerk group recently introduced its new flexographic printing ink series for high quality printing of PE films (for example, shopping bags) at the ProFlex trade conference and fair in Stuttgart. The series can be used in frontal and reverse printing and is optimally suited for detail as well as overall motifs. The high color tone stability and color strength make it valuable especially for image representations in the future development of product packaging. Even extremely fine halftone progressions can be realized.
Meanwhile, Siegwerk Inc. USA is in the process of developing a new color set for the U.S. market, which would eliminate complexity caused by the duality of coated and uncoated inks.
Inctec Inc.
450, Aoto-Cho, Midori-ku
Yokohama
Japan
Phone: +81-45-932-5121
Fax: +81-45-933-7422
Internet: www.dnp.co.jp/inctec/home.htm
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Sales: $333 million (41,613 million yen).
Major Products: Sheetfed, web offset (heatset, coldset), waterless, UV offset, news, solvent-based and water-based gravure, UV/water-based flexo, digital ink and toner.
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Shigemitsu Hatakeyama, president of Inctec Inc. |
Key Personnel: Shigemitsu Hatakeyama, president; Tomio Koike, senior executive officer, sales division; Takao Suzuki and Makoto Isshiki, senior executive officer; Takeo Muranaka, executive officer, manufacturing and technical division.
Number of Employees: 850.
Comments: Although Inctec Inc.’s sales decreased slightly in 2002-03, there was plenty of good news for the company. In particular, news ink was up in terms of both sales and volume, backed by the increasing number of color pages. Sales also increased for sheetfed offset ink, supported by brisk demand in China.
While overall sales of inks decreased, the deficit was covered by expansion of chemical products, and Inctec Inc. will continue to emphasize these products.
Inctec Inc. continues to develop environmentally friendly products. Last year, Inctec Inc. marketed a new sheetfed offset ink, New Shine Boss, which uses vegetable oil originated solvent, and a new web offset ink, Web Shine PTF, a non-VOC ink. For gravure ink, changing to environmentally friendly inks such as non-toluene inks and water-based inks are proceeding, and the company noted that sales of its water-based ink increased approximately 11 percent in 2002-03.
ANI Printing Inks
Box 1003
S-231 25 Trelleborg
Sweden
Phone: +46-410-59200
Fax: +46-410-44094
Internet: www.aninks.com
E-mail: info@hq.aninks.com
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Sales: $290 million (E232 million).
Major Products: Full range of web offset inks; sheetfed offset inks; liquid inks; and narrow web inks.
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Peter Koivula, president and CEO of ANI Printing Inks. |
Key Personnel: Peter Koivula, president and CEO; Niclas Nystrom, CFO; Bertil Ahlberg, marketing and communication; Leif Svensson, purchasing; Mikael Aspelin, legal affairs; Peter Håkansson, production and engineering general managers: Bart Delaleeuw (web offset inks); Clive Harper (sheetfed offset ink); Fredrik Danielsen (liquid inks) and Ewald Draajer (narrow web inks).
Number of Employees: 960.
Comments: It was a tremendously busy year for ANI Printing Inks (formerly Akzo Nobel Inks), as the company unveiled its new name in time for Drupa, and announced that CVC Capital Partners acquired at the end of September ANI Printing Inks as well as BASF Drucksysteme GmbH together with all printing system companies of BASF. The businesses of the two companies will be merged and headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.
ANI Printing Inks has come a long way from its management buyout (MBO) in late 2001 and acquiring Trenal, a Belgian ink manufacturer specializing in web coldset news inks and heatset, in 2003.
“The merger is in line with the consolidation plan which ANI announced back at the end of 2001 in the context of the MBO,” said Peter Koivula, CEO of ANI Printing Inks. “Through this combination of two well known ink suppliers, we not only create a leading European company that can service the demanding expectations of our customers, but also a global supplier of complete printing system solutions that can offer better products and services for the graphics and packaging industry.”
ANI had shown strong performance during the past year.
“2003 was a reasonably good year with the general market situation in mind,” said Bertil Ahlberg, marketing and communication director for ANI Printing Inks. “A lot of our resources were spent on internal restructuring and cost savings projects, which had a strong impact on our result. The area still struggling a bit is sheetfed offset, mainly due to the overall declining market. The name and logo change presented at Drupa has been problem-free and well received. We are very pleased with the response at Drupa, with a stand filled with many new and old clients, showing optimism for 2004 and on.”
The merger with BASF creates a new company that will have a strong presence in numerous markets. ANI is the worldwide leader in inks and services for the narrow web printing industry, one of the three major European news ink manufacturers, has a high share of the Nordic market and strong positions in selected areas in Europe.
Akzo Nobel Inks was one of the first companies in the world to advance quality, environmental and health standards by introducing a complete and integrated management system (IMS).
The system, which also includes ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certification, was upgraded at the beginning of 2003 to the latest standard, ISO 9001:2000.
In 2004, a Center of Technical Excellence was opened in Bangkok, Thailand, with expanded laboratory facilities and a test printing press, especially for narrow web inks.
Sericol International
Pysons Road
Broadstairs, Kent, U.K. CT10 2LE
Phone: +44-1-843-866668
Fax: +44-1-843-872126
and
Sericol, Inc.
1101 W. Cambridge Circle Dr.
Kansas City, KS 66103, USA
Phone: +1-913-342-4060
Fax: +1-913-342-475
Internet: www.sericol.com
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Sales: $275 million (Ink World estimate).
Major Products: UV screen, UV flexo, UV digital (piezo ink jet), solvent-based digital and solvent-based screen inks; screen pre-press; Inca Digital Presses.
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Ed Carhart, CEO of Sericol International. |
Key Personnel: Ed Carhart, CEO Sericol International; Jerry Avis, strategy & business development director; Mitch Bode, senior VP, North America; Malcolm Frier, HR director; Pete Kenehan, managing director – digital business unit; Tony Sleight, regional director Asia/Pacific; Bob Watson, managing director – Europe; Roy Wiles, finance director.
Number of Employees: 1,200.
Comments: The market environment showed steady improvement throughout 2003, especially when compared to the more difficult period of 2001 and 2002. Most major markets saw signs of recovery in the second half of 2003, after the uncertainty caused by the Iraq war and the SARS outbreak earlier in the year.
Sericol capitalized on the better conditions showing sales gains in all regions of the world. Markets have continued to recover in 2004; but in addition to the increased volume through a healthier economy, Sericol has made share gains in all of its principal markets and segments.
Sericol led the rapidly developing market for UV ink jet ink technology for wide format flatbed digital presses. Sericol combined its uniquely formulated Uvijet UV ink systems with Inca’s Eagle and Columbia flatbed presses – the world’s fastest flatbed presses. By spring 2004, 100 presses had been installed in more than 20 countries around the world. This position was further enhanced with the launch of the new Inca Columbia Turbo at Drupa in Düsseldorf, Germany in May. With speeds of up to 1,725 square feet per hour, the Columbia Turbo radically increases the economic run length of digital printing.
For Sericol, a market leader in screen inks, there was a realization that ink jet technologies would make gains at the expense of screen technology in some segments, but that there was also the potential for digital to enhance screen printing.
Ed Carhart, CEO of Sericol, said, “We believe screen printing will remain a strong and viable print technology. As UV inks reinvigorated screen printing more than a decade ago, digital printing will further enhance screen’s long term viability. Digital will not displace screen as the most cost effective print technology for long production runs, but with the advent of faster UV flatbed presses, digital is becoming the dominant technology for short to medium runs.”
“We’ve witnessed how our customers have transformed their businesses with the powerful combination of screen and digital technologies,” Mr. Carhart said. “The digital investments not only had a quick payback, but strengthened and better positioned their companies for the long run.”
Sericol remains quite bullish on the prospects for the balance of 2004.
“With the exception of several Western European markets that are still feeling the effects of recession, much of the global economy is in a sustained period of recovery,” Mr. Carhart said. “We expect the improved market conditions that began late in 2003 will carry well into 2005, benefiting Sericol and the entire industry.”
T&K Toka Co. Ltd.
20 Izumi-cho, Itabashi-ku
Tokyo, Japan.
Phone: +03-3963-0511
Fax: +03-3963-0448
Internet: www.tk-toka.co.jp
Sales: $240 million (Ink World estimate).
Major Products: UV offset, letterpress, flexo and screen inks; sheetfed offset inks; web offset heatset inks; waterless offset inks; gravure and flexo packaging inks; water-based varnishes; metal decorating products.
Key Personnel: Cho Masuda, chairman; Kyozo Masuda, president.
Number of Employees: 880 (estimated).
Comments: Since its inception in 1947, T&K Toka has been a leading Japanese printing ink manufacturer, particularly in UV inks. The T&K in the company’s name stands for Technology and Kindness, which emphasizes its commitment to its customers. In addition to its headquarters in Japan, the company has operations in China, Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Bangladesh, and a U.S. distributor, Top Level Ink in Dallas, TX.
Dainichiseika Color & Chemicals
7-6 Bakurocho 1-chome
Nihonbashi, Chuo-Ku
Tokyo 103-8383 Japan
Phone: +81-3-3662-7111
Fax: +81-3-3669-3936
Internet: www.daicolor.co.jp
Sales: $235 million (Ink World estimate); consolidated sales $1.27 billion (135 billion yen).
Major Products: Sheetfed, heatset, waterless and UV offset, gravure and specialty inks; security and banknote inks; and overprint varnishes.
Key Personnel: Osamu Takahashi, president and chairman of the board; Minoru Yamamoto, vice president, composite printing systems; Mineo Tosa, senior managing director, prepared color and chemicals group; Shigemitsu Yamazaki, senior managing director, general affairs and personnel; Koji Takahashi, senior managing director, corporate administration department; Shigeaki Yamamoto, senior managing director, pigment and synthetic color group; Keisuke Yamamoto, managing director, composite printing systems, offset; Michiei Nakamura, managing director, technical research center and technology commercialization office.
Comments: Dainichiseika Color & Chemicals Mfg. Co., Ltd. is best known for its pigments and colorants, and also manufactures heatset and sheetfed offset, gravure, UV and specialty inks.
Overall, the company has 57 affiliated companies and reported 135 billion yen in sales. Its colorants and printing inks division is its largest, with 99,102 million yen in sales in 2003, an increase of 2.5 percent from 2002. Buoyed by the end of the SARS epidemic and economic recovery in the U.S., the company made gains in exports and reported improvement in its profitability.
The company continued cost reduction methods and improved its worldwide procurement of raw materials. In particular, the company is seeking to expand its water-based ink share.
Dainichiseika has operations in Brazil, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. In the U.S., Dainichiseika has ink operations at Hi-Tech Color, Inc., Odenton, MD.
Micro Inks Limited
Bilakhia House,
Muktanand Marg
Chala,Vapi 396191
Gujarat, India
Phone: +91-260-2460284/461786
Fax: +91-260-2463733
Internet: www.microinks.com
E-mail: info@microinks.com
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Sales: $171 million.
Major Products: Heatset inks, coldest inks, sheetfed inks, solvent- and water-based flexo and gravure inks; UV inks, screen inks, and raw materials (resin for offset and liquid inks, varnishes, pigments, alkali blue, flushes, liquid inks concentrates and ink additives.
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Micro Inks’ headquarters in Gugarat, India. |
Key Personnel: Yunus Bilakhia, chairman; Anjum Bilakhia, managing director; Prashant Desai, member of the board; S.J. Angne, whole time director; Vinay Pandya, director, finance; Hitesh Parikh, company secretary; Snehal Shah, director, international business; R.Y. Kamat, director, domestic sales; Zakir Bilakhia, director, technology.
Number of Employees: Approximately 1,376.
Comments: It was a successful year for Micro Inks Limited, formerly Hindustan Inks & Resins, which saw a nearly 27 percent increase in sales. The company continued to grow its international sales, with more than $100 million in export sales to 60 countries.
In order to reflect the emerging global nature of the company and business and build cohesive corporate and brand identity across the globe, the company changed its name in March 2004 from Hindustan Inks and Resins Limited to Micro Inks Limited.
Micro Inks made a prominent presence at Drupa 2004 in Dusseldorf, Germany. It helped build bridges with potential customers and partners while enabling the company to reinforce ties with existing customers. Providing a further thrust to its international presence, Micro Inks will be participating in major industry exhibitions across the globe. Of late it has been at the heatset focus event of Ifraexpo 2004, Amsterdam, Holland.
In a key personnel move, James Mahony was appointed president and CEO of Micro Inks Corporation, USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Micro Inks Limited. Mr. Mahony was previously CEO and president of Flint Ink, Europe.
Digital technologies have had a huge impact on the prepress and press room operations recently, and this has led Micro Inks’ R&D efforts on a new path to match the more stringent requirements of the printing industry. Quality is controlled through sophisticated instruments. In terms of new inks, the company launched new CD-R and publication gravure inks in the past year.
Royal Dutch Printing Ink Factories Van Son
P.O. Box 44, 1200 AA
Hilversum, Holland
Phone: +31 35 688 44 11
Fax: +31 35 688 44 04
Internet: www.vanson.nl
E-mail: info@vanson.nl
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Sales: $150 million (Ink World estimate).
Major Products: Vs5 series, Quickson Plus, Quickson MultiFresh and Signature offset inks; Aqua Base Plus series water-based flexo inks; Van Son ArtColour and Van Son EasyPrint ink jet inks.
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While at Drupa 2004, Joe Bendowski, left, president of Van Son Holland Ink, and Paul Brouwer, right, president of Royal Dutch Printing Ink Factories Van Son, enjoy a moment with Mauritz Van Son. |
Key Personnel: Paul M. Brouwer, president.
Number of Employees: 280.
Comments: Taking into account the economic situation worldwide in 2003, Van Son managed to consolidate its sales together with a 4 percent growth. The company reported that its best results were experienced with offset and flexo inks, notably in Asia and the Eastern European countries.
Drupa was a major success for Van Son. Officials reported that in terms of the quality of the contact with visitors, sales leads and show revenue, it was the best Drupa show for Van Son.
The big news for Van Son this year was its new Vs5 series of commercial offset inks. This range is designed for use by commercial printers with all properties adjusted to enable fast work and turn times and resistances adapted to various types of laminations and UV coating.
The Vs5 series is designed for and marketed in a specific part of the printing market. Since the initial launch last year in the U.S. and Holland and the worldwide introduction at Drupa, the Vs5 ink has proven itself within a short period of time.
In the U.S., the Vs5 series are supported with a dedicated web site (www.vs5inks.com) and an extensive network of dealers.
What is so special about these dealers is that they are ink manufacturers themselves, in most cases selling locally their own brands, but have now added the Vs5 inks to their range. This offers the commercial printers the local service and technical support they are looking for.
On the flexo side, there is strong growth in flexographic printing markets as a result of the strong improvements made in high quality flexo printing, and Van Son has introduced new additions to its Aqua Base Plus range of water-based flexo inks. To mention just two, these are the NK-series for napkins and kitchen towels, and AP-series for use in on-site ink dispensing systems.
In the U.S., Van Son’s subsidiary, Van Son Holland Ink, moved its headquarters to Islandia, NY, allowing the company to consolidate its facilities. Joe Bendowski, Van Son Holland’s president and CEO, returned after a brief hiatus as Royal Van Son’s president to once again head the company he had led for nine years.
Epple Druckfarben AG
Postfach 10 15 25
86005 Augsburg
Germany
Phone: +49-821-4603-0
Fax: +49-821-4603-200
Internet: www.epple-druckfarben.de
E-mail: info@epple-druckfarben.de
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Sales: $66 million.
Major Products: Sheetfed inks; inks for perfecting presses; flexo and UV inks; varnishes, fountain solutions and printing additives.
Key Personnel: Joachim Erlach, CEO; Dr. Klaus-Dieter Schröter, technical director; Edgar Buck.
Number of Employees: 200.
Comments: Epple Druckfarben AG, an Augsburg, Germany-based sheetfed ink specialist, had a strong year in 2004, with sales increasing 10 percent. In 2004, Epple Druckfarben AG was part of Drupa’s Print City, and used the venue to introduce a variety of new products, including its Intensia line of inks, offering high brilliance and gloss and very good abrasion resistance.
Its Waterless Series for Perfecting offers high color intensity and good printability, and its Low Ghost Series reduces the risk of ghost effects and turning yellow on critical printing substrates.
There has been an increasing use of hybrid technology, and to meet the needs of printers who require low odor and high gloss hybrid inks, Epple Druckfarben AG has formulated its Starbrite Series hybrid UV inks which combines the properties of UV and conventional inks. The company’s new Starbrite Series of scent-reduced inks, manufactured with low-scent raw materials, are ideal for packaging applications that are sensitive to odors.
The company also has enhanced its Aniva color system, which it said brings photographic quality to offset printing. Based on a vegetable binder combination, aniva consists of its aniva Euroscale ink, aniva ICC profile and printing standardization. Company officials said that aniva helps printers reduce color fluctuations.
The company made gains in the sheetfed business when it acquired Siegwerk Druckfarben’s sheetfed offset division in January 2002, forming Sicolor Druckfarben. Located in Neusass, Germany, Sicolor Druckfaben was also active at Drupa, introducing its Chromaxx ink system, based on high-pigmented colors and an ICC-compliant prepress workflow.
Sanchez SA de CV
Oriente 171 # 367
México City
Mexico
Phone: +52 55 5118 1000
Fax: +52 55 5118 1090
Web: www.sanchez.com.mx
E mail: er.sanchez@sanchez.com.mx
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Sales: $60 million (inks); $85.6 million overall.
Major Products: Offset, flexo, gravure and screen inks and overprint varnishes.
Key Personnel: Ernesto Sanchez, managing director; Jose Sanchez marketing director (paste inks); Miguel Talamantes, marketing director (liquid inks); Jesus McKelligan, operations director; Salvador Duran, technical manager (paste inks); Agustin Lozano, technical manager (liquid inks).
Number of Employees: 740.
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Sanchez SA de CV’s headquarters are located in Mexico City, Mexico. |
Comments: Sanchez SA de CV, the leading printing ink manufacturer in Mexico, had a very strong year in 2003, with volume of ink increasing by 3 percent and its sales also growing 3 percent, outpacing the Mexican economy. This growth occurred in a wide variety of segments, as well as the company’s alliance with Toyo Ink.
“Our best results were in overprint varnishes, flexo and gravure inks for packaging and heatset inks,” said Ernesto Sanchez, managing director of Sanchez SA de CV. “These lines experienced a very interesting growth. In 2003, our commercial relationship with Toyo Ink grew stronger, having very good results with their inks in the sheetfed and gravure markets in Mexico.”
In order to meet increasing demand, Sanchez SA de CV has made a series of important moves.
“Last year represented for us the consolidation of our El Salvador operation, which is servicing the flexo and gravure market in Central America,” Mr. Sanchez said. “At the end of last year, we moved our water-base service center from Tlalnepantla to our new state-of-the-art facility in our main manufacturing plant in Talisman.”
In addition, the company has started the modification of its offset plant in Mexico City in order to make it more functional and efficient, and is also increasing its training programs.
“The trend of customers demanding more services and obligations in addition to just ink has continued,” Mr. Sanchez said. “For this, Sanchez has prepared and trained its personnel to answer these demands.”
In terms of new products, Sanchez SA de CV launched a low solvent retention lamination ink for the flexo and gravure market with very good results, and developed a flexo ink for “cook in the bag” applications.
Zeller+Gmelin GmbH
Schlossstrausse 20
D-73054 Eislingen/Fils, Germany
Phone: +49-7161-8021
Fax: +49-7161-802-355
Internet: www.zeller-gmelin.de
E-mail: druckfarben@zeller-gmelin.de
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Sales: $58 million.
Major Products: UV web, sheetfed, narrow web label and waterless offset inks; UV flexo and letterpress narrow web inks; UV rotary screen inks; UV inks for pre-formed plastic containers; UV inks for primographic printing of narrow web in-line cartons and labels; oil-based intaglio inks for printing currency; and a range of security inks for document authentication.
Key Personnel: (Ink Division only) Alex Stevenson, head of ink division and managing director, Intercolor U.K.; Marcus Ruckstaedter, marketing director, Germany; Damon Geer, marketing director, U.S.; Mark Bowman, marketing director, U.K.; Dirk van Lieshout, marketing director, Holland; Per Thomsen, marketing director, Denmark; Jacky Hoarau, marketing director, France; Dr. Heinz Schweiger, technical director, Germany; Steven Lazure, technical director. U.S.; Clive Surridge, technical director, U.K.; Dr. Francois Pierron, technical director, France.
Number of Employees: 250.
Comments: For Zeller & Gmelin (Z+G), 2003 was a ‘mixed’ year in terms of results. The UV specialist’s sales grew 3 percent overall, with a solid showing in Europe and the U.S.
“Our German inland sales were steady, showing a good penetration into the narrow web market for UV flexo and screen inks,” said Alex Stevenson, head of ink division and managing director, Intercolor U.K. “We are now considered ‘amongst’ the market leaders in Germany in this targeted area. Profitability was also strongly up as a result of our on-going strategy of leaving volume markets for specialization.”
Outside of Germany, Zeller+Gmelin had strong showings.
“Intercolor U.K. had an excellent 2003 with sales up 12 percent and pre-tax profits up 11 percent on 2002,” Mr. Stevenson said. “ 2004 is a consolidation year with sales and also pre-tax profits both up so far by 5 percent. Zeller+Gmelin USA had a good year with sales consolidating, and profitability respectably up – we have definitely recovered. Again 2004 continues apace. Our move into narrow web in the U.S. is definitely happening now, and we opened a new branch in Tampa.”
Exports from Germany stalled somewhat – mainly in Middle and Far East – probably due to Iraq war and SARS, but Mr. Stevenson said that 2004 is back on track. Holland and Denmark showed marginal growth.
In major news, Z+G formed a new subsidiary in France, in Genas near Lyon. It is led by Dr. Francois Pierron, and Jacky Hoarau, formerly of SICPA and Huber Group, and Mr. Stevenson noted that it is “off to a good start.”
Zeller+Gmelin is noted worldwide for its innovation, and 2004 brought a host of new products forward.
“Product wise, the star product for me was the U.S.’s Nuvaflex Free Radical Shrink Sleeve system,” Mr. Stevenson said. “It offers excellent results compared to the previously preferred method of solvent gravure or cationic UV flexo. A close second was Intercolor’s development of a first-ever printed Metallic Lustre Measurement system, patent applied for, which was adopted by Tesco for the quality control of its European wide premium product launch of ‘Tesco Finest.’”
Mr. Stevenson said that the company has had excellent results with its new UV cold foil adhesive, early results with UV thin film RFID inks look interesting, full range of UV screen colors are now added to its range of whites and a new security inks product range is now available.
There is escalating demand for 24/7 service, which Mr. Stevenson said is something new in Germany, and Zeller+Gmelin’s new Tech Service center is now the company’s busiest area. The U.K. is now almost entirely servicing its customer base via consignment stock and in-plant.
“The difference is that we are using regionally mobile in-plant technicians, not technicians sitting waiting in the customers factory for problems to occur,” Mr. Stevenson said.
For Zeller+Gmelin, Drupa was “very satisfactory and very focused.” Mr. Stevenson said that the follow-up hit rate from Drupa was unusually high.
To meet the increasing demand for its products, Zeller+Gmelin is planning major expansion projects.
“We are planning significant plant and equipment investment over the next five years,” Mr. Stevenson said. “My Capex request is with the Group Board as we speak, and this will also include establishment of more overseas subsidiaries in strategically important countries. Extra service and R&D personnel are planned.”
Environmental Inks
and Coatings Corporation
#1 Quality Products Rd.
Morganton, NC 28655
Phone: (800) 368-4657;
(828) 433-1922
Fax: (438) 438-9513
Internet: www.envinks.com
E-mail: marketing@envinks.com
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Sales: $44 million (Ink World estimate).
Major Products: Water-based flexo for paper and film; UV flexo; water-based gravure, UV rotary screen and UV letterpress inks; overprint varnishes; and Futures Ink Jet Ink for fine art and photography printing
Key Personnel: Edward G. Redman, chairman of the board; Paul L. Schroeder, president and CEO; Gary A. Nance, CFO; Richard J. Gloeckler, vice president/general manager, eastern division; Michael Harjung, vice president/general manager, western division; Todd Redman, vice president, manufacturing; Catherine Thomas, vice president, legal; Don Matthiesen, director of marketing and communication; Kirk Franklin, vice president, technology.
Number of Employees: 230.
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Environmental Inks and Coatings’ headquarters in Morganton, NC. |
Comments: Environmental Inks and Coatings (EIC) had a solid year in 2004, with sales growing 2 percent. The market for packaging and labels has been recovering slowly, and EIC is responding to its customers’ desire to make gains in productivity to improve profitability. EIC’s Print Impact service program and its innovative Anilox Aware software are helping EIC customers to gain the productivity edge.
The company’s 2003 acquisition of Arcar Graphics from Flint Ink is paying dividends for the company, and EIC is also establishing broader distribution centers in Kansas City and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The Mexican and Latin American markets are also experiencing solid growth.
The label market is rapidly embracing UV printing technology, and at the same time EIC has optimized UV ink technology by introducing the Envirocure UV product line. Envirocure incorporates the most recent polymer chemistry for the most user- and workplace-friendly UV products available. Envirocure inks and coatings are available for flexo, rotary screen, combination and letterpress applications.
EIC has signed an agreement to supply Macro Ultra VS - UV heat shrink inks to the Americas. These inks are designed specifically for the demanding heat shrink label market. Chroma Plus (zero maintenance) is the most universal label ink available in the market today. It required zero maintenance while printing most substrates common to label manufacturing. EIC also markets the Futures ink jet ink ink to the giclee, fine art and photographic printing business.
In personnel moves, EIC welcomed Zubair Khan as the business manager for the Envirocure UV product line. Ron Zessack, Southeastern regional manager, has been promoted to national product manger for Envirocure UV products. Raj Jhaveri was promoted to director of R&D.
Ruco Druckfarben/
A.M. Ramp & Co. GmbH
Lorsbacher Strasse 28
D-65817 Eppstein,
Germany
Phone: +49-61-98-3040
Fax: +49-61-98-32288
Internet: www.ruco.de
E-mail: info@rucoinks.com
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Sales: $44 million (Ink World estimate).
Major Products: Publication gravure, full line of packaging gravure and flexo including UV flexo, a full line of silkscreen letterpress and pad printing inks, and UV waterless offset.
Key Personnel: Heinz Walter Menke, managing director
Number of Employees: 200
Comments: Ruco Druckfarben/A.M. Ramp & Co. GmbH is a leader in a variety of segments, including UV, flexo, screen, pad printing and gravure.
The company is particularly strong in the international market, with 55 percent of its sales coming from exports to more than 70 nations.
The company relies on its strong technical service, with distributors located near its customers, as a key part of its success.
Ruco had a major presence at Drupa, and used the show to display many of its new products. These include Ruco’s screen printing ink 930 UV for glass printing; Series 995 UV 1108, a preprint white, and 1108 AR, an opaque white, both suitable for combination label printing with flexo; 983 and its UV 1266 NV, ideal for overprintability with wet offset and letterpress for label printing.
In addition, the company has developed its 950 UV for tube printing, such as cosmetics; Pad printing ink series T 25, a one-component ink; and Flexographic printing ink series XKB, a solvent-containing, ester-based ink ideal for PVC adhesive tapes.
The company is working on new areas, including doing some work in ink jet, good for all substrates, and anticipates stable development in the coming years.
Encres Dubuit
ZI Mitry Compans
1 Rue Issac Newton
77292 Mitry Cedex, France
Phone: +33 1-6467-4162
Fax: +33 1-6467-1177
Internet: www.encresdubuit.com
E-mail: export@encresdubuit.com
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Sales: $31 million (E24.8 million)
Major Products: Screen printing, offset, flexo, UV and specialty inks.
Key Personnel: Jacques Mounier, president, board of trustees; Jean-Louis Dubuit, president; Philippe Duminy, director general; Arnaud Maquinghen, commercial and marketing director; Olivier Cocagne, export director; Jean-Pierre Vives, director of R&D; Franck Meyer, director of administration and finances.
Number of Employees: 180.
Comments: Encres Dubuit has a solid year in 2003. While sales were down 8.4 percent, from E27.1 to E24.8, the difference in the exchange rate has sales up slightly overall to $31 million.
In particular, the company pointed to gains in its UV line of products, although Dubuit Color, its company in Brazil, suffered a major decline in sales.
Meanwhile, 2004 has started off great for Encres Dubuit, as its first-half numbers show an 8.3 percent increase in sales, once again led by UV, which is showing double-digit growth, as well as its international sales, with South America and Asia being strong areas of growth in 2004.
In addition, the company has made some gains in the Asian marketplace by opening Encres Dubuit Shanghai Co. Ltd., its latest international division, which will support the Chinese label industry with a variety of Encres Dubuit products.
In 2003, the company signed agreements with SICPA and Nazdar that have begun to pay dividends.
Encres Dubuit entered into a distribution agreement with SICPA to exclusively market SICPA’s waterless UV printing inks (Sicura Disc series) for printing CD/DVD blanks in Asia and South America, and also formed a strategic marketing alliance with Nazdar to explore business opportunities in screen and digital print markets worldwide.
Brancher Company
Parc d’activite du Saule
28170 Tremblay les villages, France
Phone: +33 2 37 38 91 00
Fax: +33 2 37 38 91 21
Internet: www.brancher.com
E-mail: export@brancher.com
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Sales: $29 million.
Major Products: Offset, flexo and UV inks.
Key Personnel: Olivier Brancher, president; Stephane Atoumo, international development director; Jean Marie Planchon, purchase director; Guillaume Proust, finance director; Thierry Dabadie, technical director.
Number of Employees: 145.
Comments: Brancher Company, a sheetfed offset, flexo and UV specialist, had a strong year in 2003, yielding new opportunities for 2004. The company showcased a variety of new technologies at Drupa 2004 which should pay dividends in the future.
In particular, Brancher exhibited its Dayamix color mixing station for offset, flexo and UV, with turnkey mixing centers. On the ink side, Brancher displayed its Smart Up products, which include security ink, luminescent, thermochromic, erasable and mirror effects ink for UV flexo and offset. In addition, Brancher is making new varnishes as well.
The export side of its business remains strong, with exports nearing 25 percent of its total sales. Brancher Central Europe, based in Warsaw, has done very well since it was founded in 2000, and the company has connections in China.
Cromos S.A. Tintas Graficas
Rua Senador Mozart Lago, 51
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
21530-210
Phone: +55-21-2472-2525
Fax: +55-21-2471-3438
Internet: www.cromos.com.br
E-mail: mail@cromos.com.br
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Sales: $28 million (Ink World estimate).
Major Products: Sheetfed, heatset, coldest, metalgraphic, solvent- and water-based flexo and gravure, UV offset and security inks.
Key Personnel: Jacques Antonio Aubry, president and CEO.
Number of Employees: 320.
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Cromos S.A. Tintas Graficas’ headquarters are located in Rio de Janeiro. |
Comments: Cromos is one of Brazil’s largest manufacturers of inks, with gross sales of approximately $28 million, and controls about a third of the offset market. The Brazilian economy showed some improvement in 2003 and 2004, and Cromos S.A. Tintas Graficas is well placed to share in that growth.
Its core business is in sheetfed offset ink, but the company is also active in water-based flexo ink for kraft paper; solvent- and water-based gravure inks; packaging inks for flexo and gravure for flexible film; security inks; metal graphic ink for conventional three-piece can lithography; special inks for metallic decoration of steel and aluminum cans; and UV inks for offset, metal decorating and flexographic products. The company is investing more of its resources into solvent-based flexo inks and UV inks.
The company is also working on its export business, looking to open a small new plant in Argentina, and hiring an export manager to develop business in other countries in South America.
Cromos S.A. Tintas Graficas’ 78,000 square foot headquarters and factory are located in the industrial estate of the Fazenda Botafogo in Rio de Janeiro. The company also has a factory in São Paulo, and a service station in Curitiba, Paraná. Cromos S.A. Tintas Graficas also owns 50 percent of Cromar Vernizes Graficos Ltda, a Guarulhos, São Paulo-based varnishes and water-based additives manufacturer.
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