David Savastano, Editor05.20.19
Printing inks can be a hi-tech product, especially when being used for security applications. For Chroma Inks USA, solving technological challenges are a perfect opportunity to develop creative new solutions.
A specialist in security and sterilization inks, Chroma Inks USA was founded in 2015 by two chemistry professionals with a long experience in the functional inks and coatings space.
Dr. Shobha Puntambekar worked for one of the largest firms in the functional inks industry for 12 years as their director of R&D and business development, while Dr. Shakher Puntambekar has worked in the inks and coating industry for more than 25 years.
During her tenure at her previous employer, Shobha gathered a large amount of information about the market, developed close relationships with customers and suppliers, and was additionally a member of the ISO working committee that helped develop the standards used worldwide for sterilization indicator inks. She found this to be extremely interesting and felt energized to be at the center of the business and market.
Four years ago, Shobha felt the time was right to build her own company, one that would offer better products relative to those offered by its closest competitors, and Chroma Inks
was born.
“Over the few years we’ve been in business, we’ve received a good response from customers who have typically been pleased to work with us and engage with a member of the industry who they have a long relationship with,” said Shobha. “We’ve experienced steady growth in terms of customers, revenue and our product line in terms of the various inks we offer. While we face many challenges due to the fact that we’re building a new company in a field where there are existing incumbents that have essentially cornered the market, we believe the future looks strong and expect to see continued growth and success.”
Chroma Inks USA’s focus is on sterilization and security inks.
“Chroma Inks USA’s specialties are color changing chemical indicator inks for medical packaging and devices that undergo various sterilization processes – namely steam, ethylene oxide, formaldehyde, hydrogen peroxide (including plasma), and more,” Shobha said. “Sterilization inks are the first line of defense used for the monitoring of infection control in the medical packaging industry. They are printed on medical packaging and act as chemical/process indicators (type 1-6) to verify that standardized sterilization parameters have been reached.
“The other market we serve is for document security, specifically thermal inks for tamper evidence and authentication purposes,” added Shobha. “With the introduction of ever more sophisticated printers and ancillary equipment, this threat is only going to get worse. To counter this threat, Chroma has introduced a number of security inks. These inks respond to a variety of stimuli such as heat, light, pressure etc. to undergo a change in color, volume or other visible change. Furthermore, the presence of these inks can be revealed by authentication devices specific to the ink. Thus, these processes could be used to authenticate a document or thwart attempts at altering/copying a document.”
Chroma Inks USA puts tremendous emphasis on service and innovation. “Our existing competitors offer standard products with no room for customization and customer-specific changes,” Shobha observed. “Chroma Inks, with its vast experience and technical know-how, can offer customized solutions to our customers that are typically not available from our competitors. Given environmental concerns, regulatory compliance, and constant innovation and movement in the marketplace, we have focused our efforts into designing and developing our products to be fully water-based and lead-free - a widely-used historical key component of many sterilization inks. Not only are the resulting products significantly more environmentally friendly than comparable solvent-based inks, they also result in lower transportation costs and safer production-environments for employees at our customers.
“Our most recent advances have been the development of a number of new inks for the sterilization ink market,” Shobha added. “The approval of ozone-mediated sterilization processes by the FDA spurred us to develop a range of ozone sterilization inks. While the market for these inks is currently small, we anticipate it to steadily grow. In addition to ozone-mediated sterilization, we have also developed a range of radiation inks, decontamination inks, and wash indicators for use in the respective sterilization processes. In general, though, we are continuing to refine and optimize our existing products while introducing new technologies for marketing, customer resource management, and order management to streamline our own processes and the experience of our customers.”
Chroma Inks USA
46 Deforest Avenue, Suite D
East Hanover, NJ 07936 USA
Tel: 732-956-4431
Alt.: 862 701 5092
E-Mail: inquiries@chromainksusa.com
www.chromainksusa.com
Specialties: Sterilization and Security Inks
A specialist in security and sterilization inks, Chroma Inks USA was founded in 2015 by two chemistry professionals with a long experience in the functional inks and coatings space.
Dr. Shobha Puntambekar worked for one of the largest firms in the functional inks industry for 12 years as their director of R&D and business development, while Dr. Shakher Puntambekar has worked in the inks and coating industry for more than 25 years.
During her tenure at her previous employer, Shobha gathered a large amount of information about the market, developed close relationships with customers and suppliers, and was additionally a member of the ISO working committee that helped develop the standards used worldwide for sterilization indicator inks. She found this to be extremely interesting and felt energized to be at the center of the business and market.
Four years ago, Shobha felt the time was right to build her own company, one that would offer better products relative to those offered by its closest competitors, and Chroma Inks
was born.
“Over the few years we’ve been in business, we’ve received a good response from customers who have typically been pleased to work with us and engage with a member of the industry who they have a long relationship with,” said Shobha. “We’ve experienced steady growth in terms of customers, revenue and our product line in terms of the various inks we offer. While we face many challenges due to the fact that we’re building a new company in a field where there are existing incumbents that have essentially cornered the market, we believe the future looks strong and expect to see continued growth and success.”
Chroma Inks USA’s focus is on sterilization and security inks.
“Chroma Inks USA’s specialties are color changing chemical indicator inks for medical packaging and devices that undergo various sterilization processes – namely steam, ethylene oxide, formaldehyde, hydrogen peroxide (including plasma), and more,” Shobha said. “Sterilization inks are the first line of defense used for the monitoring of infection control in the medical packaging industry. They are printed on medical packaging and act as chemical/process indicators (type 1-6) to verify that standardized sterilization parameters have been reached.
“The other market we serve is for document security, specifically thermal inks for tamper evidence and authentication purposes,” added Shobha. “With the introduction of ever more sophisticated printers and ancillary equipment, this threat is only going to get worse. To counter this threat, Chroma has introduced a number of security inks. These inks respond to a variety of stimuli such as heat, light, pressure etc. to undergo a change in color, volume or other visible change. Furthermore, the presence of these inks can be revealed by authentication devices specific to the ink. Thus, these processes could be used to authenticate a document or thwart attempts at altering/copying a document.”
Chroma Inks USA puts tremendous emphasis on service and innovation. “Our existing competitors offer standard products with no room for customization and customer-specific changes,” Shobha observed. “Chroma Inks, with its vast experience and technical know-how, can offer customized solutions to our customers that are typically not available from our competitors. Given environmental concerns, regulatory compliance, and constant innovation and movement in the marketplace, we have focused our efforts into designing and developing our products to be fully water-based and lead-free - a widely-used historical key component of many sterilization inks. Not only are the resulting products significantly more environmentally friendly than comparable solvent-based inks, they also result in lower transportation costs and safer production-environments for employees at our customers.
“Our most recent advances have been the development of a number of new inks for the sterilization ink market,” Shobha added. “The approval of ozone-mediated sterilization processes by the FDA spurred us to develop a range of ozone sterilization inks. While the market for these inks is currently small, we anticipate it to steadily grow. In addition to ozone-mediated sterilization, we have also developed a range of radiation inks, decontamination inks, and wash indicators for use in the respective sterilization processes. In general, though, we are continuing to refine and optimize our existing products while introducing new technologies for marketing, customer resource management, and order management to streamline our own processes and the experience of our customers.”
Chroma Inks USA
46 Deforest Avenue, Suite D
East Hanover, NJ 07936 USA
Tel: 732-956-4431
Alt.: 862 701 5092
E-Mail: inquiries@chromainksusa.com
www.chromainksusa.com
Specialties: Sterilization and Security Inks