Major Products: Water- and solvent-based flexo inks; solvent- and water-based gravure inks; UV inks; UV, solvent, eco solvent and solvent, ceramic and single-pass inkjet inks; UV varnishes.

Number of Employees: 155

Comments: A specialist in water-, solvent- and UV-based inks for flexo, gravure and inkjet, Chimigraf Ibérica, S.L. had a strong year in 2014, with sales increasing 5% of €37.8 million ($50 million).

Chimigraf Ibérica, S.L. is based in Barcelona, Spain, with branches in France and Portugal and sales offices in Shanghai, Mexico and the U.S. Chimigraf Ibérica also acquired a client portfolio and commercial structure of a competitor in Italy, and opened up a subsidiary in Italy in early 2014. In addition, the company is increasing its presence in South America and Eastern Europe.

“Our strategic plan is based on international expansion,” a top executive noted. “For this reason, we opened our subsidiary in Italy, we are increasing our presence in the South American market and in the markets of Eastern Europe.”

Chimigraf Ibérica is noted for its R&D, and added a wide range of new products to its portfolio, including UV inkjet inks for single pass machines, ceramic inkjet inks, water-based flexo inks for lamination and a high transfer water-based varnish for very high covering of porous substrates, ideally suited for high porosity recycled cardboard. The company has also launched a UV inkjet solution for cardboard, flexo and gravure ink for printed electronics,flexo ink for printed freshness indicators for poultry, water-based inkjet inks and low migration UV inkjet inks.”

Major Products: Water- and solvent-based flexo inks; solvent-based gravure inks; UV, eco solvent and solvent inkjet inks; UV varnishes.

Number of Employees: 147

Comments: Chimigraf Ibérica, S.L. had an excellent year in 2013, with sales growing 5% of €36 million ($48.5 million).

A specialist in water-, solvent- and UV-based inks for flexo, gravure and inkjet, Chimigraf Ibérica, S.L., is based in Barcelona, Spain, with branches in France and Portugal and sales offices in Shanghai, Mexico and the U.S. Chimigraf Ibérica also recently acquired a client portfolio and commercial structure of a competitor in Italy, and the company is increasing its presence in South America and Eastern Europe.

In important news, Carolina La Valle was promoted to CEO in mid-2013.

Chimigraf Ibérica’s expansion into the digital ink market has been a critical part of its growth, with partnerships with key printhead manufacturers such as Dimatix, Seiko, Xaar and Konica Minolta. Chimigraf Ibérica has a wide range of digital inks in its portfolio, including UV, solvent, mild and true eco solvent digital inks for most flatbed, superwide and wide format presses. During the past year, Chimigraf Ibérica added new UV inkjet inks for single pass machines to its offerings.

“From our point of view the most important change in the printing market is the development of digital sector and we are prepared with our own technology with solvent and UV inks and developing water inkjet technology,” top executives said.

Chimigraf Ibérica’s R&D efforts also led to new ink series for other printing processes, such as flexo water-based inks for lamination; high transfer water-based varnishes for porous substrates such as recycled cardboard; and an inkjet UV solution for corrugated cardboard. In an important honor, Chimigraf and its partners were awarded the FEFCO Technical Seminar Gold Award 2013.

Major Products: Water- and solvent-based flexo inks; solvent-based gravure inks; UV, eco solvent and solvent inkjet inks; UV varnishes.

Number of Employees: 147

Comments: Chimigraf Ibérica, S.L. had an excellent year in 2012, with sales growing 6%. The company, based in Barcelona, Spain, with branches in France and Portugal and sales offices in Shanghai, Mexico and the U.S,, Chimigraf Ibérica, S.L., is a specialist in water-, solvent- and UV-based inks for flexo, gravure and inkjet.

Chimigraf Ibérica’s expansion into the inkjet market has been an important aspect of its growth. The company is an ink partner of the most important printhead manufacturers such as Dimatix (Spectra printheads), Seiko, Xaar and Konica Minolta, and supplies UV, solvent, mild and true eco solvent digital inks to most flatbed, superwide and wide format presses.

“From our point of view, the most important change in the printing market is the development of the digital sector, and we are reared with our own technology with solvent and UV inks and developing water-based inkjet technology,” said Armand Marcé, Chimigraf Iberica’s general manager.

With an eye on its growing global efforts, Chimigraf Iberica is expanding into high-growth areas.

“Our strategic plan is based on international expansion, and we are planning to introduce teams Italy, Brazil and India,” said Clêo Vargas, Chimigraf Iberica’s export manager.

Chimigraf Iberica recently renewed its ISO 9001 certification, and also has received ISO 14001 certification.

R&D is a major emphasis for Chimigraf Iberica, and the company recently introduced its Power SP UV ink series designed for single pass machines. It offers high color density, wide color gamut and high flexibility for use on flexible substrates.

Major Products: Water- and solvent-based flexo inks; solvent-based gravure inks; UV, eco solvent and solvent inkjet inks; UV varnishes.

Number of Employees: 150 (Ink World estimate)

Comments: Headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, Chimigraf Ibérica, S.L. specializes in water-, solvent- and UV-based inks for flexo, gravure and inkjet.

UV continues to be an excellent growth market for Chimigraf Iberica. By manufacturing its own pigment dispersions in-house in UV monomers, Chimigraf Iberica controls the batch-to-batch consistency and quality of its pigment dispersions.The company continues to expand its UV offerings. Its Power SP series is ideal for single pass inkjet printing for wood and wood laminate decoration, paper, PE, PET, glass and corrugated packaging.

The Power V4 series is a Flex-rigid UV curable inkjet inks for flexible substrates such as banner vinyl or self-adhesive vinyl, plus other flexible and semi-flexible substrates such as polyolefin, vinyl substitutes, PET, and PC.

The Power 2H series offers excellent adhesion onto a wide range of rigid substrates such as acrylics, rigid PC, foam boards, corrugated boards, metals and glass, and its toughness provides good results under cross-hatch adhesion testing.

The UV LED market is becoming increasingly attractive, and the company has recently developed its Energy V2 series, which offers good adhesion to rigid substrates such as acrylics, rigid PC, foam boards and corrugated boards, as well as to semi-flexible substrates such as polyolefin, vinyl substitutes, PET, and PC.

On the solvent-based inkjet side, Chimigraf Iberica’s eXtreme v2 inkjet inks are specifically designed to become Chimigraf’s universal solvent ink for a wide range of super wide format printers.

Rainbow inks, which have high optical density for intense colors, are designed for HP Scitex TURBOJET (TJ8300) and IDANIT printers. Inks compatible with HITACHI print heads. RAINBOW inks have high optical density for intense colors, improving the standards of the HP ink.

An eco-solvent ink for indoor and outdoor applications, ecoPure v2 is a new plug and print for Roland printers with Epson DX4 and DX5 printheads. Conquer inks are mild-solvent-based drop-on-demand inkjet inks, while Imaging inks are mild-solvent-based inkjet inks compatible with Konica Minolta 510 printheads. Resistant inks are mild-solvent based inkjet inks that are designed to print on Mimaki JV33, JV5 130S,160S and 320S printers.

Chimigraf Iberica is expanding its export operations, including to India, where the company appointed Silversheen Inks and Coatings as its distributor.