CIBA-Geigy, the Swiss pharmaceuticals and chemicals company, has decided to build a new #30m ink-making plant at its classical pigments centre in Paisley.
Tom Graham, personnel manager at Paisley, said Ciba would recruit an additional 20 to 30 people in the second half of next year to operate the unit, which is due to start production in 1998.
It will produce a new form of concentrate for making a type of ink which is widely used in offset printing machines in Japan and North America. This new concentrate, which Ciba is taking steps to patent, consists of lightweight granules. It offers better quality and consistency than the putty-like ``presscake'' concentrate which is currently used to make ink for the machinery used in these markets.
``The new investment will enable us to grow production to meet world-wide demand for the new form while we continue to increase the supply of our existing ranges,'' said Jim McCummiskey, Ciba's head of classical pigments.
The new plant will be located in Paisley because it is already the world headquarters of Ciba's classic pigments business and the company's main base for research and development into these products.
``This is the place where the technical expertise and know-how is largely concentrated, so this is the place where the new product will be made,'' Mr Graham said.
Ciba employs over 800 people at Paisley. The complex produced #160m of pigments last year and exported 90% of its output.
The company recently merged with Sandoz, another Swiss chemicals and pharmaceuticals company, to form a new group called Novartis.
But the chemicals business of the enlarged group, including the Paisley operation, will be spun off into a separate company called Ciba Specialty Chemicals in the spring.
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