News

Performance Pigments division is formed Timelines: 200 Years

Sun Chemical acquires Ansbacher-Siegle and begins to create a new division, known today as Performance Pigments.

Sun Chemical Performance Pigments Division is one of the world’s leading producers of organic pigments and dispersions for use as colorants in printing inks, plastics, paints, cosmetics, textiles and specialties. The Performance Pigments Division of Sun Chemical has its origins in two pigment companies started in the US in the early 1900’s.

In 1918 Heekin Can Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio began to make a red pigment to color Prince Albert Tobacco cans. A Heekin employee, Thomas Sullivan, expanded the business by selling color for postage stamps to his former employer, the U.S. Bureau of Printing and Engraving. The color pigment business continued to grow to where it separated from Heekin Can and became a company called Federal Color Laboratories.
Sun Chemical acquired Federal Color in 1968.

In 1929 the Ansbacher-Siegle Pigment Co. was established in Staten Island, NY. This company grew and established itself as an organic pigment supplier to Eastern markets. The company was acquired by Sun Chemical in 1957. Then, in 1969, the two acquired companies were combined to form the Pigments Division of Sun Chemical Corporation.