➤ Whether you trace DIC Australia’s history to its 60 years in Australia, to its origins in Japan a century ago, or go back another 32 years to when the Coates boys began selling ink and litho stones in South London, the story is much the same: It’s about sourcing and delivering what the market wants, first locally and then around the world; about striking a balance between the benefits of home production and drawing from what is now by far the world’s largest ink manufacturer.
Says managing director Ian Johns, “It would be a waste if we didn’t exploit those resources, listen to our customers, and bring them the best performance and value.”
As a result, a portfolio of products for printing web, sheetfed and flexibles comes from Japan, India and Europe as well as the company’s recently-upgraded plant in Auburn, NSW. And as it’s a two-way process, matching the best product to a customer’s needs also means that Sydney-made coldset ink is exported to quality-conscious customers in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, for example.
Following an upgrade of the colour ink plant in 2002, attention has recently turned to the Auburn black plant, with increased milling capacity and a pigment handling facility which has been streamlined as part of plans to minimise the impact of increased raw materials costs.
“Even before the fall of the Australian dollar, there had been significant increases in pigment costs, but we have been able to reduce the impact of these by improving the efficiency of our manufacturing plant and looking for ways of doing business more effectively,” says Johns.
“Our aim is always to be the ‘invisible’ supplier, with it a given that the ink will always perform, always be there and always be cost-effective.”
Research shared with overseas plants has seen continued product improvement, most recently in areas such as ‘stronger’ pigment content, solvent reduction and new technologies such as inert UV. DIC also supports initiatives such as the Web Offset Champions Group – which held Australian seminars last year – and the PrintCity VAPoN project.
Supply chain improvements have seen the commissioning of a fourth 20-tonne road tanker, making deliveries to major users in Queensland, NSW and Victoria more efficient. At the same time, facilities for batch mixing make colour batches of up to 22 tonnes possible, further increasing product consistency.
“The focus is all on consistency,” says web business manager Meredith Darke. “Making the products so predictable and reliable that users can confidently set prepress systems and press presets to it.”
Though both the modern closed-loop manufacturing process and the huge road tankers are a far cry from the way Coates made and delivered ink 60, 100 or more years ago, the priorities are the same: Providing a product which newspaper and commercial printers can count on to do the job ... enabling them to get on with business.
A BRIEF TIMELINE
1877 – John (24) and George Coates (20), two of the four sons of Clapham, UK, printer and stationer Henry Coates set up a printers’ supply company. With capital of £300 (about $700) they had soon increased the first year’s turnover of £2327 sixfold, with a fifth of the revenue coming from the sale of German lithographic stone, and the rest from inks, varnishes and chemicals.
The diverse business included a music magazine, reflecting John Coates strong interest in the arts. A second generation entered the business, in which one of the team was accounts/salesman H C Bolton, later to form a partnership with French company Lorilleux, as Lorilleux Bolton.
1908 – DIC’s founder, Kjuro Kawamura starts making inks under the ‘Dragon’ trademark for woodprint lithographs and typography.
1937 – Coates started making offset inks in Calcutta to supply the Indian Ordnance Survey map printing facility during the East Asia campaign.
1937 – Kjuro Kawamura’s company incorporated as Dainippon Printing Ink Manufacturing Company.
1938 – Coates Brothers South Africa formed in Durban.
1948 – Coates Brothers New Zealand formed from the remains of the failed Lorilleux Bolton NZ.
1949 – Coates Brothers Australia registered – trading from premises in Moorabbin (Melbourne) and Auburn (Sydney) still used for ink blending and manufacturing today.
1954 – Dainippon Printing Ink enters a technical cooperation agreement with Sun Chemical Corp. of the USA, the world’s largest ink manufacturer.
1986 – DIC Corporation purchases the graphic arts materials business of Sun Chemical.
1991 – Lorilleux purchases Coates Brothers through its owner, French oil company Total, and trades as Coates Lorilleux in Europe. The Coates Brothers name was retained throughout the rest of the world.
1999 – Coates Lorilleux acquired by SunChemical, further consolidating its position as the world’s largest manufacturer.
2005 – Coates Brothers Australia changes its name to DIC Graphics Australia (September).
2006 – DIC Australia formed by integrating the DIC International trading division and DIC Colortron sheetfed divisions (December).
DIC Australia
Ph: 02-9752 1200
Email: webinfo@dic.com.au
www.dic.com.au
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