Superior Printing Inks breaks ground for new varnish plant in Hamden, Conn.
Superior Printing Ink Co., Inc., held a groundbreaking ceremony last month for a new varnish manufacturing plant to be added to its central manufacturing facility (CMF) in Hamden, Conn. Slated to be operational by next summer, the new 12,000 square foot varnish plant will allow Superior Printing Ink to increase its level of automation in the manufacture of lithographic printing ink.

“The new plant will help us improve quality while lowering our costs through greater efficiencies including bulk storage and automatic weighing and transfer,” said Michael Brice, president and chief operating officer of Superior Printing Ink Co. “It’s the next step in ensuring our ability to provide products of consistent high quality to the graphics arts community and to stay competitive in the global marketplace.”

Evidence of the company’s current high quality at the CMF, which services 25 branches around the country, is the upgraded ISO 9001:2000 certification awarded last year. As separate full-service lithographic ink manufacturing facilities, the branches constitute internal customers “who are very exacting in their needs and who are also held to a high level of service,” said Brice. “Our new plant is therefore also a demonstration to the people in our company that Superior Printing Ink is investing in the future.”

Currently, the company’s varnish plant is in Newark, N.J., necessitating transport of the varnish in drums by truck to the 35,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Hamden.

Founded in 1918, Superior Printing Ink Co., Inc. is the second largest privately owned ink company in the United States and, says Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Simons, “the largest in our niche of lithographic offset.” As well as its 25 branches, Superior operates plants dedicated to the manufacture of small press inks and flexographic and gravure inks.