The March explosion spread to adjacent facilities, causing nearly 80 deaths, injuring hundreds of people and forcing thousands of evacuations of nearby areas. The Chinese government has forced shut-downs at the industrial park, as well as others nearby, to allow for investigations and safety inspections.
“Our hearts go out to the loved ones of those hurt or killed,” says Michael Podd, Chief Procurement Officer of Flint Group’s CPS Inks business.
According to Arno de Groot, Vice President Procurement for Flint Group Packaging, “thousands of factories have already been shut down. Government investigations and safety inspections will impact the total chemical industry in China and will not be limited to the province where the catastrophic accident happened.”
The impact has reached UV and publication printing ink supply chains, as the closures affect companies that supply materials for photoinitiators and for red and yellow pigments.
Mr. Podd notes that the raw material shortage will not affect ink supply for Flint Group’s customers. “Our preferred status with our partner suppliers helps us minimise supply chain disruptions, even during unforeseen crises like this one.”
Mr. Podd continues, “Our customers can rely on us for an uninterrupted supply of inks, though these raw materials will come at a higher cost due to the supply / demand imbalance this event has caused.”
Re-open dates for the shuttered raw material facilities remain unknown.
Flint Group
Through its Commercial, Publication & Sheetfed Inks (CPS Inks) and Flint Group Packaging businesses, Flint Group is dedicated to serving the global printing and packaging industry. The company develops, manufactures and markets an extensive portfolio of printing consumables and printing equipment, including: a vast range of conventional and energy curable inks and coatings for most offset, flexographic and gravure applications; pressroom chemicals, printing blankets and sleeves for offset printing; photopolymer printing plates and sleeves, plate-making equipment and flexographic sleeve systems; pigments and additives for use in inks and other colourant applications; Flint Group also designs, develops and delivers web-fed digital colour presses for labels and packaging applications, document printing, as well as commercial printing as well as platemaking equipment for the newspaper industry and computer-to-plate (CtP) solutions for the commercial printing market; With a strong customer focus, unmatched service and support, and superior products, Flint Group strives to provide exceptional value, consistent quality and continuous innovation to customers around the world. Headquartered in Luxembourg, Flint Group employs some 7900 people. Revenues for 2017 were € 2.2 billion. On a worldwide basis, the company is the number one or number two supplier in every major market segment it serves.
For more information, please visit https://www.flintgrp.com/ [1] .
