For ink manufacturers, selecting the right pieces of equipment is just as important as choosing key ingredients. Improving production processes is as essential to sustainability as raw material choices.

For example, WAB Group president Daniel Grskovic noted that he is seeing a lot of interest in new production equipment from the graphics arts field.

“We have continual interest from ink companies looking to optimize their processes on existing manufacturing milling machines as well as exploring new process technologies to increase productivity,” Grskovic said. “Our process technology and lab research continues to create more opportunities for ink performance and applications.”

Grskovic added that he is seeing similar interest in new lab equipment.

“Typically, the companies who purchase our production size equipment will accompany that with some type of scalable lab size model,” he reported. “Sometimes the scalable lab machine will precede the production size for further research needs, otherwise it can be concurrent as well as support ongoing advancements.”

Dustin Thomas, lab manager/process support for Hockmeyer Equipment, pointed out that ink manufacturers are looking to replace older equipment with an eye on improving safety and efficiency.

“Our HCPS model continues to replace outdated and unsafe three roll mills, offering superior safety, efficiency, and cleanability,” Thomas said. “The NexGen Rotor Stator also plays a significant role, creating a much tighter particle distribution during the premix than an HSD can. The rotor stator effectively reduces the size of larger particles while preventing the creation of fines. This capability facilitates consistent further particle breakdown by the mill, a critical aspect of the process.”

Sara Fulford, VP sales and marketing for Hockmeyer Equipment, noted that the NexGen Vacuum Mill is doing particularly well in the inkjet segment.

“The NexGen Vacuum Mill has gained momentum and is paced to become the industry leader in the inkjet industry, providing high volume capacity, controlled particle size, and a tight particle size distribution, resulting in an airless dispersion,” said Fulford.

Christine Banaszek, sales manager, Charles Ross & Son Company, noted that many investments start with trial/rental.

“Especially in the last couple of years, our rental program has been very busy,” added Banaszek. “Rental equipment often bridges the transition gap between development and pilot scale production.”

Key Priorities for Ink Manufacturers

When looking for new equipment, ink manufacturers have plenty on their wish list, beginning with quality.

“The priority is always quality – only by means of precise control of the particle size distribution in the inks and printing inks, the precision, accuracy, durability and consistency of the printing results are improved,” Grskovic noted. “This enables the interaction of inks with different materials such as plastics, ceramics or metals.”

Zach O’Kelley, process and service support for Hockmeyer Equipment, said that ink companies are looking for efficiency, safety, cleanability, sustainability, data capture and analysis, a careful balance of high productivity and protection.

“We have also seen an increased interest in automated systems to minimize operator involvement and potential errors, also due to fewer people seeking employment,” O’Kelley noted.

“I’ve noticed clients using novel ways to evaluate equipment performance and value,” Thomas added. “Some still rely on batch process times and color strength, while others are now looking at kW/H, integrating energy consumption per gallon into the equation.”

Sustainability and Equipment

Along those lines, sustainability in manufacturing is a key issue for the ink industry. Banaczek said that it is important to take time and set aside resources to identify the best mixing strategy to meet sustainability goals.

“Selecting the proper mixer for a particular application is key from various standpoints including energy consumption, yield, rework and maintenance,” said Banaczek. “Equipment manufacturers and their agents will make on-site visits to better understand process requirements, develop equipment quotes, address end user questions or assist with planning and implementation of equipment.”

“Productivity gains through quality manufacturing reduces waste, lowers energy consumption, and ensures a ‘first time right’ process to enable environmentally friendly and customized solutions for individual customer requirements,” said Grskovic.

“Wet milling techniques enable the use of environmentally friendly inks that contain little or no measurable amount of harmful chemicals,” he added. “Also, the smaller higher performance milling chambers of the newer machines translates to less processing fluids and lower operating costs.”

Fulford noted that ultra-efficient equipment dramatically shortens process times and requires less manual operation than traditional mixing and milling machines.

“This provides many benefits: less energy consumption, less time, improved raw material utilization, better particle size control, and thorough data gathering for educated decision-making of process improvements,” she added. “Also, our CMX tank washer meets many sustainability objectives: lower solvent use, less solvent exposure, less hazmat waste, and faster cleanup.”

Best Growth Markets in Graphic Arts

Not surprisingly, packaging and inkjet are the two areas that equipment manufacturers are seeing the most growth.

“The expansion of the packaging industry has a huge impact,” Grskovic said. “New pack types and pack materials need performance across a spectrum of mixed materials requiring ultra high-quality, vibrant, and durable printing inks permitting product differentiation that supports brand equity.

“Next, seemingly contrary to logic, is that the digital commerce market and online advertising slowed the demand for printed materials – but it’s quite the opposite,” Grskovic noted. “We’ve found that e-commerce stimulates demand for promotional materials and brochures that we’ve experienced ourselves. The result is more demand for printing inks with superior print quality, faster drying times, and performance with various material surfaces.”

“The growth rate of inkjet technology is steady,” Fulford said. “In contrast, the market for conductive ink is demonstrating a spike in demand, with a significant portion of its requirements stemming from the renewable energy industry.”

Recent Advances in Equipment Technology

To help meet ink industry needs, equipment manufacturers are developing new equipment.

Grskovic pointed to WAB Group’s recent advances in the wet milling area with the Dyno-Mill UBM and Dyno-Mill ECM-AP.

“Some inks are created from hard crystalline structures that require more energy for example, and we’ve created mills that can handle these easily,” Grskovic said. “The use of our agitator bead mills in nanography is extremely advanced and enables the production of high-res and printing inks. Our solutions create nanoscale particles that are used in ink for inkjet printing to produce precise and controlled placement of ink droplets on the print media. This enables vibrant colors and high color brilliance on high-quality photo prints, packaging, labels, artwork, textile prints and more. Nanography offers maximum flexibility with the highest output.”

Banaczek said that the Ross X-Series is a new generation rotor/stator technology.

“The Ross X-Series fills the gap between standard high shear mixers and traditional milling equipment, and routinely produces fine pigment dispersions superior to those made in single- and multi-stage rotor/stators, as well as colloid mills,” Banaczek observed.

Thomas noted that Hockmeyer Equipment launched a new product line, the HRX temperature-controlled rotor-stator, in 2023.

“Regulating the temperature with a jacketed dome teamed with a jacketed vessel adds another performance improvement level for maximum operation control for temperature-sensitive applications,” Thomas said.

Outlook for the Coming Year

Leading equipment suppliers report that they see bright times ahead for the ink industry.

“We are much past the ‘slowdown’ of the pandemic years,” said Grskovic. “The ‘vibe’ from a recent industry trade association event I attended was very upbeat and positive from manufacturers I spoke with as well as attendance at trade shows we’ve participated increased versus last year – all great indicators that business activity is increasing in lockstep and companies are investing in themselves.”

“We are optimistic about the future of our business, as we foresee a continued growth trajectory,” said Fulford. “We aim to provide our valued clients, both old and new, with tailor-made solutions. Recently, we completed a major factory expansion, which includes a brand new lab testing area, an upgraded electrical department, an extended machine shop, as well as new assembly and storage areas, which are all equipped with the latest technology. This expansion is set to allow us to keep innovating, creating and providing our clients with the same high level of service that they have come to expect from Hockmeyer.”