The Printing Ink Industry: a Sector Undergoing Change

interpack, September 2009

The product portfolio of packaging manufacturers ranges from simple boxes and hot sealed packaging to PETP portion packs and elaborately finished cardboards. Unique finished products, high manufacturing expertise and the use of special finishing techniques are key USPs for packaging print shops serving the food, confectionary, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and tobacco industries.

Until the mid 1990s the European printing ink industry was characterised primarily by a high number of small and medium-sized enterprises with a predominantly domestic orientation. This changed fundamentally with the market entry of the Japanese-American Dainippon Ink/Sun Chemical group of companies. At the same time the US enterprise Flint also began operating in Europe. This finally triggered the consolidation of the industry. By 2005 Dainippon/Sun had acquired over 150 companies while several major chemical companies such as Akzo Nobel, Elf Acquitaine and BASF had divested their ink businesses.

A crucial reason for this concentration process was the establishment of large multinational corporations that expected the same consistent product quality throughout the world. Companies like Siegwerk Druckfarben AG, for instance, started developing an ever stronger international focus by extending their European and US business activities to be prepared for the fundamental changes rising on the horizon of the printing ink market.

Better technical possibilities

The innovation potential of the industry is huge. Finishers and packaging printers are trying every “trick in the book” these days – the main thing is that the finished product shines and tempts shoppers to buy. Correspondingly high are the demands made on inks for packaging printing. Inks have to comply with the market criteria for performance and costs while being safe and harmless for man and the environment.

There is a rising demand for high-quality printed products as there is for finishing techniques. Those wanting to stand out with their image, message or product from the mainstream require relevant design and top printing and processing quality. Attractive printed products can have a decisive impact on shoppers’ buying decisions. At the same time, the technological “envelope” of printing presses is being constantly pushed further – even including in-line finishing in one process step. According to Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, there have been many new developments especially in varnishing. Today, there is a wide choice of easily processable special varnishes with new properties available. They produce a wide variety of effects thereby providing ever more design scope.

Efficiency and sustainability demanded

Needless to say, there is also growing demand for reusable and recyclable materials in the printing ink sector. Moreover, the development of eco-friendly manufacturing technologies is on virtually everyone’s agenda. Printing inks are expected to support efficient processes from printing and use all the way down to reuse/recycling of the printed/packaging product. Customers from the packaging material sector place special emphasis on easy printability of inks and highest quality. They have to be low-odour and low-migration but durable at the same time. Requirements for inks vary according to application: for the food sector they have to feature special properties such as resistance to sterilisation and heat-seal resistance at high temperatures. Here safety is another crucial aspect and great awareness is expected in this respect.

Other issues such as the development of forgery-proof inks for revenue stamps on cigarette boxes, special surface embossing and printing on metallised plastic films challenge the industry time and again.

In the right place at the right time

While the rule used to be: those able to deliver get the job – today the point is to bring the right product with the desired properties to the printing press at the right moment and in an as sustainable manner as possible. This is how Siegwerk describes the status quo in the industry. Inks will have to live up to social, economic and ecological demands and those of future generations. For Siegwerk this means that printing inks have to be safe, consist of materials that are harmless for man while fulfilling the market requirements for performance and cost. Reusable and recyclable materials are used wherever this is feasible and reasonable. Furthermore, these inks are produced using environmentally sound manufacturing processes and thereby support an efficient process: from printing and use to reuse.