Anthony Locicero, Associate Editor11.13.20
COVID-19 has impacted people and businesses across the globe. However, there are ink companies that remained open – serving essential business operations – and reported growth during these trying times.
“The pandemic caused some disruption to the supply chain, but I think the printing industry was able to meet the challenges quite well,” said John Pogatschnik, manager, product narrow web at Flint Group. “Our customers have had varying levels of disruption, depending on the markets they serve. Those customers who are supplying segments deemed essential had strong demand and we worked directly with those customers to keep them supplied. Other customers who were affected by suffering segments like tickets, durable goods and automotive relieved the demand to some degree so we could re-balance our production requirements to keep customers supplied.”
“While COVID-19 has certainly affected all players in the global supply chain, Sun Chemical’s global capabilities allowed our procurement teams to deftly manage supply chains during these unprecedented times,” said Tony Renzi, VP, product management packaging inks, North American Inks, Sun Chemical. “Sun Chemical’s goal is to make sure our supply chain is well-positioned to respond to any further upcoming hurdles, whether it is a COVID-19 wave two, potential panic buying wave two, or an increase in potential trade wars, along with any other geopolitical events. Sun Chemical remains financially strong and continues to rely heavily upon its own internal sources of oligomers and pigments.”
The supply of raw materials appears to be resolved, according to Kouhei Yoshimura, marketing manager - offset, Functional Materials Sales Division at Toyo Ink Co., Ltd. “The problem was not so much the supply of raw materials as the risk of plant closures due to lockdown,” Yoshimura said.
Hirofumi Ozaki of T&K Toka said the supply of the raw materials became tighter.
“Nevertheless,” he continued, “the supply chain of our company’s product is quite stable.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly posed challenges across the printing industry, including strains on the supply chain, but we have not experienced anything that has been significantly detrimental,” said Ken Klug, purchasing director, Wikoff Color.
“We just experienced very little disruptions to our supply chain as our procurement team has been proactively working to secure the supply of material, especially in the regions of the world that were hit hardest and where we are dependent on key raw materials, such as China or India,” added Tom Hammer, head of technical marketing narrow web, CUSA, Siegwerk. “Today, we only see a very slight impact on our supply due to the pandemic but of course are continuing to closely monitor the situation.”
Growth segments
Energy curing technologies are faring “quite well” in the graphic arts segment, according to Damon Geer, VP of Zeller+Gmelin Corporation.
“UV curing is still the primary system being used in North America, but LED is capturing more market share each year and EB for food packaging still has its advantages,” Geer said.
“Energy curing remains a strong growth application within the graphic arts industry, further driving UV/EB ink market growth on a global base, especially in narrow web printing for labels and packaging,” Hammer reported. “At the same time, we see a decline in sheetfed offset in the EMEA region due to the recent pandemic situation and related uncertainties.”
Lower VOC levels, shorter run capabilities and alternatives to lamination make energy-cure technologies attractive to packaging producers, according to Dr. Evan Benbow, R&D director, Wikoff Color.
“The market for UV inks for commercial started off slow but did expand with the utilization of more highly efficient, low energy HUV and LED type presses,” said Jim Bishop, field product manager, Sun Chemical. “Many large-format high-speed UV sheetfed presses are beginning to be installed for efficiency.”
Pogatschnik noted that UV inks maintain a strong and growing position in the narrow web printing segment.
“The technology offers advantages including low maintenance on press, no VOCs, and great color strength resulting in bold and crisp graphics,” said Pogatschnik. “Innovations around UV LED lamps have further enabled growth, coupling the ink benefits with those of LED lamps including low energy consumption, long lamp life, and less heat generation as compared to conventional UV.”
“In the past, petroleum-based products have been the mainstay in markets outside Japan for paper packaging. UV-curable printing, however, has become the norm in recent years for catalogs, flyers, tags and labels including in-mold labels,” Yoshimura said. “In the commercial printing field mainly in Europe, the US and Japan, demand is growing for low-energy curing systems for LED and ozone-less UV applications. Driving this growth is UV LED’s ability to increase productivity through instantaneous drying compared to solvent-based printing as markets lean toward high-mix, small-lot print runs.”
In Europe, the UV commercial printing market is saturated and hubergroup isn’t expecting any growth in this segment, according to Alexander Blasek, global project manager UV flexo inks.
“Instead, we see steady growth in the UV flexo market. Fields of application here include packaging and labels,” Blasek said. “In Europe, we are seeing a wider range of applications for classic UV lamps (mercury), whereas there is a growing trend towards EB in North America. However, the UV lamp application is the dominant one.”
There is also reported growth in the packaging segment.
“The pandemic has had a negative impact on some markets, but our business is rooted in segments considered essential, which have remained strong this year. A leading growth application is shrink sleeve labeling, which has a strong connection with beverage packaging as well as various food packaging like dairy and snack products,” Pogatschnik said. “Flexible packaging pouches and sachets are relatively new and growing applications. Pressure-sensitive labels, a core to our market, features prime labels for product packaging as well as some functional labels like security and reclosures.”
“There are worldwide demands for safe and environmentally friendly products and many technologies are under constant development in these fields,” Ozaki said. “Especially the key to the expansion is the generalization of low migration in food packaging, and the recyclability in the packaging materials that have the function of deinkability.”
Sun Chemical observed growth in the packaging sector, specifically food packaging, according to Renzi.
“The packaging market has continued to see growth in UV and EB, especially UV flexo, narrow web, tag and label, folding carton and other emerging applications in flexible packaging,” he said. “Consumers are beginning to consider moving from lamination applications and pursuing interests in EB offset and flexo curing for flexible packaging applications.”
“The requirements, effects and substrates used in the packaging market make the UV process necessary,” said Roland Schröder, product manager UV-offset at hubergroup. “The advantages of radiation-curing technology are very pronounced here in packaging applications, for example, fast finishing directly after printing.”
Flint Group reports strong results in food and beverage, home and personal care.
“The pandemic has impacted durable goods negatively, but the others feed essential products, which have weathered the storm and maintained healthy demand throughout the year,” Pogatschnik said. “UV inks and coatings inherently come with some abrasion and chemical resistance, which makes them a robust option for packaging where the print can be exposed to washing, rinsing, bottles or jars bumping or sliding down a filling line, repeated exposure outdoors or a wet environment like shampoos.”
Dr. Benbow said Wikoff is seeing the strongest results in the consumer packaging market – from folding carton to flexible packaging to labels.
“EB has traditionally seen strong results in folding carton applications for food packaging, like frozen meals and ice cream, due to the need for low migration and food safe properties,” he added. “With tightening regulations from consumer brands and governance standards, we see a growing interest in EB unit installations.”
“Rigid plastics converted to UV many years ago and remains strong and now elements of flexible packaging are converting to energy curable technologies,” Geer said.
“In the global commercial printing industry, demand is strong in markets like online shopping, where high-mix, small-lot print runs are desired,” Yoshimura said. “Other growing markets include labels, plastic cups, luxury packaging for cosmetics and premium liquor and flexible packaging.”
“As LED systems become more cost-competitive, growth and transition will continue to increase globally. Until today, UV technologies are still dominating the labels and sleeve markets in EMEA and North America,” Hammer added. “In comparison to EMEA where UV, UV LED and EB curing are already well accepted for food packaging applications, North America continues to rely on conventional solvent- and water-based inks.
“Even though we have seen a lot of clients in the US beginning food packaging efforts with low migration inks, they are still pushing jobs back to conventional presses as soon as the jobs get larger. Nevertheless, we see this as a beneficial development for UV in the US overall beginning to break new ground.”
“The pandemic caused some disruption to the supply chain, but I think the printing industry was able to meet the challenges quite well,” said John Pogatschnik, manager, product narrow web at Flint Group. “Our customers have had varying levels of disruption, depending on the markets they serve. Those customers who are supplying segments deemed essential had strong demand and we worked directly with those customers to keep them supplied. Other customers who were affected by suffering segments like tickets, durable goods and automotive relieved the demand to some degree so we could re-balance our production requirements to keep customers supplied.”
“While COVID-19 has certainly affected all players in the global supply chain, Sun Chemical’s global capabilities allowed our procurement teams to deftly manage supply chains during these unprecedented times,” said Tony Renzi, VP, product management packaging inks, North American Inks, Sun Chemical. “Sun Chemical’s goal is to make sure our supply chain is well-positioned to respond to any further upcoming hurdles, whether it is a COVID-19 wave two, potential panic buying wave two, or an increase in potential trade wars, along with any other geopolitical events. Sun Chemical remains financially strong and continues to rely heavily upon its own internal sources of oligomers and pigments.”
The supply of raw materials appears to be resolved, according to Kouhei Yoshimura, marketing manager - offset, Functional Materials Sales Division at Toyo Ink Co., Ltd. “The problem was not so much the supply of raw materials as the risk of plant closures due to lockdown,” Yoshimura said.
Hirofumi Ozaki of T&K Toka said the supply of the raw materials became tighter.
“Nevertheless,” he continued, “the supply chain of our company’s product is quite stable.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly posed challenges across the printing industry, including strains on the supply chain, but we have not experienced anything that has been significantly detrimental,” said Ken Klug, purchasing director, Wikoff Color.
“We just experienced very little disruptions to our supply chain as our procurement team has been proactively working to secure the supply of material, especially in the regions of the world that were hit hardest and where we are dependent on key raw materials, such as China or India,” added Tom Hammer, head of technical marketing narrow web, CUSA, Siegwerk. “Today, we only see a very slight impact on our supply due to the pandemic but of course are continuing to closely monitor the situation.”
Growth segments
Energy curing technologies are faring “quite well” in the graphic arts segment, according to Damon Geer, VP of Zeller+Gmelin Corporation.
“UV curing is still the primary system being used in North America, but LED is capturing more market share each year and EB for food packaging still has its advantages,” Geer said.
“Energy curing remains a strong growth application within the graphic arts industry, further driving UV/EB ink market growth on a global base, especially in narrow web printing for labels and packaging,” Hammer reported. “At the same time, we see a decline in sheetfed offset in the EMEA region due to the recent pandemic situation and related uncertainties.”
Lower VOC levels, shorter run capabilities and alternatives to lamination make energy-cure technologies attractive to packaging producers, according to Dr. Evan Benbow, R&D director, Wikoff Color.
“The market for UV inks for commercial started off slow but did expand with the utilization of more highly efficient, low energy HUV and LED type presses,” said Jim Bishop, field product manager, Sun Chemical. “Many large-format high-speed UV sheetfed presses are beginning to be installed for efficiency.”
Pogatschnik noted that UV inks maintain a strong and growing position in the narrow web printing segment.
“The technology offers advantages including low maintenance on press, no VOCs, and great color strength resulting in bold and crisp graphics,” said Pogatschnik. “Innovations around UV LED lamps have further enabled growth, coupling the ink benefits with those of LED lamps including low energy consumption, long lamp life, and less heat generation as compared to conventional UV.”
“In the past, petroleum-based products have been the mainstay in markets outside Japan for paper packaging. UV-curable printing, however, has become the norm in recent years for catalogs, flyers, tags and labels including in-mold labels,” Yoshimura said. “In the commercial printing field mainly in Europe, the US and Japan, demand is growing for low-energy curing systems for LED and ozone-less UV applications. Driving this growth is UV LED’s ability to increase productivity through instantaneous drying compared to solvent-based printing as markets lean toward high-mix, small-lot print runs.”
In Europe, the UV commercial printing market is saturated and hubergroup isn’t expecting any growth in this segment, according to Alexander Blasek, global project manager UV flexo inks.
“Instead, we see steady growth in the UV flexo market. Fields of application here include packaging and labels,” Blasek said. “In Europe, we are seeing a wider range of applications for classic UV lamps (mercury), whereas there is a growing trend towards EB in North America. However, the UV lamp application is the dominant one.”
There is also reported growth in the packaging segment.
“The pandemic has had a negative impact on some markets, but our business is rooted in segments considered essential, which have remained strong this year. A leading growth application is shrink sleeve labeling, which has a strong connection with beverage packaging as well as various food packaging like dairy and snack products,” Pogatschnik said. “Flexible packaging pouches and sachets are relatively new and growing applications. Pressure-sensitive labels, a core to our market, features prime labels for product packaging as well as some functional labels like security and reclosures.”
“There are worldwide demands for safe and environmentally friendly products and many technologies are under constant development in these fields,” Ozaki said. “Especially the key to the expansion is the generalization of low migration in food packaging, and the recyclability in the packaging materials that have the function of deinkability.”
Sun Chemical observed growth in the packaging sector, specifically food packaging, according to Renzi.
“The packaging market has continued to see growth in UV and EB, especially UV flexo, narrow web, tag and label, folding carton and other emerging applications in flexible packaging,” he said. “Consumers are beginning to consider moving from lamination applications and pursuing interests in EB offset and flexo curing for flexible packaging applications.”
“The requirements, effects and substrates used in the packaging market make the UV process necessary,” said Roland Schröder, product manager UV-offset at hubergroup. “The advantages of radiation-curing technology are very pronounced here in packaging applications, for example, fast finishing directly after printing.”
Flint Group reports strong results in food and beverage, home and personal care.
“The pandemic has impacted durable goods negatively, but the others feed essential products, which have weathered the storm and maintained healthy demand throughout the year,” Pogatschnik said. “UV inks and coatings inherently come with some abrasion and chemical resistance, which makes them a robust option for packaging where the print can be exposed to washing, rinsing, bottles or jars bumping or sliding down a filling line, repeated exposure outdoors or a wet environment like shampoos.”
Dr. Benbow said Wikoff is seeing the strongest results in the consumer packaging market – from folding carton to flexible packaging to labels.
“EB has traditionally seen strong results in folding carton applications for food packaging, like frozen meals and ice cream, due to the need for low migration and food safe properties,” he added. “With tightening regulations from consumer brands and governance standards, we see a growing interest in EB unit installations.”
“Rigid plastics converted to UV many years ago and remains strong and now elements of flexible packaging are converting to energy curable technologies,” Geer said.
“In the global commercial printing industry, demand is strong in markets like online shopping, where high-mix, small-lot print runs are desired,” Yoshimura said. “Other growing markets include labels, plastic cups, luxury packaging for cosmetics and premium liquor and flexible packaging.”
“As LED systems become more cost-competitive, growth and transition will continue to increase globally. Until today, UV technologies are still dominating the labels and sleeve markets in EMEA and North America,” Hammer added. “In comparison to EMEA where UV, UV LED and EB curing are already well accepted for food packaging applications, North America continues to rely on conventional solvent- and water-based inks.
“Even though we have seen a lot of clients in the US beginning food packaging efforts with low migration inks, they are still pushing jobs back to conventional presses as soon as the jobs get larger. Nevertheless, we see this as a beneficial development for UV in the US overall beginning to break new ground.”
