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of gravure printing inks.The company is a supplier of high performance, high productivity, consistent inks which is backed by high level of technical servicing and innovative approach to work closely with customers. As a result, the company enjoys a market share of 35 per cent. In year 2005-06, the company recorded US$ 21 million of sales.
The company manufactures a wide range of liquid inks for reverse as well as surface printing on several flexible substrates such as Nylon, PVDC coated film, cellophane for packaging purposes especially for food products. It also produces shrinkable PVC inks. Sakata India’s products are used by in the segment of laminates by clients such as Hindustan Lever, Nestle, Coke, Pepsi, Smithkline Beecham, Cadbury, Perfetti, Godrej, Haldiram, Parle, Britannia, Kevin Care and Ghari.
Company Background
Sakata Inx Corporation, Japan is a global ink manufacturer and was established in 1896.The company is a provider to the printing, packaging and publishing industry.The company has presence in 80 countries worldwide. It is located in the US, the UK, Ireland, Spain, Indonesia, Malaysia,Taiwan, Canada, Philippines, India and other regions for handling its diversified business interests.
In 2004-05, the company recorded net sales of US$ 883.23 million.
Sakata Inx in India
Sakata Inx (India) Limited is a fully owned subsidiary of Sakata Inx Corporation, Japan.
Established in 1995, it is a manufacturer of all types
SAKATA INX
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• President-ship of All India Printing Ink
Manufacturers Association for the year 2005 and 2004
• Presidents awards for 2001 & 2002 from the parent Company
Factors for Success
Strong parental support
Sakata Inx Corporation Japan has strong R&D departments which makes sure that technology and the quality of products are always on the highest level to meet the latest demand.The global parent company supports the local management by transferring their best practices, technology and knowledge.
Early entry into Indian market
The company was quick to realise the potential of the Indian market and responded by starting The Indian sheet-fed offset ink for brochures,
calendars and newspaper web-offset ink market is estimated at 25,000 tonnes each. In order to capture this market, Sakata India launched offset inks in India in September, 2005. Its state-of-art technology uses eco-friendly and cost effective methods to produce high quality inks.
The company established its first production facility at Bhiwadi, Rajasthan in November 1998.The company has plans to launch a new facility in Gujarat.This new facility is expected to increase export contribution to 25 per cent of the revenues from current 7-8 per cent.This production facility will export to the international markets such as West Asia, Japan, Commonwealth and SAARC countries, and Africa.
The company has been a recipient of many awards.
Some of which are:
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Sakata Inx Corporation is planning to invest US$ 13.1 million in India. It will be first company to make UV, digital inks in the Indian market.The company has procured 20 acres of land at Panoli, Gujarat to set up a plant.The plant will be commissioned by the third quarter of 2007.
It is expected that it will increase the export contribution to total revenue of the company to 25 per cent from the current 7-8 per cent.
The company expects to achieve a turnover of US$ 32.7 million from both gravure and offset inks by 2007.
Export activities
Sakata Inx Corporation is planning to make India its global outsourcing hub for offset printing inks.
Sakata Inx (India) is to become an important sourcing hub for Sakata to supply the latest technology inks for sheet-fed offset and web offset machines to South-East Asian region and Spain.
Sakata also plans to export offset ink, apart from the gravure ink, to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Middle East, Central Asia, CIS countries and Africa.
their operations in India.This gave the company an initial edge over its competitors.The company used this advantage to build a good network of its operations.
Indian Management team
Sakata Inx Corporation took the decision of having an Indian management team in its Indian subsidiary.
This ensured that there was no cultural gap in the organization.
Advantages offered by India
India offers advantage to companies in terms of its availability of skilled and quality manpower. Sakata Inx has been able to leverage this advantage to the fullest, as it has manpower requirement for its R&D, technical and manufacturing departments.
The human capital required for all these functional areas is available in large numbers in India.
Lower initial cost was also one of the reasons of success of the company. Large production capacities can be installed in India with relatively smaller investment in capital goods.
Future Plans
Expansion of Business
The company is promoting the development of highly functional coating materials and other products to expand their areas of business. It is also encouraging business houses to become their distributors or dealers to achieve their objective.
