Major Products: Flexo, gravure, UV/EB inks, graphic arts coatings, metallic inks, screen inks, security inks and specialty inks.

Number of employees: 127.

Operating Facilities: Manufacturing plant in Fairfield, OH, and 16 blending sites.

Comments: Color Resolutions International(CRI) enjoyed a solid year, as the company increased its presence at trade shows and is growing its customer base.

“Consolidation in the customer base had its pluses and minuses this past year,” said George Sickinger, CRI’s president and CEO. “Overall, 2012 was not as good as 2011, but we find our pipeline of prospects increasing.”
Mr. Sickinger noted that 2012 was a big year for the industry trade shows, as CRI unveiled a colorful new exhibit.

“We displayed at LabelExpo Americas in Chicago, where attendance was clearly increased over 2010,” he said. “We met many new narrow web and flexible packaging converters and look forward to developing those relationships. 2012 also brought SuperCorrExpo in Atlanta, a major show for CRI. We showcased many corrugated samples that were segregated by level of graphics –fine graphics, mid-level graphics and supply chain graphics as well as highlighted new retail ready packaging. Leads from these shows are turning into sales for 2013.”

CRI continues to put much emphasis on building up its operations in Mexico.

“Color Resolutions de Mexico moved its Mexico headquarters to a new, larger facility in Parque Industrial Martel (Santa Catarina),” Mr. Sickinger said. “We have installed a newautomatic ink dispenserthat doubles our production inkcapacity and implemented a new QC process, matching those already in place in CRI’s U.S. facilities.”

A water-based and UV packaging ink specialist, CRI has built up its presence in flexible packaging to add to its core strength in the corrugated market.

“We continue to see growth in the corrugated industry and in flexible packaging,” Mr Sickinger added. “We also continue to see success in foreign markets. Mexico has been faring very well, so much that we have moved to our new, larger facility in Monterrey. The new facility has showroom-type quality and will position CRI for strong growth in Mexico and Latin America into the future.”

Raw material supply and pricing have been major concerns for ink manufacturers in recent years. Mr. Sickinger reported that CRI has seen stabilization for the most part.

“Q4 2012 pricing and supply stabilized significantly,” Mr. Sickinger said. “We saw very few increases and supply was strong; however, lead times did increase.Our largest concern in 2012 was a continued price increase in Ti02. Not only were weable to secure supply,pricing for Ti02 has leveled off for now, both domestically and overseas. We now have stable pricing through Q2 2013.

“Our area of concern at the moment is with resin,” Mr. Sickinger added. “We haveseen increases from all players in the resin market.All attributed it to the increase in oil pricing,which in return affectskey raw materialsneeded for production,which include propylene, benzene, solvents, styrene and monomers such as glacial acrylic acid, ethyl acrylate, butyl acrylate, 2-ethylhexyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate. The first increase has already hit and a second is out there for discussion, but has not formally been announced. We are continuing to work closely with our vendors to ensure supply and negotiate pricing as well as reviewing new products.”

Mr. Sickinger anticipates that while the economy will continue to improve in 2013, Color Resolutions is working closely with its customers to keep costs down.

“I expect to see the economy pick up, resulting in a general bump in sales,” Mr. Sickinger added. “We have more customers with interest in in-house ink blending. We have set up many dispensing units across the country and have successfully aided our customers in reducing their ink inventory. They now have the ability to make batches in the size they need and the ability to blend any leftover inks into usable product. Many have opted in our container recycling program. Reducing waste is of high importance, and we anticipate that expectation to increase in coming years.”

Major Products: Flexo, gravure, UV/EB inks, graphic arts coatings, metallic inks, screen Inks, security inks and specialty inks.

Number of Employees: 127

Operating Facilities: Manufacturing plant in Fairfield, OH, and 16 blending sites.

Comments: The packaging ink market has been a strong area for ink manufacturers, and Color Resolutions International (CRI), a water-based and UV packaging ink specialist, enjoyed double-digit sales growth in 2011.

“We were blessed to have a very good year in 2011,” said George Sickinger, CRI’s president and CEO.

“Our sales and income increase were in the double digits. The packaging market has been robust, and we have benefited from the demand from CPC’s for better printing and more creative designs and the printers’ need to improve press productivity and quality. The demand for change has always spelled opportunity for us.”

While Color Resolutions originally focused its efforts on the corrugated marketplace, the company has successfully branched out into the label and flexible packaging segments, among others, and has also extended its geographic reach into Mexico and Latin America.

“Shrink sleeves and labels are growing market niches, along with flexible packaging as a whole,” Mr. Sickinger noted. “Paper packaging has a much lower growth rate, but there are growth opportunities within it. Mexico and Latin America represent very good growth opportunities.”

Mr. Sickinger noted that he has seen some stabilization in raw materials.

“Raw material costs have stabilized partially because we are doing everything possible not to accept increases, and I believe global demand has abated somewhat,” he said. “Our customers have been pushing back on price increases all through the recession, so getting the much needed prices increases largely did not happen. TiO2 has been a special problem, but we have been getting what we need by working closely with the supply chain and customers alike.”

CRI continues to emphasize investments in its operations and its personnel.

“We have continued to make smaller capital improvements to our central plant in Ohio to further automate material handling and quality control,” Mr. Sickinger noted. “We have upgraded most of our in-plants operations to provide more graphic services. Our R&D activity has been expanded to provide formulation for the new equipment coming on line at our customers’ plants. We continue to recruit and train technical service staff to service our growing business.”

Mr. Sickinger spoke of the importance of providing excellent technical service to customers.

“I don’t believe the dollars spent on packaging has increased much,” Mr. Sickinger said. “However, the demand for color and improved color application has. Ink continues to be unique in that a press’s impression of an ink represents a diagnostic tool from which to make improvements to the whole printing process. This ability is what makes the qualified ink technician so vital to our customers.”

As a result, Color Resolutions has made its mark by providing excellent quality and service to its core markets, and Mr. Sickinger believes these strengths will continue to key CRI’s growth.

“I expect 2012 and beyond to be good, with further growth for CRI in the areas that we have differentiated ourselves from our competition,” Mr. Sickinger concluded.

Major Products: Flexo, gravure, UV/EB inks, graphic arts coatings, metallic inks, screen Inks, security inks and specialty inks.

Number of employees: 117

Operating Facilities: Manufacturing plant in Fairfield, OH, and 18 blending sites.

Comments: The global recession took its toll on the entire printing industry, and while the packaging side fared better relative to publication and commercial, packaging converters also felt the impact. For Color Resolution International (CRI), a specialist in water-based and UV-curable packaging inks, particularly the high-end corrugated business, 2010 was a continuation of the previous year.

“Sales and income were on par with 2009 and below 2008,” said George Sickinger, CRI’s president and CEO. “All in all, business was okay but certainly not our best year. It actually was a good time to look closely at our business and how best to insulate ourselves from the shifts in economic climate. Certainly, picking the right customers and markets is part of it.”

Mr. Sickinger noted that the economy did pick up in the second half of 2010.

“The economy and our business did improve in the last half of the year,” Mr. Sickinger said. “The customers who had been making investments in equipment to produce a higher level of graphics had a very good year in 2010. We have observed the ‘strong getting stronger.’”

Even with the economy at a standstill, Color Resolutions moved forward, with an eye toward improving its customer service through training as well as adding new people.

“We took a lot of time expanding the technical knowledge of our service people to match the growing demand for higher-level technical support,” Mr. Sickinger said. “We also took advantage of the poor job market and hired some bright young people to be groomed for positions in technical sales and service.”

Raw material cost and supply are major concerns throughout the ink industry. Mr. Sickinger said that the rise in global demand, especially in China, along with the cutback in production and consolidation among the supplier base that took place when the recession began has resulted in both a rise in prices and some shortages in many key ingredients.

“Acrylic resin prices went up several times last year and are continuing to rise this year,” Mr. Sickinger said. “Titanium has had several double-digit increases and more are expected. Pigments, especially violet 23, have increased as well.

“Material cost increases are our biggest challenge,” Mr. Sickinger added. “Once you have negotiated the best terms possible with your suppliers, the only way to cope with the situation is to raise ink prices. This must happen, but it is very challenging when most customers are just emerging from the recession along with their customers.”

Consolidation in the packaging industry is a fact of life, and Mr. Sickinger said it does provide opportunities for ink manufacturers who can show their value to customers, an area CRI is placing great emphasis on.

“I have seen consolidation accelerating across all packaging sectors,” Mr. Sickinger said. “This can be an opportunity or a problem depending on where you are sitting. If you are an incumbent, it can mean more volume at lower margins. It presents a challenge to ink makers to better define their value proposition and to be as efficient as possible. If you have a solid ‘brand’ in the market place, you will prevail.

“In the packaging arena, customers want and need more value added services such as color management, onsite technical services and inventory management,” Mr. Sickinger said. “They expect you to thoroughly understand their processes and their business. Ink formulations must be more ‘intuitive’ and allow for process variation. Just making and shipping ink on time will no longer get the job done. I am amazed at the variety of skill sets we have brought into our company over the last few years. The new mantra is ‘top quality at machine design speeds.’ It takes a broader knowledge of the whole process to achieve this on a regular basis.”

Not only did CRI add to its talent during the past year, the company also emphasized its efforts on health, safety and environmental issues.

“Our plant is now seven years old, and our business has changed over the years,” Mr. Sickinger said. “We have changed work centers to reflect our growth in new markets. We have hired a couple of former junior military officers for supervisory positions. Being largely in the food packaging sector, plant cleanliness is a very high priority, and our plant shows very well to customers and CPCs.

“As a member of NAPIM (National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers), we invited the manager of environmental affairs, George Fuchs, to our plant for a voluntary health, safety and environmental audit,” Mr. Sickinger added. “We value outside opinions of our operations; we think we’re doing all the right things, and this program sorts through the complicated regulations. Mr. Fuchs was able to view our practices that may fall under federal, state or OSHA regulations and provide an assessment on how we’re meeting them. Specifically, Mr. Fuchs noted our ‘highly automated manufacturing process that minimizes or eliminates both employee exposures and environmental impact’ and ‘state-of-the-art materials handling techniques which reduce the risk of employee injuries.’”

With all that Color Resolutions has put into place, Mr. Sickinger sees sales growth ahead for 2011.

“We expect 2011 to be a very good year for sales growth,” Mr. Sickinger concluded. “We are concerned about the rapid rise in material prices and the impact on margins, but this will somehow sort itself out as it always does. I believe our customers and our target prospects are beginning to view ink as a strategic material, and it is becoming easier to form true partnerships. I am excited about the future of our industry.”