Avery Dennison Digital Ink Solutions in Ink World Magazine

With sales of more than $6.6 billion in 2017, Avery Dennison is a powerful force in the world of printing. The company is a leading player in the label, packaging and graphic materials industry, and has staked out a major position in RFID as well.

In 2016, Avery Dennison made a significant move in the ink industry as well, acquiring Ink Mill Corporation and establishing Digital Ink Solutions (DIS) within the Reflective Solutions group.

Ink Mill was founded in 2008 by Stephen Mills and Charles Beck to satisfy an unmet need in the industry for custom ink development. These custom inks are now used in the OEM and industrial ink industry, and in third party inks with the same quality standards as the OEM digital inks.

“Working with many of the top printer and printhead manufacturers around the world, the Digital Ink Solutions team custom formulates and precisely manufactures digital inks to solve their unique demands,” said Colleen McHenry, product management for digital inks/reflective solutions. “Our engineers continually strive to push the boundaries of inkjet technology to offer new products, establishing themselves as an emerging technology leader in the industry.”

Because of Avery Dennison Digital Ink Solutions’ excellence in customization, McHenry noted that the company has developed inks for an unusually wide range of products.

“We are a high-quality ink manufacturer specializing in custom ink formulations for OEM printer manufacturers and industrial printing applications,” McHenry added. “We have successfully formulated inks in wide format graphics, digital label, flooring, gift card, furniture, building materials, traffic signs, food packaging, playgrounds and medical device fields. While we do serve a broad range of industries, we are always looking to enter new industries as opportunities arise.”

Avery Dennison Digital Ink Solutions’ R&D is key to the efforts to meeting the needs of their customers.

“Our highly experienced development team is our key differentiator that sets us apart from our competitors,” McHenry said. “Our team is the perfect partner for any printer manufacturer looking for a custom inkjet ink to overcome an issue or for a new printer platform. For any company looking to use inkjet technology in their industrial processes, we have the expertise and knowledge to create any custom ink needed to help their business be successful. When working on these formulations, great care is taken to make sure that the inks will perform in the desired printhead to create the best solution for our customers.”

Avery Dennison Digital Ink Solutions also puts a great deal of emphasis on developing state-of-the-art digital inks that push digital adoption in various printing industries.

“Our inks have solved many customer problems that have been commonplace with competitors’ ‘off the shelf’ ink selection,” McHenry noted. “Avery Dennison Digital Ink Solutions prides itself in providing the highest quality inks, while manufacturing the inks domestically. We continuously strive to offer world class customer service to develop a partnership with our customers to help each other grow in the industry.”

For example, the company recently developed Aquaverse ink, an aqueousbased resin ink.

“This ink has demonstrated superior abrasion and adhesion properties for the wide format, label and flexible food packaging segments,” McHenry observed. “This ink is suitable for food label and packaging, which we see as an area that has high growth potential for digital ink solutions. We are confident that this advancement will increase the digital print adoption rate for these industries.”

McHenry sees excellent opportunities ahead for Avery Dennison Digital Ink Solutions. “Digital printing has seen an increase in use in many print segments already, and enjoys a significant industry share,” McHenry concluded. “However, there are several areas where digital printing hasn’t had the high adoption rates thus far. Digital Ink Solutions is focused and committed to offer eco-friendly alternatives that will help drive the digital print revolution for these other industries, while continuing to supply inks into the wide format and single pass printing segments.”