Now five years on from its start date in January 2008, ColorGen boasts combined sales of nearly £5 million, has doubled the size of its manufacturing unit near Cambridge and continues to grow.

‘Many would have said that starting any business in early 2008 would have been folly, especially one in a fiercely competitive market such as ink supply, and at times I would have readily agreed’, confessed Mark Bowman, managing director at ColorGen. But having established the business through arguably the most economically demanding of periods the UK has seen has forged the company into a successful specialist ink manufacturer. 

To further improve exposure to the market and secure existing business it has recently employed two new staff. Mark Chambers joins as sales executive tasked with increasing UK sales, and Barry Freeman joins as technical support to maintain and improve the company’s commitment to one of its main accounts. Some will know Mark Chambers from his days as national accounts manager of Flint UK prior to that company’s re-structuring in 2009.

At the same time the company plans to increase its manufacturing capacity with the imminent arrival of a second one tonne Netzsch Mastermix mixer. This will operate alongside the existing Netzsch, a 500 kg Cox Twin Head mixer and other smaller mixing equipment. To complement this, the company is constructing a dedicated quality control laboratory adjacent to the large scale batch manufacturing. Furthermore, this year will see the start of the manufacturing of water-based inks while there are also plans to expand activities in UV paste inks with a new focus on the rigid container print sector.

Having securing three significant long term contracts through 2012 and with a fourth one imminent, it seems the company can be confident in its future. Mr Bowman is in no doubt that investing in the business now is the right thing to do in order to secure further opportunities for growth and expansion. The fact that the company has been successfully assessed and once again been awarded all three major industry accreditations, Quality (ISO 9001), Environmental (ISO 14001) and Health & Safety (OHSAS 18001), demonstrates its commitment to quality assurance, its impact on the environment and its staff welfare.

With new products to promote, additional resources to support its growing sales team and a strong business to rely on ColorGen looks forward with optimism. Not least to September when it will exhibit for the second time at Labelexpo Europe.