Siegwerk used the business success of the “Wirtschaftswunder” years to expand its service offerings in printing technology. This was the task of the chemist Dr. Willy Hümmelchen, who in 1958 had been made Technical Director by the Managing Directors Alfred Keller, his son Hans Alfred Keller and Dr. Fritz Rung. Since 1923, Hümmelchen and his many inventions had helped shape Siegwerk’s development, and he was as competent in ink chemistry as in modern printing technology. Under his supervision, many technological innovations for the graphic industry were developed. First steps in 1958 were instruments to measure etching depth for the impression cylinders of gravure machines – giving information on the print image prior to proof printing. And in package printing too, Siegwerk developed pathbreaking methods, including new screen printing equipment for flexo printing. Thus the company, known as a gravure specialist, made pivotal contributions to the budding flexo printing sector.
Along with technical solutions for the printing industry, customer service was becoming increasingly important. Towards the end of the 1950’s, the quality of inks delivered by the main German producers had reached a common level, so that price became a main issue. To set itself apart from competitors, Siegwerk expanded technical support. This was based on a card index broken down by regions and major customers, used to store information from the sales department and laboratories from 1959 onwards. This supported the work of technicians and chemists travelling to customers in Germany and abroad to provide on-site service. Beyond personal contacts, Siegwerk also began to send specialized information folders – to its customers in 1958. In these, topics like the correct use of solvents in gravure or the avoidance of colour fluctuations were discussed.
At the end of the 1950’s, the productivity limits of ball-milling technology became clear, so that Siegwerk experimented with new dispersion methods. A decision was finally made for the flushing method, which facilitated efficient production of high-quality inks while providing for customers’ individual wishes.
Flushing involves the direct transfer of pigments from the watery paste that is created during their production to the organic binder via physical and chemical processes that require no intermediate steps. At the same time, extremely fine distribution of the pigment in the ink binder is achieved. The efficiency gains were due to the fact that drying of the pigment prior to dispersion in the binder was avoided. Clustering of the drying pigment no longer occurred. Thus, only minor mechanical milling was necessary to achieve nano particles of pigment. The mechanical work of the ball mills was replaced by physical and chemical processes.
Chemists soon solved problems that had occurred with some special types of pigment and binder in the laboratory, so that Siegwerk was able to implement flushing as a viable and large-scale production method in 1960. In the second half of that year, 270 tons of base inks were already manufactured via the new procedure. In the first half of 1961, the volume rose to 470 tons.
Decisions on the best possible dispersion technology and the investments that followed needed to be considered carefully, because competition in the gravure ink sector was becoming increasingly tough in the 1960’s. Large firms formerly not very active in this field like Kast & Ehinger in Stuttgart, Huber in Munich and Gebrüder Schmidt in Frankfurt, were producing more and more gravure inks. Smaller companies were offering specialised inks in increasingly high quality.
Siegwerk was aware of the fact that the art of selling was a growingly important one. A pivotal advantage in competition was the company’s competence in printing technology, which had been expanded systematically since 1958.
Thus the company managed to increase sales in the gravure field despite growing competition – from just under 5000 tons (1958) to 23,000 tons in 1969. In 1965, gravure inks from Siegwerk had a market share of 38 percent in Germany. In exports, Siegwerk was the undisputed leader with a share of 84 percent. The situation was similar regarding special inks for gravure, developed and tailor-made for customer-specific machines and paper. In this area, the market share in 1965 was 44 percent domestically and 75 percent of exports.
Siegwerk did not simply satisfy itself with its leading position in the gravure field. In the light of growing competition in that area, the company focused attention on the development of inks for offset printing. As early as 1950, Siegwerk had started to produce inks for offset printing, which were presented under the label “Kolibri” at the 1951 drupa, billed as “concentrated, light-resistant and brilliant.” But the market was small and winning customers among offset printing businesses proved difficult for the gravure specialist. Revenue from offset inks remained a very minor factor for a long time.
All the same, Siegwerk saw a trend towards offset printing, with which the managing shareholder Hans Alfred Keller had become acquainted during a prolonged trip to the USA at the beginning of the 1950’s. At his suggestion, chemist Dr. Knut Gassner from the letterpress department spent several months at the offset printing company Levy in New York, from which Siegwerk acquired a license for a production method for web offset inks in 1961. But when chemists and technicians tested the method in the laboratory and experimental printing shop, they discovered that recipes were geared to US mineral oils and paper. After adjusting the procedure to the raw materials and paper used in Europe, Siegwerk then had to convince the hesitant German printing industry of the advantages inherent in the new technology of web offset.
Developments in the USA were a decade ahead. As early as 1955, the first web offset machines for newspaper printing had been installed. Smaller printing businesses producing in small quantities were especially enthusiastic about the high quality, flexible photosetting and low investment costs involved. In 1965, Siegwerk was able to win several printing firms in West Germany for experiments with web offset – and continued to expand in this field over the following years.
In 1965, Siegwerk established a separate department to produce offset printing inks. Apart from litho-set inks for sheet fed offset, it also made roll-O-set inks for web offset. Developers worked on the solution of challenges posed by the pasty texture of offset inks. For instance, the cold set inks used in web offset for newspapers, which dried as the solvent penetrated the paper, needed special binders and solvents to ensure good adherence and to avoid dirtying readers’ hands.
The formulae for heatset inks used in commercial printing which were heat-dried also required a sure instinct. More and more advertising material and magazines with small or medium circulations were offset printed, because plates could be manufactured more flexibly. The inks used contained new resins for enhanced gloss. But that also necessitated the use of more thinners. These mineral oils could not be volatile in the printing unit – but needed to evaporate fast in the dryer. The problem: the inks are applied sequentially, which means that time spent in the printing machine varies. They are therefore subjected to different temperatures, so that the solvents’ boiling points have to be matched to these.
Siegwerk’s developers solved this problem and thus contributed to the high reputation of the offset inks from Siegburg, appreciated by printers for their top quality. That soon translated into production volume. Between 1965 and 1969, sales of offset inks increased fourfold from 63 to 257 tons a year. In 1970, the publishing house Springer became the first large printing concern to introduce web offset printing – and the triumph of offset became irresistible. By looking beyond Europe, Siegwerk had spotted the trend early and promoted it.
Interest in the American market and strong competition in Europe had also increased willingness to do business outside Europe. When the chance of building an ink factory in the USA arrived in 1970, owners and management hardly hesitated – and tapped into a new opportunity for Siegwerk.
