The new RxD aqueous pigment dispersion facility in New Castle, Delaware, USA, is officially opened. To celebrate we hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the 16th of June.
The new facility, a $19 million investment at approximately 8,100 square feet, includes state-of-the-art manufacturing and process control equipment, adding to the current 40,000 square feet of occupied manufacturing space at the site. Our New Castle site is Fujifilm’s first aqueous pigment dispersion manufacturing facility in the USA.
Fujifilm leadership, employees, and community partners joined the celebratory opening event with remarks given by the Lieutenant Governor of Delaware and the Mayor of New Castle, Delaware, and President of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce.
“It’s an exciting day for Fujifilm,” said Ian Wilkinson, president and chief operating officer, FUJIFILM Ink Solutions Group. “I am proud that we have been able to deliver this brand-new production facility according to our original plan, despite the challenges that the pandemic presented us with, and we’re here to celebrate that today. We extend our heartfelt thanks to all who were a part of this project, from our own teams to our vendors and local and state dignitaries. I have no doubt that this expansion will continue to create significant growth opportunities for both Fujifilm and the customers we serve.”
“This expansion would not have been possible without the exceptional efforts of our global project team both here in New Castle, and the UK,” said Melissa Toledo, general manager, USA. “The excitement of our team regarding this expansion is palpable, and we are looking forward to continued growth both in our production capacity and job creation here in New Castle.”
Our high purity RxD pigment dispersions are the core component of aqueous inkjet inks for a variety of fast-growing inkjet markets, including packaging, textile, and commercial printing. They use a proprietary cross-linking technology to lock each pigment particle in a secure polymer cage, resulting in a highly stable dispersion that enables the design of ink formulations that can meet demanding performance requirements. We supply aqueous inks to digital printer Original Equipment Manufacturers and RxD pigment dispersions to ink formulators.
The construction of a second RxD facility on the same site is underway and is expected to be operational by the summer of 2023. This will add 11,000 square feet of new operational space to the Delaware operation. Upon completion, the two plants will double Fujifilm’s production capacity of water-based pigment dispersions in the USA in order to meet the global fast-growing demand for inkjet printing.