SunJet global business director Laurie Geldenhuys said that "coordinating DIC and Sun Chemical technology under one global division", which will be a subsidiary of Sun Chemical, better reflects the global nature of digital inkjet markets.

"It's a huge market; things are developing so quickly. So we're looking at the newer applications such as decor and transpromo. It's those applications: ceramics, decor, glass, that we think there's a lot of future for. We are already at the forefront of these new markets," he said.

SunJet will also work on forging closer relationships with the technology bases of manufacturers. "We want to be the ink supplier of choice for new machines while they're still in development, we don't want to wait until the product is commercially available," said Geldenhuys.

SunJet will offer customers global coordinated sales and support services, but will maintain the localised skills of its staff in the various territories.

Geldenhuys said that the finer details, such as how the new division will manage the R&D budgets, have not been finalised. It is yet undecided whether SunJet, which will be a division of Sun Chemical, will report its accounts as a separate entity or as part of US-based Sun Chemical.

He maintained that there would not be redundancies made as a result of the combination. "If anything, the opposite," he said.

DIC is the parent of Sun Chemical, but the companies operated their inkjet divisions independently and, although there is some overlap, focus geographically on the Asian and European markets respectively.

However, both businesses' inkjet arms were "developing products for the same kinds of applications, for the same machines" and "ended up competing with one another," according to Geldenhuys.