Spring Coating Systems

What Spring Coating Systems does

Spring Coating Systems is a privately held French manufacturer of specialty inks, coatings, adhesives, cleaning solutions, and supporting industrial equipment for the package printing industry. Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Buhl, France, the company organizes its offering around six core segments: Direct Food Contact (DFC) inks and coatings, flexographic and specialty inks, coatings and adhesives, photopolymer plate solvents, the Flexi-Lox in-press anilox cleaning system, and custom specialty formulations. Products span UV-curable and water-based chemistries — including FLOW (low-migration UV inks), LUMINA, RADIONIC, METAL, FLUO, Aquastick, IND, and TH+ ranges — as well as the EcoWASH line of environmentally friendly plate washout solvents. Complementing the consumables portfolio is an equipment line comprising automatic washing units (SL, LA-RO, LA, Flexomatic, Aniloxmatic) and three tiers of vacuum distillation units (Smart, TECHNO, Evolution) for solvent recycling at capacities from 10L/day to 7,000L/day.

The business runs on direct enterprise field sales to package printing converters and printers, with no intermediary distribution channels. A North American office in Levittown, Pennsylvania, operated in partnership with Performance Coatings Corporation, extends the firm's reach beyond its European manufacturing base to serve US customers. The company emphasizes tailor-made formulations, regulatory compliance (EU food contact regulations, EU 2019/904 SUP Directive, Swiss Ordinance, Nestlé guidelines), and bundled chemistry-plus-equipment solutions. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; revenue model combines one-time specialty ink/coating sales with hardware sales of industrial washing and distillation equipment.

Name

Spring Coating Systems

Legal name

Spring Coating Systems

Website

https://spring-coating.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Spring Coating Systems is a French manufacturer of specialty inks, coatings, adhesives, cleaning solutions, and solvent-recycling equipment for the package printing industry, serving converters and printers across Europe and North America via direct sales.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialty Printing Inks and Coatings

NAICS

Printing Ink Manufacturing (325910), Paint and Coating Manufacturing (325510), Printing Ink Manufacturing (32591), Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing (3255)

SIC

Paints, Varnishes, Lacquers, Enamels & Allied Prods (2851), Coating, Engraving & Allied Services (3470), Printing Trades Machinery & Equipment (3555)

akta.pro primary industry

Packaging Inks (IMAEAHAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Packaging & Can Coatings (IMAEAGAF), Flexible Packaging Printing & Decoration (Flexo, Gravure, Digital, Cold Foil) (IMALABAM), Flexible Packaging Printing (Film/Poly/Paper Print) (IMALAKAG), Application Equipment & Coating Services (Contract Coating, Surface Prep) (IMAEAGAL)

Keywords

• Specialty printing inks
• Flexographic package printing
• Direct food contact inks
• Solvent recycling equipment
• Industrial printing coatings

Headquarters

HQ city

Buhl

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Specialty Inks and Coatings Sales: Direct manufacturing and sale of specialty printing inks, coatings, and cleaning solutions for the flexographic printing and packaging industry. Products are often tailor-made and adapted to client needs.
2. Industrial Equipment Sales: Sale of industrial washing units and distillation systems for solvent recycling, including SMART, TECHNO, and EVOLUTION series with varying capacities from 10L/day to 7000L/day

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Spring Coating Systems manufactures and sells specialty printing inks, coatings, adhesives, cleaning solutions, and supporting industrial equipment for the flexographic and package printing industry. Its portfolio spans Direct Food Contact (DFC) inks and coatings, UV and water-based flexographic inks, overprint coatings, digital primers, photopolymer plate solvents, anilox cleaning systems, and solvent distillation units for in-plant solvent recycling. Products are often tailor-made and adapted to client needs across food packaging, consumer goods packaging, and industrial printing applications.

Product overview

Spring Coating Systems is a leading manufacturer of specialty inks, coatings, and environmental solutions for package printing, organized around six core business segments: Direct Food Contact Inks and Coatings (DFC), Flexographic and Specialty Inks, Coatings and Adhesives, Photopolymer Plate Solvents, Flexi-Lox Anilox Cleaning Systems, and Specialty Formulations. Their product portfolio includes UV-curable inks (FLOW, LUMINA, RADIONIC, METAL, FLUO), water-based inks (Aquastick, IND, TH+, METAL, FLUO), and specialty inks (Scratch Off), complemented by UV and water-based coatings, digital primers, and adhesives. The company also offers a comprehensive range of cleaning solutions (EcoWASH, Softclean, NC-32, UV-499, NCL-1103, ULT-500, SCS-300, SCS-500) and industrial equipment including washing units (SL, LA-RO, LA, Flexomatic, Aniloxmatic series) and distillation units (Smart, TECHNO, EVOLUTION series) for solvent recycling. Through partnerships, they distribute Rheintacho vision control systems for print quality monitoring. The company operates through facilities in Europe and North America.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• DFC (Direct Food Contact): A non-toxic ink and coating line for direct food contact applications, compliant with food safety regulations.
• Flexi-Lox
• Ecowash
• FLOW
• LUMINA
• Radionic
• FLUO
• METAL
• AquaStick
• IND
• TH+
• Aniloxmatic
• Flexomatic
• Evolution Series
• Techno Series
• Smart Series

Products and services

• DFC (Direct Food Contact) Inks and Coatings Non-toxic, compostable inks and coatings engineered for applications with direct food contact or significant migration risk; eliminate health hazards from migration and increase package compostability. Targeted at food packaging converters and printers.
• UV Inks (FLOW, LUMINA, RADIONIC, METAL, FLUO) UV-curable flexographic inks covering FLOW (improved adhesion, scratch resistance, low migration), LUMINA (standard and LM), RADIONIC (cationic-based), METAL (metallic effects) and FLUO (fluorescent effects). Used by package printers needing compliant, high-performance UV inks.
• Water-Based Inks (Aquastick, IND, TH+, METAL, FLUO) Water-based printing inks for paper, cardboard, films and thermal papers in standard (IND), versatile (Aquastick), thermal (TH+) variants plus metallic (METAL) and fluorescent (FLUO) effects. Targeted at converters printing on porous and non-porous substrates.
• Specialty Inks (Scratch Off) Specialty ink formulations including Scratch Off inks for games, coupons and promotions, providing excellent opacity and smooth scratch-off properties.
• UV Coatings UV-curable overprint varnishes in gloss, matte, and soft-touch finishes with functional properties including low migration, BPA-free, and specialty effects. For package printers seeking protective and decorative coatings.
• Water-Based Coatings Water-based coatings for paper and packaging applications in gloss, matte, soft-touch, printable, and specialty finishes.
• UV and Water-Based Adhesives Lamination and specialty adhesives in UV-curable and water-based formulations for film-to-film and film-to-paper bonding applications.
• Digital Primers and Coatings Primers and overprint coatings for digital printing technologies including HP Indigo, UV InkJet, and water-based Memjet systems to enable ink adhesion and protect digital output.
• Primers Substrate primers including UV litho primers for films, water-based paper primers, and ink jet primers to improve adhesion on difficult substrates.
• EcoWASH Photopolymer Plate Washout Solution Environmentally friendly flexographic photopolymer plate washout solution delivering high productivity, low odor, health and safety benefits, and easy operation.
• Softclean Manual Anilox Cleaner Manual anilox cleaner for cleaning anilox cylinders between print runs; spray and let act 2–3 minutes for deep cleaning of anilox cells.
• Cleaning Solutions Range (NC-32, UV-499, NCL-1103, ULT-500, SCS-300, SCS-500) Full range of cleaning solutions for plates, cylinders, anilox rollers and parts, including manual cleaners, ultrasonic cleaning solutions, and washing system solutions.
• Photopolymer Plate Solvents (Ecowash, Ecowash-4, Ecowash-320, Ecoflex-400, Ecoflex-500, T-Sol 100) Plate processing solvents including VOC-compliant, low-odor and EH&S-friendly formulations for photopolymer plate washout.
• Flexi-Lox Anilox Cleaning System In-line anilox cleaning system using micro-fiber blankets on compressible foam, allowing cleaning of anilox rolls without removing them from the press during printing.
• Specialty Formulations (Custom Formulation Service) Custom formulation services for developing products with reduced environmental footprint or improved technical and functional capabilities to meet specific customer requirements.
• Additives Complete additive palette for water-based and UV inks to maintain consistent quality under all conditions.
• Washing Units (SL, LA-RO, LA Series) Automatic washing systems for cleaning parts, anilox cylinders, and printing plates including solvent-based (SL, LA-RO) and water-based (LA) variants.
• Flexomatic Plate Washing Unit Water-based plate washing unit for cleaning flexographic plates from all types of inks, with useful washing area from 450 to 1400 mm.
• Aniloxmatic Anilox Washing System High-pressure washing system for anilox cylinders and sleeves, using dual-action detergent spraying and high-pressure water jets in a closed-loop circuit with the Renova AX recycler; operates with heated detergent up to 50 °C.
• Evolution Series Distillation Systems High-capacity automatic vacuum distillation systems with ATEX certification, PLC digital programming (Siemens S7 1200), self-cleaning, and daily productivity up to 7,000 liters.
• Techno Series Distillation Systems Automatic vacuum distillation systems tailored to printers and platemakers, with daily productivity from 100 to 1,800 liters and digital programming.
• Smart Series Distillation Systems Manual operation vacuum distillation systems tailored to small printers, with daily productivity from 10 to 180 liters and analogue programming.
• Rheintacho Vision Systems (Web Viewers, Stroboscopes) Distributed product range including Newscan 4000 series web viewers and RT-3000 / RT-5000 stroboscopes (including portable variants) for print quality control and monitoring.
• Ink Transfer and Supporting Equipment Supporting equipment including anilox roll refurbishing, photopolymer platemaking equipment, photopolymer plates, and mounting tapes.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Performance Coatings CorporationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPerformance Coatings Corporation is Spring Coating Systems' US partner, enabling them to serve the North American market. Together they work with customers worldwide to develop high performance products combining color, functionality and respect for health and the environment.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Flint Group: Global supplier of inks, coatings, and pressroom chemistry for packaging and commercial print. Overlaps with Spring in flexographic inks, coatings, and printing consumables across Europe and North America.
• Sun Chemical: World's largest printing inks and pigments manufacturer serving packaging, publication, and industrial markets. Competes with Spring across flexographic, UV, and water-based ink categories, but at much broader scale.
• Toyo Ink (Artience Co., Ltd.): Japanese-headquartered global inks and coatings group with packaging ink, UV, and specialty products. Comparable in flexographic and UV-curable chemistries, though at significantly larger scale and geographic breadth.
• INX International Ink Co. Third-largest global ink manufacturer, offering a full line of inks and coatings for packaging, commercial, and digital print. Overlaps with Spring's flexographic, UV, and water-based packaging ink portfolios.

Direct peers

• ACTEGA (ALTANA division): Specialty coatings, inks, and adhesives focused on packaging and printing applications. Highly comparable in niche positioning, regulatory-driven product portfolio, and direct customer relationships with converters and brand owners.
• Hubergroup: German specialty printing inks and coatings manufacturer serving packaging and publication markets with UV, water-based, and offset solutions. Direct competitor in flexographic and specialty food-contact inks.
• Siegwerk: German-headquartered global specialist in printing inks and coatings for packaging, with strong low-migration and food-contact portfolios. Directly comparable to Spring's flexographic, UV, water-based, and DFC ink offerings for package printers.
• Wikoff Color Corporation: US-based specialty printing ink manufacturer serving packaging, label, and commercial printers with custom-formulated UV, water-based, and energy-curable inks. Closely comparable in custom-formulation, North American footprint, and converter-focused GTM.
• Zeller+Gmelin: Mid-sized German manufacturer of specialty printing inks, coatings, and adhesives for packaging and labels. Comparable scale and product focus, including UV and low-migration ink systems for food packaging.
• Marabu: German specialty ink manufacturer with strong positions in screen, pad, and digital printing inks, plus industrial coatings. Comparable specialty/regulatory focus and SME scale, with overlap in UV and customized formulations.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/spring-coating-systems

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Spring Coating Systems