wifag//polytype strengthens expertise

Printing, coating and converting specialist wifag//polytype has strengthened its expertise in research and development with the appointment of Lars Sommerhäuser, plus 10 chemists, laboratory technicians and process engineers, from Ilford Imaging Switzerland GmbH.

Lars Sommerhäuser (fourth from left) and 10 former employees from the research and development department of Ilford Imaging have joined wifag // polytype

Sommerhäuser is the former chief operating officer (COO) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Ilford.

Photo paper manufacturer Ilford Imaging went bankrupt last year. The addition of Sommerhäuser and the 10 chemists, laboratory technicians and process engineers means wifag//polytype has added extensive expertise for developing inkjet inks and functional layers.

Sommerhäuser has a doctorate in mechanical engineering, with the former Ilford team knowledgeable in functional foils for medicine and agriculture to coated substrates for battery and RFID chip production.

The new team of chemists, lab technicians and process engineers headed up by Sommerhäuser is expected to form another competence center within the wifag//polytype Group. This model has already been highly successful at wifag//polytype with the digital competence center (DCC) run by Roger Ineichen and the automation competence center (ACC) run by Rolf Mani. DCC and ACC also make their expertise available to outside companies that are developing custom printing, coating and automation products.

Pictured: Lars Sommerhäuser (fourth from left) and 10 former employees from the research and development department of Ilford Imaging have joined wifag//polytype

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