Major Products: A full line of ink and coatings solutions technology for packaging, commercial and digital print applications, including metal decorating, flexographic, gravure, web offset, lamination, corrugated, sheetfed, digital and UV/EB inks and coatings.

Number of Employees: Approximately 1,235

Operating Facilities: Fifteen manufacturing locations and approximately 190 in-plant locations throughout North America. Two North American R&D Centers: West Chicago, IL (traditional ink technologies), and Huntsville, AL (inkjet electronics, software and specialty printers).

Subsidiaries: INX International UK, Heywood, England; INX International Barcelona, Spain; INX do Brazil, Sao Paulo, Brazil; INX Digital Milan, Italy; INX Digital Prague, Czech Republic; Parent Company: Sakata INX, Osaka, Japan.

Comments: A subsidiary of Sakata INX, Osaka, Japan, the third-largest ink company worldwide, INX International Ink Co. enjoyed growth in 2019, with sales rising to $443 million. John Hrdlick, president and CEO of INX International Ink Co., said that the company did well in 2019, and expects continued growth in 2020.

“We had a much improved year compared to 2018, with strong growth and improved performance,” Hrdlick reported. “We are actually looking for growth this year in all of our markets. Some more than others, but I am optimistic about our opportunities.”

INX has been focused on facility expansion for years, and in June 2019, the company completed its two-year, $7 million expansion of its Research & Development complex in West Chicago, IL. The 70,000 square foot facility develops energy curable and inkjet inks and coatings.

“The completion of our R&D expansion was one of our highlights,” Hrdlick said. “The expansion literally doubled the size of our West Chicago R&D facility, giving us more than enough room for what the future needs will require. I think the facility will provide a great environment for customer and brand owner innovation and corroboration going forward. Due to growth in our water, coatings and solvent ink business, we devoted significant attention to projects that added improvements to our Appleton, WI facility. We are currently developing plans for other facility improvements in Dunkirk, NY and Lebanon, OH.”

In a major move at the start of 2020, INX International Ink Co. announced it had agreed to acquire RUCO Druckfarben, a screen and pad printing ink specialist headquartered in Eppstein, Germany. Founded in 1857, the company reported $40 million in sales in 2018. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the first half of 2020, and once completed will give INX access to new markets as well as a major presence in Germany.

Consolidation throughout the printing supply chain and raw material supply remain concerns for the ink industry.

“I think the challenges we all face in the industry are the ongoing consolidation amongst our customers and ink companies,” Hrdlick observed. “Raw material supply will remain a concern as well, due to world events and regulatory changes. The increased focus on sustainable products will create significant competition as we all work to support the changes needed in packaging and consumer preferences. Our approach has been to reset our strategies and better define what innovation will mean for our company going forward.

As for raw materials, “I think the biggest concern is how the various regulatory changes happening worldwide are challenging us to find acceptable alternatives and still meet the needs of the customers,” he added.

As for the coming year, Hrdlick sees opportunities for more strong results.

“There are real opportunities for growth in all areas of our business, continued expansion of our facilities to manage our growth, and we are looking forward to the completion of our European acquisition, RUCO Druckfarben in Germany,” Hrdlick noted.

“RUCO will not only involve us in new markets globally, but it will also allow us to expand our manufacturing footprint in Europe for key INX products. It will be a very busy and challenging year for us, but it’s also a very exciting time as well.”

Major Products: A full line of ink and coatings solutions technology for packaging, commercial and digital print applications, including metal decorating, flexographic, gravure, web offset, lamination, corrugated, sheetfed, digital and UV/EB inks and coatings.

Number of Employees: Approximately 1,220.

Operating Facilities: Fifteen manufacturing locations and approximately 190 in-plant locations throughout North America. Two North American R&D

Centers: West Chicago, IL (traditional ink technologies), and Huntsville, AL (inkjet electronics, software and specialty printers).

Subsidiaries: INX International UK, Heywood, England; INX International France, Bretigny, France; INX do Brazil, Sao Paulo, Brazil; INX Digital Milan, Italy; INX Digital Prague; Parent Company: Sakata INX, Osaka, Japan.

Comments: INX International Ink Co. is a subsidiary of Sakata INX, the third-largest international ink company. INX International Ink had an excellent year in 2018, as sales grew nearly 14% to $427 million, with strong growth in its packaging and digital ink segments.

“We experienced a strong year of sales growth in our Packaging ink product lines and improved performance in our Digital group,” John Hrdlick, president and COO of INX International Ink Co., said. “However, it was a challenging year related to raw material price increases, raw material supply issues, rising freight costs and tariffs. Balancing rising costs and selling prices is always a challenge.’

INX is well known for investing in new facilities, and the past year was no exception. The company is in the midst of a $7 million expansion of its R&D facility in West Chicago and completed its new metal deco ink plant in Brazil. The 24,000 square foot facility in Itatiba, Brazil will produce 2-piece metal decorating inks and is designed to manufacture approximately 9 million pounds of inks yearly.

“We’re very excited about the extensive expansion of our West Chicago R&D facility that began in the spring of 2018 and will be completed soon,” Hrdlick noted. “The successful opening of our Metal Deco facility in Itatiba, Brazil was completed and is progressing very well. We expect to see further opportunities for growth in South America going forward.”

In major news, Rick Clendenning has stepped aside from his role as president of INX International Ink Co. Clendenning began working for Acme Printing Ink, which would later become part of INX, in 1971, and was named president and CEO in 1999. In his place, Hrdlick was promoted to president/COO and Bryce Kristo to EVP/CFO.

“The time has come for us to start our executive transition plan, and for me to shift gears to spend more quality time with my wife and our two sons’ families, including six grandchildren,” Clendenning said.

Hrdlick started at Acme in 1977 and was promoted to SVP and COO in 2012. Kristo joined INX in 1991. In addition to his new role as EVP, he will continue his current responsibilities as CFO – general affairs. INX also announced two important promotions in R&D. Mark Hill is now VP, R&D director, and Jonathan Graunke added the title of assistant R&D director to his current role as VP, UV/EB technology.

Hrdlick noted that numerous raw materials remain a serious concern for ink manufacturers.

“Pigments and photoinitiators from China have obviously been a challenge for our industry and have received a lot of attention,” he reported. “However, many other raw material increases and shortages added to the concerns in 2018, including tariffs that began in October. We have been doing our best to mitigate increased costs as we do every year, but in 2018 we had to pass along price increases to our customers. In some areas, we expect to see the need for more price increases this year.”

In addition to tariffs, ink companies are working to overcome higher freight costs.

“Freight costs are obviously increasing and we are also seeing carriers continue to deal with a shortage of experienced drivers, bulk tankers and tighter pickup and delivery windows,” Hrdlick added. “The demand has been high for freight and we compete with larger industries for service from our freight carriers. Tariffs were implemented last October and remain an uncertainty in the first quarter of this year. Alternative sources for raw materials subject to tariffs still result in higher costs to a large degree.”

Hrdlick is optimistic that raw materials might stabilize in the upcoming year and anticipates further growth in key markets.

“We are hopeful that the raw material challenges will settle down in the next year, as well as the elimination of the tariffs,” Hrdlick concluded. “The growth in demand for environmentally friendly and sustainable products is becoming more prevalent and we are prepared to meet those trends in the US and globally. We are also excited about the expansion of our R&D facility in West Chicago. It has allowed us to combine our digital resources and grow our technical resource base. We expect continued growth in our Packaging and Digital businesses. We also are focused on our technology and improving our manufacturing facilities serving those markets.”

Major Products: A full line of ink and coatings solutions technology for packaging, commercial and digital print applications, including metal decorating, flexographic, gravure, web offset, lamination, corrugated, sheetfed, digital and UV/EB inks and coatings.

Number of Employees: Approximately 1,100.

Operating Facilities: Fifteen manufacturing locations and approximately 190 in-plant locations throughout North America. Three North American R&D Centers: West Chicago, IL (traditional ink technologies), San Leandro, CA (inkjet ink technologies) and Huntsville, AL (inkjet electronics, software and specialty printers).

Subsidiaries: INX International UK, Heywood, England; INX International France, Bretigny, France; INX International Brasil, Sao Paulo, Brasil; INX Digital Milan, Italy; INX Digital Prague; Parent Company: Sakata INX, Osaka, Japan.

Comments: INX International Ink Co. had a good year in 2017, as the company branched out into Brazil and saw growth in the flexo, energy curable and environmentally friendly ink segments.

“INX International had another solid year of growth and earnings. Our international footprint grew with our new acquisition in Brazil,” said Bryce Kristo, CFO and senior VP, general affairs, for INX International Ink Co.

“We were very pleased with the performance of our new Brazilian subsidiary,” Kristo added. “We also experienced exceptional growth in our packaging ink applications, most notably on the flexographic side. We also enjoyed strong demand for our ecological renewable content inks and energy curable products.”

Kristo noted that INX remains committed to both commercial and packaging segment applications, with an emphasis on the flexo and energy curing markets.

“We continue to focus on much of our formulation efforts on flexographic and energy curable applications where we focus on providing innovative, easy to use products,” Kristo said. “In addition, our service resources have grown, especially with new in-plant installations that allow us on-site quick reaction to customer demands.”

INX is continuing to invest in its US manufacturing operations. The company completed its expansion of its metal decorating plant in Charlotte, NC in 2016, and in April 2017, INX spent $5.2 million to double the size of its energy curable inks and coatings manufacturing facility in Edwardsville, KS.

“Our UV sales growth trend had continued to place a strain on the facility,” said John Hrdlick, COO for INX. “Production volume at Edwardsville has risen dramatically over the years. In 2005, it was 3.5 million pounds and had grown to in excess of 8.5 million pounds prior to completion of the expansion. We expect to see the same growth trend going forward as our energy curable sales continue to be fast growing.”

Next up is a $7 million, 32,000-square-foot addition to its West Chicago R&D complex, which the company anticipates will be finished by July 2018.

Ink manufacturers are working to cope with higher raw material costs, and INX is no exception, although the higher prices were anticipated.

“Raw material cost increases were inevitable and likely overdue,” Kristo said. “We anticipate increases to certain pigments, solvents and resins, and are working with our customers in understanding the commodity feedstock that drive these product prices and work to offset or pass them on, depending on the situation.”

Those higher costs are one of the major challenges facing ink companies going forward.

“The biggest challenge will be balancing selling prices with raw material cost pressure,” Kristo said. “The ink industry margins have always been relatively thin and realistically, raw material costs have always been the overwhelming largest expense of the business, with only so much increase that can be absorbed. In addition, the ink industry is a relatively modest size player with regards to certain material demands, most notably titanium dioxide.”

Kristo said that the printing industry is evolving, and INX International is positioning itself for the future.

“We feel there will always be a place for commercial print and have balanced our resources accordingly,” Kristo concluded.

“Consumer packaging applications will continue to be at the foundation of our efforts where we continue to strive to provide safe, sustainable and appealing products that are easy to use. In addition, we continue to see more and more inkjet direct-to-object printing in the future and remain heavily invested in helping this technology into the mainstream of traditional analog applications.”

Major Products: A full line of ink and coatings solutions technology for packaging, commercial and digital print applications, including metal decorating, flexographic, gravure, web offset, lamination, corrugated, sheetfed, digital and UV/EB inks and coatings.

Number of Employees: Approximately 1,100

Operating Facilities: Fifteen manufacturing locations and approximately 190 in-plant locations throughout North America. Three North American R&D Centers: West Chicago, IL (traditional ink technologies), San Leandro, CA (inkjet ink technologies) and Huntsville, AL (in jet electronics, software and specialty printers).

Subsidiaries: INX International UK, Heywood, England; INX International France, Bretigny, France; INX Digital Milan, Italy; INX Digital Prague; Parent Company: Sakata INX, Osaka, Japan.

Comments: INX International Ink Co. had a strong year in 2016, with new investments expected to drive further expansion.

“It was another good, solid year and we continue to grow,” said Rick Clendenning, INX International Ink’s president and CEO. We experienced strong sales in the last quarter and that gave us a good start to 2017.”

INX added to its position in South America with the acquisition of Creative Industria e Comercio Ltda., a flexo and gravure ink specialist headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

“We announced our acquisition of Creative Industria e Comercio on Dec. 1,” said Clendenning. “They are a highly respected premier ink supplier and well known throughout South America. Their expertise, coupled with our global reach, product development and raw material sourcing capabilities, will help us extend our packaging ink portfolio in that part of the world.”

INX International Ink and its parent company, Sakata INX, the fourth-largest global ink manufacturer with $1.23 billion in ink sales in 2015, successfully exhibited together at drupa 2016.

“INX and Sakata had a successful run at drupa,” noted Clendenning. “The event helped us show our true global reach and it contributed to our success last year.”

INX is heavily investing in new facilities in the US. The company added 23,000 square feet to its 2-piece metal deco facility in Charlotte, NC, which produced 16 million pounds of ink in 2016. INX will next turn its attention to its energy curing ink operations in Kansas.

“We completed expansion of our Charlotte, NC facility,” said Clendenning. “Our metal ink business continues to grow and that facility helps provide product to four different continents. Our next big expansion project is underway at our energy curable ink and coatings facility in Edwardsville, KS. When completed this year, it will help us continue growing that side of the business.”

“When the original building was constructed in 2004, it was designed to handle annual production of 9.5 million pounds,” said INX COO John Hrdlick. “Our production levels have risen steadily since 2009, when annual production was at 11.9 million pounds. Last year it exceeded 16 million pounds.”

INX has developed a strong presence in emerging markets, including digital printing, packaging, LED curing and coatings. Clendenning noted that INX has a dedicated R&D department with chemists who work daily to develop and improve products across all segments.

“One of their strengths is visiting with and listening to what our existing and potential customers have to say, in addition to educating them,” he added. “Our technology experts are incredibly knowledgeable and second to none in our industry.”

Clendenning said that INX is monitoring global events, which could lead to dramatic shifts.

“Like any year, world events will always be a concern,” he observed. “In turn, this could impact certain processes vital to manufacturing, such as raw materials. As always, we will keep an eye on it and other potential developments that could impact our company and our customers.”

While Clendenning said he is optimistic about 2017, there are serious challenges ahead.

“I’m optimistic, but it appears 2017 will be different than the last couple of years,” Clendenning concluded. “I think more competitive threats and raw material cost increases would be a dangerous combination for our industry.”

Major Products: A full line of ink and coatings solutions technology for packaging, commercial and digital print applications, including metal decorating, flexographic, gravure, web offset, lamination, corrugated, sheetfed, digital and UV/EB inks and coatings.

Number of Employees: Approximately 1,100

Operating Facilities: Fifteen manufacturing locations and approximately 190 in-plant locations throughout North America. Three North American R&D Centers: West Chicago, IL (traditional ink technologies), San Leandro, CA (inkjet ink technologies) and Huntsville, AL (inkjet electronics, software and specialty printers).

Subsidiaries: INX International U.K., Heywood, England; INX International France, Bretigny, France; INX Digital Milan, Italy; INX Digital Prague; Parent Company: Sakata INX, Osaka, Japan.

Comments: Led by its packaging inks, INX International Ink Co. had a successful year in 2015.

“We had another good year with strong growth again in our packaging segments,” said Rick Clendenning, president and CEO of INX International Ink Co. “The biggest growth in the segment was with our solvent, water and energy curable technologies. We also continued to manage our costs well in 2015. This fact, coupled with our growth in sales, pleased us as our bottom line results were above what we had planned.”

During the past year, INX International Ink has been investing in its operations, expanding its operations in North Carolina, Ohio and the Czech Republic.

“We broke ground on the much needed expansion of our Charlotte, NC manufacturing facility late in 2015,” said Clendenning. “This facility produces our industry-leading metal decorating ink technologies for our 2-piece beer and beverage customers around the world. Twice in 2015, we celebrated by having the official grand opening festivities for our Lebanon, OH liquid manufacturing site and our Prague, Czech Republic inkjet ink manufacturing facility.”

The printing industry is evolving, with packaging doing well and inkjet among the areas making significant gains. INX International is capitalizing on its strengths to make gains in these fields.

“We service all segments in the printing industry,” Clendenning noted. “This year, along with continued growth in the packaging segments, we also grew in our commercial segments as well, which hasn’t happened over the past several years. Our inkjet products also added to our growth by exciting our traditionally based customers as we introduced our inkjet offerings (chemistry, electronics, software) to allow them to present new lines of products to their own existing customers.

“Our strength is that we are well diversified as far as products are concerned, and have many dedicated technology experts that continually improve our product portfolios with new developments,” he added.

Clendenning said that INX’s personnel are working closely with customers on regulatory affairs, visiting them to ensure that they are up to date.

“We not only have dedicated chemists working daily on developing and improving our packaging inks to meet all regulations, but they also are visiting our existing and potential customers and educating them on how to make sure they also comply to the regulations while using our packaging technologies,” he said. “There are so many other factors that can affect a finished package, so our customers appreciate the educational support.”

Ink manufacturers are feeling the impact of the US dollar’s strength in different ways. Meanwhile, raw material pricing and availability remain a concern.

“The strength of the US dollar, although good for us in many ways, has affected some of our international export business, but we are working through this by moving some of our manufacturing to other global locations,” said Clendenning. “Raw material concerns have carried over into 2016 and we will watch things carefully.”

Overall, Clendenning believes INX will continue to be successful as long as the company maintains its focus on the customer. “We are off to a good start,” Clendenning concluded. “I feel that if we remain focused on our customers and their individual needs, we will continue to do well and meet our plan for 2016.”

Major Products: A full line of ink and coatings solutions technology for packaging, commercial and digital print applications, including metal decorating, flexographic, gravure, web offset, lamination, corrugated, sheetfed, digital and UV/EB inks and coatings.

Number of Employees: Approximately 1,100

Operating Facilities: Fifteen manufacturing locations and approximately 190 in-plant locations throughout North America. Two North American R&D Centers: West Chicago, IL (traditional technologies) and San Leandro, CA (inkjet technologies).

Subsidiaries: INX International U.K., Heywood, England; INX International France, Bretigny, France; INX Digital Milan, Italy; INX Digital Prague; Parent Company: Sakata INX, Osaka, Japan.

INX International Ink’s new manufacturing plant in Lebanon, OH.

Comments: INX International Ink Co. had a strong year in 2014, with the company opening new facilities and making gains in the packaging and digital ink segments.

Rick Clendenning, president and CEO of INX International Ink Co., said that 2014 was a good year for INX, with packaging continuing to be a strong area of growth.

“INX International Ink Co. had a successful year in 2014,” Clendenning reported. “Sales grew more than planned and we managed our cost effectively, which is a good combination to have. So, with 2014 behind us, I am happy with the outcome.

“As in the past years, our packaging segments that we serve were good, with our customers in those areas having strong years as well,” he added. “But, again, we did not see much improvement in the segments within our commercial printers; many of them are still struggling in a very tough market and industry situation.”

INX had some key highlights during the past year, beginning with the new solvent-based liquid ink facility in Lebanon, OH. The new 63,000 square foot Lebanon facility is also producing three-piece metal deco, UV/EB and some water-based flexo ink. With the new facility, INX’s annual solvent ink capacity will more than double to 77 million pounds.

“Our new Lebanon, OH manufacturing facility was constructed during 2014 and will be operational early in the first quarter of 2015,” Clendenning said. “Our engineering group did a fantastic job in designing this state-of-the-art liquid solvent ink facility that will help us to continue to grow within our segments served by technologies manufactured there.”

INX’s digital ink operations are also expanding rapidly, combining its EVOLVE platform with hardware, electronics and ink products.

“Our Digital (Inkjet) Division is getting stronger each year, especially now that our other divisions are collaborating regularly with their digital colleagues to help our traditional customers evolve into the digital world,” Clendenning added. “We also see a lot of opportunities with all of our inkjet technologies (ink chemistry, hardware and electronics) due to this new strong collaboration.”

Another highlight was Rick Westrom receiving NAPIM’s Printing Ink Pioneer Award.

“At the 2014 NAPIM Convention, Rick Westrom, our senior VP of strategic sourcing and director of R&D, was presented with a prestigious Printing Ink Pioneer Award for his years of dedication and service in our industry,” Clendenning said.

Clendenning said that the packaging, inkjet and energy curable ink segments showed the most growth during 2014, and INX International Ink Co. is supporting this growth with new facilities and resources.

“Our liquid solvent technologies have grown well over the past few years, and our new Lebanon, OH facility is a big commitment in supporting the present and future growth in that segment,” Clendenning reported. “Our digital inkjet business continues to grow, and in 2014, to support that growth, we built a new major manufacturing facility for our inkjet technologies in Prague, Czech Republic. This new facility will help us by supporting all of our European product needs, so we can open some capacity here in the states and better handle our own local growth as planned for 2015.

“One of our fastest growing areas within all four company divisions are our energy curable products for the customers in the segments served by those divisions,” Clendenning added. “In 2014, we added some major equipment and resources to our Edwardsville, KS facility to support this growth that we expect to continue. As we move into 2015, we are looking into expanding some of our other manufacturing sites to better serve our customer base and the growth we are working on.”

Regulatory matters are coming to the forefront for the ink industry, and Clendenning said that REACH continued to be a constant area of pressure in 2014.

“Our EHS colleagues continue to work to meet the REACH requirements due to all of our international shipments from our U.S. sites to Europe,” he noted. “Also in 2014, we started early working on the new classification and labeling requirements of GHS (Global Harmonization System) that will be in place early in 2015. We feel that these regulatory pressures will continue in 2015.”

The raw material market remains a big concern for the ink industry.

“Raw material costs and supply are always big concerns for all of us in this industry since it is a very large part of our cost structure,” Clendenning said. “We did see continued stability into 2014 in most raw material areas, but again, everything has stabilized at a much higher price range than from where they started a few years back. This stability also brings a lot of uncertainty in this area that will continue into 2015.”

With new manufacturing capabilities online and new projects in the pipeline, Clendenning said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the future for INX.

“With our new facilities (Lebanon, OH, and Prague, Czech Republic) coming on stream now, I am extremely excited about 2015 and beyond, especially with some of the additional projects we are starting to plan now,” he concluded. “Last year I was optimistic about 2014 and it turned out well. But this year, although being excited, I am, like what I called in the past, ‘cautiously optimistic’ due to the uncertainty of the raw material market and the additional cost increases that we could be dealing with in 2015.”

Major Products: A full line of ink and coatings solutions technology for packaging, commercial and digital print applications, including metal decorating, flexographic, gravure, web offset, lamination, corrugated, sheetfed, digital and UV/EB inks and coatings.

Number of Employees: Approximately 1,100.

Operating Facilities: Fifteen manufacturing locations and approximately 190 in-plant locations throughout North America. Two North American R&D Centers: West Chicago, IL (traditional technologies) and San Leandro, CA (inkjet technologies).

Subsidiaries: INX International U.K., Heywood, England; INX International France, Bretigny, France; INX Digital Milan, Italy; INX Digital Prague; Parent Company: Sakata INX, Osaka, Japan.

Comments: INX International Ink Company had an excellent year in 2013, with sales growing 12% to $375 million. Rick Clendenning, president and CEO of INX International, said that improvements in existing customers’ business was a key driver in this growth.

“INX had a very good year,” Clendenning said. “Our sales grew, but not as planned due to a very aggressive sales target. In most segments, our customers seem to be improving and getting stronger. There are certain parts of our commercial business that is still struggling, and it doesn’t appear to be getting any better in the short term.”

Packaging and digital inks are growth segments for the ink industry, and INX International is well positioned in both of these fields.

“In 2013, we continued growing our packaging segments,” Clendenning said. “Rigid, flexible and paper consumer packaging ink technologies all experienced upticks. Our energy curable products also continue trending upwards as they have in the past. Our inkjet ink business experienced some growth, and we are very excited about all the opportunities we are getting with hardware and chemistry calibration from our newly formed division.”

Digital is a strong growth area for INX, and the company continues to showcase how its inkjet solutions can benefit conventional printers. To help facilitate that, INX merged its digital subsidiary into the parent company.

“It was a very exciting year,” Clendenning said. “We merged our digital business (INX Digital International) into INX International at the beginning of 2013, which really helped strengthen our digital efforts. This opened up opportunities for people to work closer together with more resources to help grow the inkjet business in North America.”

The company also expanded its packaging operations, opening up its new Heywood, UK metal deco ink plant and breaking ground on a new solvent ink plant in Lebanon, OH. The Heywood plant is the largest two-piece metal decorating plant outside the U.S. The new 62,000 square foot Lebanon facility will also produce three-piece metal deco, UV/EB and some water-based flexo ink. With the new facility INX’s annual solvent ink capacity will more than double to 77 million pounds.

“We moved and opened a new UK manufacturing facility last August,” Clendenning said. “This new facility gives us more capacity for our metal decorating ink business and provides more space to begin moving other technologies into the new building. In North America last December, we broke ground for our new liquid ink manufacturing facility in Lebanon, OH. This facility will produce mainly solvent packaging ink, one of our fastest growing segments. We project this building will be operational later this year in the fourth quarter.”

After a challenging 2012 in which margins had been under pressure, Clendenning noted that improved operational efforts helped grow the bottom line.

“We instituted many things in 2012 that really helped us in 2013,” he said. “Our TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) efforts in our major manufacturing facilities are going well and helped us control our overall operational costs throughout the year. Everyone at INX did a great job to make the year very successful.”

Raw material costs have stabilized at higher levels, which remains a concern for ink manufacturers.

“Our raw material costs were pretty stable in 2013, but they are still higher compared to where they need to be,” Clendenning said. “There are certain materials where we have concerns about availability and rising costs. We will continue to focus on our raw materials and associated costs to meet our goals in 2014.”

Clendenning anticipates INX International continuing its improved performance into 2014 and beyond.

“Since our 2013 performance was strong, I am optimistic about this year,” Clendenning noted. “We certainly need to be careful and continue to manage our costs throughout the year, especially in our raw materials area. We cannot afford to absorb more material price increases as we have experienced in the last several years.”

Major Products: A full line of ink and coatings solutions technology for packaging, commercial and digital print applications, including metal decorating, flexographic, gravure, web offset, lamination, corrugated, sheetfed, digital and UV/EB inks and coatings.

Number of Employees: Approximately 1,100.

Operating Facilities: Fifteen (15) manufacturing locations and approximately 190 in-plant locations throughout North America. Two North American R&D Centers: West Chicago, IL (traditional technologies) and San Leandro, CA (inkjet technologies).

Subsidiaries: INX International U.K., Rochdale, England; INX International France, Bretigny, France; INX Digital Milan, Italy; INX Digital Prague; Parent Company: Sakata INX, Osaka, Japan.

Comments: Despite sales gains in 2011, INX International Ink Company still struggled with margins, as dramatically rising raw material costs impacted the company’s bottom line. As a result, the company prepared for further challenges in 2012, and the resulting improvement was significant.

“After a difficult year in 2011, we had a clear plan and strategy for 2012 to improve our performance,” said Rick Clendenning, president and CEO of INX International Ink Co. “Everyone in the company did their part. We executed the plan and proved successful in meeting and exceeding our goals. We implemented some infrastructure changes during the year to control and reduce costs. It was hard to do but necessary, and we were able to find some relief with much needed price adjustments within our customer base.

“The improvement we experienced in our company’s performance was the result of much hard work by many people, not due to the industry improving,” Mr. Clendenning added. “In some market segments, I think it’s getting worse. Due to the downturn from these segments and customers in the marketplace, there is too much capacity available. That usually leads to bad and aggressive decisions by some in these markets.”

Packaging and digital continue to be INX International Ink’s strongest growth markets.

“Our sales growth came mostly from our packaging divisions,” Mr. Clendenning said. “This includes flexible packaging from our liquid division, and metal and plastic packaging on behalf of our rigid packaging division. The digital unit showed some growth as we continued our Evolve marketing strategy. This involves introducing our traditional customers to digital printing and evolving them into the digital world.”

The European metal decorating ink market has proven to be a strength for INX International Ink, and the company is expanding its operations in Europe, led by Jonathan Ellaby, the company’s vice president of international operations, who himself was the recipient of a major industry award from the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM).

“We broke ground on a new manufacturing facility in England that will be the largest two-piece metal decorating plant outside the U.S.,” Mr. Clendenning noted. “It’s located near our existing plant in Rochdale, just outside Manchester, and we expect it to be ready mid-year. The new facility replaces the current building and will have more capacity. It also will allow us to move more manufacturing of technologies to the European markets directly from England.

“In March 2012 at the NAPIM Convention, Jonathan Ellaby was honored with a 2012 Printing Ink Pioneer Award for 40 years of dedicated service to the industry,” Mr. Clendenning said. “All of his colleagues were proud that Jonathan was recognized in this manner. We look forward to his continued dedication to growing our business internationally.”

While Mr. Clendenning noted that some raw material costs have stabilized, the pricing levels are at or near all-time highs.

“Some raw materials have stabilized, but are doing so at much higher levels than needed or historically,” he added. “Supply issues have eased, but we are watching some specific materials very closely. Our sourcing group under the direction of Rick Westrom is doing a great job securing critical raw materials to supply our customer base. I am cautiously optimistic about supply but not so much about price. We will have to wait and see.”

With all of INX’s preparations heading into 2012, the company is on excellent footing heading into 2013.

“We anticipate a strong year for all our divisions and product lines,” Mr. Clendenning said. “All of the hard work we did in 2012 has put us in better position for a successful year. We have merged our digital resources into one group in order to gain additional synergies, and I’m very excited about the great interest our digital efforts are generating. The opportunities exist, and I’m hopeful of developing some new business as well.”

Major Products: A full line of ink and coatings solutions technology for packaging, commercial and digital print applications, including metal decorating, flexographic, gravure, web offset, lamination, corrugated, sheetfed, digital and UV/EB inks and coatings.

Number of Employees: Approximately 1,150.

Operating Facilities: Approximately 20 locations and 190 in-plants throughout North America. Subsidiaries: INX International U.K., Rochdale, England; INX International France, Bretigny, France. Sister company: INX Digital, San Leandro, CA; INX Digital Milan; INX Digital Prague; Parent company: Sakata INX, Osaka, Japan.

Comments: INX International Ink Co. enjoyed an excellent year in 2011, with growth coming across all product lines, although higher raw material prices impacted the bottom line.

“Last year was very good, as we experienced one of our best years for sales growth,” said Rick Clendenning, president and CEO. “Each of our divisions grew, which is very encouraging to see, with our packaging-related sales growing more than our commercial side. There has been improvement in the segments we serve on the consumer packaging side. Our liquid packaging products division experienced the most growth. Sales of our energy curable products continue to rise, too, and our international sales also have experienced gains. However, the commercial printers are still struggling as the competition is fierce and the market continues to shrink.

“That said, our sales growth did not help us meet our bottom line goals because of the continued and unprecedented raw materials price increases throughout the year,” Mr. Clendenning added. “We struggled every month because of the raw material pricing.”

Packaging and inkjet are areas of strength for the ink industry, and INX has created a strong portfolio of successful products in these segments.

“Our high technology products in packaging continue to do very well in the marketplace and drive our growth,” Mr. Clendenning said. “Our digital business is very exciting right now. It continues to grow through our EVOLVE strategy as we educate more of our traditional print customers about inkjet and how it can supplement and enhance their own customer offerings.”

Mr. Clendenning noted that INX’s Edwardsville, KS operation received an important honor during the past year.

“Our manufacturing facility in Edwardsville, KS received an award for TPM Excellence and was the first ink company outside Japan to receive the award,” Mr. Clendenning said. “Chris Tucker, our general manager in Edwardsville, travelled to Japan to accept it. We’re very proud of the management team and their colleagues in Edwardsville for achieving this prestigious manufacturing level.And our Digital division is a very dynamic group, too. They are developing some very interesting hardware solutions for our traditional markets.”

Mr. Clendenning said that raw materials costs and supply issues remain the number one concern for INX International Ink.

“We have not seen much relief at all,” he said. “There are some indications things may stabilize in some areas, but there is no indication when raw material prices will start to drop this year.

“There are some materials in very tight supply conditions that we have to monitor and be careful of, but our sourcing group is doing an excellent job in keeping us supplied in every area,” Mr. Clendenning added. “It continues to be a challenging situation and will remain so for some time, but we will keep collaborating within our company worldwide.”

Mr. Clendenning noted that Rick Westrom, INX’s senior vice president of strategic global sourcing, received a major honor last year from the Chicago Printing Ink Production Club (CPIPC).

“From a personnel standpoint, Rick Westrom, our senior vice president of strategic global sourcing, was honored by the CPIPC last December as its ‘Ink Person of the Year,’” Mr. Clendenning noted.

The company also made significant personnel and operational moves as well during the past year.

“We added a highly respected and well known person in our industry when Michael Brice joined the INX management team in late 2011,” Mr. Clendenning reported. “Michael serves as our director of business development. In 2012, we will break ground soon for our new state-of-the-art manufacturing center in England, which is close to our original site outside Manchester. When this site is completed, INX will be moving from our current facility and adding more product lines to our offerings.”

Mr. Clendenning said he is optimistic about the coming year, particularly on the digital side, although raw material and freight costs remain a major concern.

“I am optimistic about this year,” Mr. Clendenning said. “The only big question marks are raw material and freight costs.Due to the volatility and uncertainty of these areas, we have no other choice but to pass along more price increases. Combined with cost reductions we made to our company’s infrastructure in 2011, we should start to see more improvement as 2012 progresses. We are planning to grow in each area by using our technologies and customer service to drive that growth.

“I am very excited about the electronics of our Digital Division and the ink chemistries of INX Digital International,” Mr. Clendenning concluded. “The two continue to collaborate on many opportunities with our EVOLVE Advanced Digital Solutions. Our traditional customers will benefit from using the technology they develop.”

Major Products: A full line of ink and coatings solutions technology for packaging, commercial and digital print applications, including metal decorating, flexographic, gravure, web offset, lamination, corrugated, sheetfed, digital and UV/EB inks and coatings.

Number of Employees: Approximately 1,150.

Operating Facilities: Approximately 26 locations and 175 in-plants throughout North America. Subsidiaries: INX International U.K., Rochdale, England; INX International France, Bretigny, France. Sister company: INX Digital, San Leandro, CA; INX Digital Milan; INX Digital Prague; Parent company: Sakata INX, Osaka, Japan.

Comments: Coming into 2010, ink industry leaders were understandably worried about the economy as well as raw materials. While the economy did show improvement during 2010, raw material supply and cost concerns remain a serious issue.

Rick Clendenning, INX International Ink Company’s president and CEO, said that INX International did have a better year in terms of sales in 2010, although raw materials are a concern.

“After a difficult year in 2009, 2010 started out about the same,” Mr. Clendenning said. “It wasn’t until the second quarter before things began to show signs of improvement. The last half of 2010 was much better and overall INX had a good year. One of the biggest issues was obviously the situation with raw materials supply, availability and escalating costs. Sales growth with existing accounts improved, giving us more indication that things are getting better as economic conditions continue to improve.”

In 2005, INX International and its parent company, Sakata INX, made the decision to emphasize the digital ink business by forming Triangle Digital INX with Triangle Digital, LLC. It has proved to be an excellent move.

Five years later, having added a few more pieces to the inkjet side, INX Digital International has become an industry leader in the digital segment, and is making major inroads into traditional printing markets.

“We have made huge inroads in the last 18 months since introducing the new line of EVOLVE Advanced Digital Systems,” Mr. Clendenning said. “In 2011, we have created a new business unit for our Prodigy brand that for the short-term focuses on the graphic arts industry, and will expand its horizons in the long-term.

“The progress we have made since we introduced EVOLVE Advanced Digital Solutions 18 months ago is beyond our expectations,” Mr. Clendenning added. “The market reaction continues to remain very high for the CP100 UV digital cylindrical printer, which is one of our specialty printers. It does open new doors with its capability to print on round cylindrical substrates such as cans for food and beverage, water bottles and other cylindrical containers.

“The MD series of UV flatbed printers also attracts a lot of attention since it prints at 1200 dpi on aluminum or steel substrates,” Mr. Clendenning added. “And we are very bullish on our label market prospects with the NW100 narrow web press. It attracted quite a crowd last September at Labelexpo and many people were impressed with its high speed, high quality and short run capability.”

Raw materials are keeping ink manufacturers busy, as pricing goes up considerably and key ingredients become scarcer.

“Raw materials costs began increasing in 2009 and mushroomed last year, causing a serious negative impact on printing ink production,” Mr. Clendenning said. “This was a direct result of the economic downturn to the point where raw material suppliers have not been able to adequately supply and service the market. As other companies did, we were forced to pass along these costs and raise prices between 4 to 8% last September. Raw material costs and supply issues must be carefully monitored and managed if we are going to be successful in meeting our goals for 2011. We are hopeful that the situation will improve in the second half of this year.”

Consolidation is a fact of life throughout the printing and ink supply chains, and Mr. Clendenning said that there will likely be more consolidation.

“It affects our business several ways, including the raw material supply situation,” Mr. Clendenning added. “The consolidations will be in every area – within our customer base, our supply base and from within our own industry. As our customers consolidate, it puts more pressure on all of us as their size increases and so does their buying power. Having the digital side of our business supplying more new products to help traditional printers create additional revenue streams for their business is helping us.”

All in all, Mr. Clendenning anticipates further improvement in sales in 2011, although raw materials bear watching.

“We expect to have a strong year in 2011, as we expect the momentum we experienced in the second half of 2010 to continue,” Mr. Clendenning concluded. “We are focused on new technologies in both the traditional and digital worlds. My only concern involves the raw material area.”