Increasing regulations are a fact of life in areas such as packaging, and the ink industry is being impacted. Additive suppliers are seeing these changes and are working with their ink customers to meet the new regulatory standards.
 
Craig Baudendistel, director of sales at Shamrock Technologies, said that increased regulations are impacting the way Shamrock Technologies does business.
 
“Our latest efforts are with the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) for hazard classification and labeling,” Baudendistel added. “Communication both internally and externally will be important as key target dates for implementation approach. New labeling protocols, SDS conversions from the current MSD sheet format and training have been ongoing. Externally, communication between supplier, manufacturer and customer will be imperative to make sure all parties are ready to accept materials based on the new regulations. Depletion of old inventory with previous labels must also be a consideration.”
 
“As a leading European-based supplier of water-base additives, our company is in the forefront of such activities, which is an advantage to global suppliers of ink,” Alan Kalmikoff, president, Keim Additec Surface USA, LLC, said. “The FDA will soon become parallel in regulatory requirements to REACH. If a supplier is not actively there, they will be at a distinct disadvantage to those who are. Other mandates such as from Nestle’s regarding substrates, contamination and recycling capabilities are also in vogue and of particular interest to wax suppliers, especially those involved in paraffin wax technologies.”
 
“There is an impact as more understanding and more man hours are needed to comply, but for those who make the necessary investments, there is also opportunity,” said Jerry Trauth, product manager ink applications at Kustom Group. “It’s another way Kustom can offer value to our customers by being a resource in those areas.”
 
Jennifer Turner, marketing manager, coating additives for Evonik, said that regulations will continue to have a strong influence on the end-use markets.
 
“Customers are always looking for compliant products which add value and help them differentiate their formulations from the competition,” Turner added.
 
“Increasingly stringent global food contact regulations are another major trend affecting the industry,” said Shauna McAuliffe, marketing manager, for Air Products. “Finding suitable products that are compliant with the ever growing and often complex mix of regional and national food contact regulations is challenging but extremely important, particularly in global formulations. Air Products offers a variety of products that are compliant with a range of U.S. FDA and European regulations, including the Swiss Ordinance, German Draft Ordinance and the German BfR regulations, in addition to other global guidelines.”
“It’s important information for our customers, so we have invested in more infrastructures to accommodate,” said John McAllister, director of sales, United States and Canada at Micro Powders, Inc.  “Once the system is in place, it’s just a matter of managing and reporting the data.”