Jack talks to Dr. Simon Daplyn, Product & Marketing Manager, Digital, at Sun Chemical at FESPA 2025
Trancript of video of Sun Chemical at Fespa
Jack Gocher: So, I’m on the Sun Chemical stand at Fespa with Simon. Nice to meet you, Simon.
Simon: Nice to meet you too, Jack.
Jack Gocher: I really just wanted to get a bit of an update on the company, sort of your position in the market. I have some information on you, but it’d be good to know a little bit more about where Sun Chemical fits into the big world of large-format printing.
Simon: So, in general, Sun Chemical has three core parts to its digital business. We do a lot of work with OEMs, supporting their innovation from the chemistry side, and then they take that to market under their private label. So, that’s a strong and growing business.
Then we have two direct-to-market channels. One is for the textile side of the business, where we’re involved in sublimation for sign and display, fashion, and sportswear. But we also cover other technologies like pigments, DTF (Direct-to-Film), and reactive inks, so we have a broad range to print on any fabric.
And then we have our direct-to-customer business for wide-format graphics and sign and display, which covers eco-solvent, some UV products, and now, increasingly, aqueous solutions for applications like blueback poster printing.
Jack Gocher: So, looking at the ink market globally – you’re a global company, aren’t you? What are some of the challenges you’re finding in the market these days?
Simon: The supply chain is still returning to what it was pre-pandemic. What we’re really finding is that our customers’ challenges often lie in supply chain logistics and inventory management. The benefit of Sun Chemical as a global entity is that we have multiple manufacturing locations around the world, which allows us to be closer to specific markets.
Crucially, we also have offices and warehouses in most countries worldwide. This enables us to work together with our partners to put stock in-country. This means our customers can run slightly leaner inventories themselves but still have very short turnaround and lead times for replacement products. So, we’re giving them the best chance to manage their supply chains effectively.
Jack Gocher: So, it’s helping the supply chains inform their choices. And what are the company’s strengths on the production chemistry side? What are your key strengths there?
Simon: For a long time, we’ve considered ourselves innovation leaders. We’re very strong in UV, particularly in more industrial markets. We have a very strong base in labels and packaging and those kinds of areas. That allows us to have core base technology that we can then apply to other markets, like sign and display or other industrial markets such as décor.
More and more, we’re investing in aqueous technology. We have a big R&D centre in the UK that’s investing a lot of time into water-based inks, working together with partners in the US. We develop pigment dispersions in the US and have other facilities in Europe that are all feeding in ideas, technology, and testing capability to make sure we’ve got robust products that work across a range of platforms.
Jack Gocher: You’ve done a great job of summarising this huge array of products and the things that you do into this very short interview. I’m really impressed! It’s probably a good idea to mention, yes, we’re here at FESPA – day three now, which feels like longer somehow! What’s happening here? Have you got anything new on the stand that you’re promoting, and what are you here to achieve?
Simon: Yes, FESPA is a great event for us to connect with the market, understand what the market’s doing, and, of course, meet existing customers. To be able to visit every customer individually is great, but having them all together in one place obviously brings lots of advantages. And, of course, to meet new customers. So, it’s been a really good week.
In terms of promotion, we’ve got three core technologies that are effectively new for the show.
The first is a digital pigment ink for roll-to-roll textile printing. We have versions for Epson, Kyocera, and Ricoh’s viscosity ranges, in eight colours, aimed at fashion markets for cotton and cotton-polyester blends. This has proven to be very popular.
Secondly, we have new water-based poster ink – or, let’s say, ink for fibre-based materials. This is primarily aimed at blueback, billboard, and poster printing, but it’s also working very well on point-of-display corrugated materials, so we’ve had some interested parties there. That’s again designed for Kyocera or Epson i3200 printheads.
And then the third technology is really a technology platform that we’re just starting to introduce, which is low-viscosity UV. This particularly targets the Epson i3200 printhead. It’s low-viscosity UV without the need to heat the ink, so being able to print low-viscosity at ambient temperature is something we think is a bit of a technological step forward.
Jack Gocher: What does that mean for the printer at the end of the day?
Simon: It means we don’t have to have onboard heaters for the inks. Lots of UV inks are slightly higher viscosity, so you have to have a heated ink system and manage that through the printhead, keeping it at a consistent temperature. This is doable but can be challenging, especially in the low-viscosity range, where you sometimes have to go to quite high temperatures. So, we’ve been able to develop a technology that doesn’t need that. This means we get a more consistent supply of ink at the correct temperature to the printhead, which gives more reliable printing.
Jack Gocher: I guess that might also bring the cost of the machine down a little bit? That Epson i3200 is proving to be a very popular head, especially in the wide-format graphics space, and UV is gaining some traction over traditional solvent-based inks in those areas.
Simon: It is.
Jack Gocher: I always find it amazing; ink kind of drives the industry quietly in the background, doesn’t it?
Simon: It does. Sometimes we feel like the forgotten part because we’re not the big-ticket machine or the sexy printhead or what have you. But what we always say is that, actually, our product is the only part that goes into making the finished item. That item then either represents a brand or needs to have durability on the shelf, abrasion resistance, and all these kinds of things. All the other amazing technology delivers it there, but then the ink has a life way beyond the printing part, so it’s really important that we get that part right.
Jack Gocher: I’m going to pause there because that’s the perfect way to end. Brilliant, thank you so much.
Simon: No worries. Well done.
Read more about Sun Chemical at FESPA here