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Candid (adj. truthful and straightforward; frank)
Rick Clendenning, president and CEO, INX International Ink.
I have been at INX International in one form or another since 1971. INX International, part of Sakata INX, a $1.1 billion company, has more than 25 plants in the US and Canada, and over 50 locations worldwide, on four continents. We provide ink and coating products for a number of applications including paper packaging, flexible packaging, rigid packaging and commercial printing. INX also provides advanced, environmentally-conscious ink systems and services for digital printing operations.
I started with Acme, which eventually became part of INX in 1992, when Sakata INX of Japan made a series of acquisitions. Originally, Sakata was interested in our metal decorating technology. When the company first came over in 1986, Acme had a technology arrangement with Sakata. It then started working with us and, less than a year and a half later, it acquired Acme. Metal decorating still makes up close to 30 per cent of our sales, which includes two-piece and three-piece.
I am involved with all our major metal customers, as they are important to us. We have just made a series of acquisitions on the digital side and I have been heavily involved with that as well.
We were tested by the economic downturn. Part of our business is in the commercial printing segment, and this includes inks for printing catalogues, inserts, magazines and newspapers. At the end of 2008 advertising really suffered in those sectors. In October, monthly sales went down approximately 30 per cent. It carried on into 2009. Unfortunately we don’t feel all the advertising will come back and we are still down 20 per cent in that area. The internet has reduced demand for inks for magazines, newspapers, car brochures and most of that type of printing.
However, what helped us the most is the fact that we have product diversification. For example, we have our metal decorating and flexible packaging divisions as well. The food and beverage/consumer packaging side has been fairly strong throughout. People still like and have to eat and drink. During these bad times, packaging has been pretty stable. We have seen a big improvement in the first quarter of 2010.
That being said, we’ve had some tough times in metal deco. We were going along pretty strongly in 2008 up until October when the bottom just dropped out. From August/September of that year, which are normally predominantly strong months, we suddenly went down 30 per cent in the space of 30 days. Unfortunately, we had to cut back, close some smaller operations and consolidate.
On the metal decorating side, we are pretty healthy all over the world. We’re lucky to have more than 90 per cent of the two-piece and three-piece business in the Americas. Our Asian company in China is also strong in its area. On the two-piece side, we have about 65 per cent of the world market. We have great products, very good people and a sound infrastructure.
Advantage metal
Our metal division has been very stable over the last three years during these trying times. We haven’t seen major growth over that time, but one or two per cent of growth is still good in this type of market. Especially when our market share is so high in the first place. It is a very important part of our business and is important to our parent company.
We have always tried to be innovative and come up with new ideas on this particular side. On the metal side, even though we are strong in Europe as well, there is still room for more growth in that area. There are also other can companies in Russia and Asia and we have got an infrastructure around the world to service all their needs.
On the digital side, we feel that eventually all of our customers will evolve to digital printing in some way. It is not going to take over their main production, but it could be an added value for their customer base if they have a digital solution.
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JULY/AUGUST 2010
Includes:IMDA review
Aluminium bottle update
Promoting cans
Eye on Dubai
Conveying expectations
