Fujifilm North America Sells Screen and Flexo Ink Unit to Nazdar

Our friends at InkWorld Magazine have published a great article on the latest news in ink manufacturing. 

As reported in "Nazdar Acquires Screen & Flexographic Analog Ink from FUJIFILM North America" by Ink World Magazine, Nazdar has picked up Fujifilm's screen and flexographic analog ink business across the U.S., Canada, and Latin America through a sale and licensing arrangement. Transition activities began June 24. The whole handoff wraps July 13, which puts the two companies on one of the faster deal timelines the specialty ink sector has seen this year. Shawnee, Kansas is home base for Nazdar. The company has been making inks since 1922.

Richard Bowles, CEO at Nazdar, called the move a strategic investment in the markets and customers that matter most to the company's future, according to the Ink World coverage. Tommy Katagiri, division president at Fujifilm North America Corporation's Business Innovation Division, described Nazdar as a longtime partner and framed the sale as a natural next step for both organizations. Fujifilm keeps its focus on digital inkjet, workflow automation, and other priorities under its business innovation umbrella. Nazdar takes over the analog side. The specialty ink world is small enough that most industry watchers saw this deal coming.

Nazdar confirmed that all core product attributes stay the same after the acquisition closes. Formulations do not change. Manufacturing locations do not change. SDS and TDS documentation continues under full support, which means screen and flexo printers who rely on the Fujifilm analog ink lines should see no gap in supply or performance across their operations during the switchover. Shops running long jobs need that stability. Regulatory paperwork depends on it too.

My read on this deal is that it clarifies the analog-versus-digital divide inside the ink industry more than it changes daily life for most shops. Fujifilm doubles down on inkjet and workflow tech. Nazdar deepens its footing in screen printing and narrow-web flexography, categories it has served since the 1920s from its Shawnee manufacturing base. Two roads. Two strategies. Screen and flex shops now have one fewer supplier to think about at the wholesale level, and whether that consolidation helps or hurts pricing over the next few years is the question worth watching.