With two months remaining before drupa 2024 is held, INX International Ink Co. officials are getting ready for the return of the world’s leading tradeshow for print technologies and graphic communications. INX not only will present a broad range of inks, coatings, and color management solutions, but also demonstrate its commitment to sustainability, product innovation, and customer partnerships in Hall 3, Booth E83 at the Dusseldorf Exhibition Center in Germany, May 28-June 7.

Renee Schouten, INX vice president of marketing, says the company has evolved and made advancements in many key areas since the last live drupa show was held in 2016.

“With strong leadership and worldwide support from Sakata INX, our capabilities expand every year,” she comments. “New product innovation has always been a top priority, and the recent expansion of our R&D campus was paramount in our efforts to involve sustainability for every new product we have developed since the beginning of this decade. We value our customer partnerships, and drupa is the perfect environment for us to reconnect with them and others.”

INX has been steadfast in its development of new products and process since introducing the Coloring a Safe and Sustainable Future (CSSF) model in 2020. Delivering innovative, safe, and sustainable solutions for brand owners, customers, and consumers is a top priority. A recent priority assessment project helped identify Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives that were aligned with the CSSF model and integrated into INX’s Sustainability strategy.

“We recognize that while delivering high-quality printing inks, coatings, and services, we have a responsibility to do so in alignment with environment, society, and corporate governance,” states Schouten. “As an industry leader and a manufacturer of products that serve all of society, we are committed to enhancing and growing our ability to add sustainable value for brand owners, customers, consumers, and our employees.”

Schouten explains that INX assists brand owners and customers in making products easier to recycle and promotes the development of circular economies. This may include improving functional barriers to enable the use of mono material structures; the use of color fast washable inks such as the Genesis GS washable inks that are easily removed in the recycling process; sustainably sourced natural based inks; and inks and coatings that are designed to be highly robust for multiple re-use and returnable applications.

INX’s presence at drupa 2024 will be a touch point for discussions and conversations about future trends and current solutions for the print and packaging industry.

“In order to advance print and graphic communications for a circular world, we need to work even closer together to test new ideas across the entire industry,” says Shane Bertsch, senior vice president of strategy and innovation for INX. “Therefore, we want to bring people together in our booth to share and develop innovative ideas to meet future packaging and printing trends.”

INX also has taken the appropriate steps to strengthen its product pipeline for the future by establishing the INX Venture Capital program in mid-2022. The program has already netted minority investments with five technology and materials science startups that have strategic relevance to the printing inks and coatings value chain. The deals impact both conventional and digital platforms, and developments involve a wide range of industry market segments.