DIC toasts 60 years in business

130 past and present staff from DIC gather to celebrate the company’s 60-year anniversary.

Colleagues and customers from throughout Australia and DIC’s South East Asian headquarters in Singapore partied on at The Rocks in Sydney last week as a way of paying homage to the company’s past, and toasting to its bright future.

Ian Johns, managing director, is optimistic that DIC will continue to grow and maintain its reputation in the ink supply and products sector.

“We have weathered many storms during our company’s history, and we are most fortunate during years of industry change and turbulence to have maintained our alignment with market expectations and experiences a reasonable level of stability throughout the company,” he said.

Pictured: The big farewell: Ian Johns (left) with David Rands (right).

The night also saw previous managing director, David Rands, sent out in style. Johns thanked him for his hard work at the company.

“David has played a vital role in the history of both DIC Australia and DIC New Zealand,” he said. “For many, David has been a mentor – and a strong contributor to the industry through activities with GAMAA.”

DIC Australia has its origins in Clapham, England, when printer Henry Coates? sons set up a supply business to the printing industry. In 1937, Coates started manufacturing offset inks to Calcutta to supply the Indian Ordinance Survey for the wartime printing of maps. In 1938 Coates Brothers South Africa was established, and in 1948 Coates Brothers New Zealand was registered.

Coates Brothers Australia was registered in 1949.  The original buildings in Moorabbin (Victoria) and Auburn (New South Wales) are still in use today for ink blending and manufacturing. 

In 1981, Coates Brothers was purchased by Total, the French oil company.  In 1999, Sun Chemical purchased Coates Lorilleux from Total.  Sun Chemicals is 100 per cent owned by the DIC Corporation of Japan. 

Coates Brothers changed its name to DIC Graphics Australia in September 2005.  In December 2006, the company changed to DIC Australia – integrating DIC International, its trading division, and DIC Colorton, its sheetfed division.