Current world affairs mean that there are many compelling reasons for inkjet OEMs and ink formulators to look at contract ink manufacturing options to secure, grow and diversify their businesses. Christine Russell, VP of USA commercial operations, FUJIFILM Ink Solutions Group, explains.
Contract manufacturing is far from being a new idea. It’s used in all kinds of industries for all kinds of reasons. But if you’re in the business of supplying high quality inkjet inks for use in professional print settings, there have been a number of macro business environment shifts that provide new impetus for seeking specialist help as a strategic priority.
Foremost amongst these are the multiple impacts on global supply chains over the past five years. Initially, the effects of lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic were immediate and severe, impacting not only customer demand but also the supply of key raw materials. Despite a perceived return to more-or-less normal since then, the aftereffects have changed global logistics, restricting freight availability and driving up shipping costs. This has caused many international manufacturers who had implemented international just-in-time strategies to consider more localized infrastructure.
Unpredictable natural disasters such as extreme weather events, plus freak accidents such as the grounding of the Ever Given container ship in the Suez Canal in 2021, have combined with growing geopolitical tensions, and conflicts that also influence trade policies around the world. These collectively make long distance sourcing less predictable, more risky and costly. High value technical products used in digital printing were already exposed to complications that arise through regulatory differences between territories, but ongoing uncertainty around tariffs also makes strategic sourcing more difficult, driving up costs that cannot fully be passed on to customers.
For inkjet OEMs and ink formulators, therefore, securing reliable and scalable production in a way that avoids or mitigates as far as possible these challenges is not just an operational consideration, but a strategic imperative.
Go regional – with help
Adopting a regional manufacturing approach to limit the length of supply chains and to work as far as possible inside regulatory borders is an obvious solution in the current global environment. However, this is likely to involve addition of facilities, equipment and staff, all of which takes time and money to achieve, while also imposing an additional communication and management overhead once implemented.
Reliable contract inkjet ink manufacturing is the solution to these challenges, providing skilled, secure, flexible, and reliable capability that can be added and scaled quickly and cost-effectively. It avoids the large investments otherwise needed to establish physical and procedural infrastructure, to build and maintain clean rooms, implement compliance systems, and hire the necessary technical staff. It frees in-house resources to focus on more value-generating activities such as research and development or strategic innovation, rather than legacy ink production.
In addition to improving operational agility and facilitating expansion into new markets, contract manufacturing provides secure regional supply, contingency back-up protection, or overflow capacity, whether through dual sourcing a mix of internal and external services, or via fully outsourced production.
These arguments hold true in general around the world but are particularly relevant for OEMs looking to develop or expand their activities in North America. This region, and particularly the US, is a key growth area for digital print, with significant growth predicted in commercial print, packaging, and textile, as well as emerging industrial applications. US regulations are evolving, so local manufacture by an experienced and established supplier is the simplest way to stay abreast of them.
A trusted manufacturing partner
Fujifilm Ink Solutions Group is a long-term, proven partner to OEM equipment vendors and ink formulators worldwide, offering more than 40 years’ experience in inkjet ink manufacturing for both aqueous and UV technologies. It operates at scale with proven robustness and reliability, providing deep technical expertise backed by stringent quality control. The business is known for its flexibility, protection of confidential customer information and intellectual property (IP), and ability to meet consistently high specification manufacturing requirements.
Before we manufacture anything for a contract customer, we address the potential trust issue around the sensitive commercial information and IP that has to be shared in order to undertake the project. Strict confidentiality is built into every customer engagement, with non-disclosure and data protection frameworks embedded into every project. Customers’ formulation IP and technical data are safeguarded through robust security protocols. As a result, Fujifilm is trusted by global OEMs and ink companies to provide sensitive product handling.
We can offer Fujifilm’s proprietary dispersion technology if required, manufactured at the same sites as the final ink. This shortens supply chain between the dispersion and ink manufacturing stages and allows for highly efficient, streamlined production. Alternatively, we are also experienced in working with customer-supplied or specified dispersions.
Scale and speed
Fujifilm’s experts take care of the technical transfer of customer ink formulations into repeatable and scalable processes that run reliably at production scale, bringing to bear their long expertise in complex, multi-stage processing, accounting for factors like variability in raw materials, equipment effects, concentration gradients, and temperature. Producing a quality product, consistently, is a combination of formulation chemistry and process – the art of manufacturing! This is a collaborative process, working with the customer’s technical teams throughout to ensure we meet target requirements accurately and efficiently.
Fujifilm Ink Solutions Group has manufacturing sites in the USA and the United Kingdom, each with a specialized technology focus, but both offering global supply capacity.
The Delaware, US East Coast-based site specializes in aqueous inkjet inks and is one of the world’s largest aqueous manufacturing sites for this technology. It has more than three decades of experience with water-based inks, covering both dye and pigment types. The facility is ISO 9001 and 14001 certified, with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) capability. For high-sensitivity ink applications, there are cleanroom capabilities, so even the most specialized demands can be met. The site’s proximity to major US domestic and international ports allows for efficient distribution both within the US and for export.
The UK site in Kent, south-east England, specializes in UV ink technologies and is similarly well-located for shipping to continental Europe and far beyond by both sea and air, and has full ISO certification.
Stringent process and quality control processes ensure that every batch of ink is delivered precisely to specification. With quality assurance at the heart of the manufacturing operations, both sites adhere to Fujifilm’s ‘right first time’ principle regarding quality, treating it as a key performance indicator rather than just a slogan.
Talk to Fujifilm
Even without today’s mix of additional difficulties around the supply chain, there are sound reasons to consider contract manufacture of your inkjet inks, particularly if you serve – or plan to break into – the large and growing US aqueous inkjet market. Fujifilm offers expertise, privacy, reliability, and scalability on tap from a proven partner, whether you want to expand capacity, move into new markets or to simplify your internal operations.
Connect with our experts to learn more.