L&NW Staff01.12.21
Industrial Inkjet Ltd, also known as IIJ, was formed by current Managing Director John Corrall at the suggestion of Konica Minolta in Japan who were looking for someone to support their printhead customers in Europe and USA.
Corrall recalls, “Mr Ohno, president of Konica Minolta’s inkjet printhead division, invited me to meet him for dinner while he was passing through Heathrow. About the second beer he suggested working for Konica Minolta, but when I mentioned setting up a new company his reply was 'fine you can be our partner.' I don’t think I really had much say in the decision.”
Starting in a small converted farm building the first employee hired was Lesley Scanlon, who is still with the company as a director and general manager. Around 2008 the company started to branch out into manufacturing inkjet print engines. Corrall says, “At that time were dedicated to helping machine builders integrate Konica Minolta inkjet printheads successfully. But we found ourselves solving the same technical issues over and over. It made sense to take that knowledge and create inkjet modules that our customers could then easily integrate.”
Fifteen years later the company has over 50 staff and has 17,000 square feet of premises near Cambridge, UK. It has satellite offices in USA and South Africa and over 500 inkjet print engines have been installed worldwide. Key business areas are security printing, packaging and décor.
Despite the pandemic and the threat of Brexit, IIJ had a record year in 2020 and with new products coming on line in 2021 the company is very confident of a bright future, Corrall says.
Corrall recalls, “Mr Ohno, president of Konica Minolta’s inkjet printhead division, invited me to meet him for dinner while he was passing through Heathrow. About the second beer he suggested working for Konica Minolta, but when I mentioned setting up a new company his reply was 'fine you can be our partner.' I don’t think I really had much say in the decision.”
Starting in a small converted farm building the first employee hired was Lesley Scanlon, who is still with the company as a director and general manager. Around 2008 the company started to branch out into manufacturing inkjet print engines. Corrall says, “At that time were dedicated to helping machine builders integrate Konica Minolta inkjet printheads successfully. But we found ourselves solving the same technical issues over and over. It made sense to take that knowledge and create inkjet modules that our customers could then easily integrate.”
Fifteen years later the company has over 50 staff and has 17,000 square feet of premises near Cambridge, UK. It has satellite offices in USA and South Africa and over 500 inkjet print engines have been installed worldwide. Key business areas are security printing, packaging and décor.
Despite the pandemic and the threat of Brexit, IIJ had a record year in 2020 and with new products coming on line in 2021 the company is very confident of a bright future, Corrall says.
