Flintco history

The year 1922 saw the company's first tanker truck delivery of letterpress news ink.

1926: The firm opens a branch in Indianapolis.

The company acquired Temple Inks Company of Denver in 1936--the same year its sales hit the $1 million mark.

During this time, leadership of Flint Ink was gradually ceded to the second generation of Flints; Robert Flint was named secretary/treasurer of the company after his service during World War II, and by 1950 he was named vice-president of operations.

The Flint Institute of Arts, the Robert T. Longway Planetarium, and the Alfred P. Sloan Museum (which displays carriages and antique autos) form part of the Flint Cultural Center, a cultural complex founded in 1957.

1969: Company introduces alkaline fountains solutions for newspaper printing.

In 1975, Flint Ink acquired Cal/Ink and opened a state-of-the-art gravure facility in New Albany, Indiana.

A joint venture between Flint Ink and Sun-Fast Color in 1977 made Flint Mexicana, S.A., de C.V. the second-largest ink manufacturer in Mexico.

Since its founding in 1978, the company had achieved a major position as a supplier to publication printing plants throughout the United States.

Two years later, Robert H. Flint succeeded his brother Edgar as president and CEO. Flint Ink acquired Drew Graphics, Inc., a manufacturer of water dispersions for the ink, paper, paint, and coatings industries in 1984.

Flint Ink acquired Capitol Printing Ink Company in 1986, providing a larger presence on the East Coast.

Those plant closings and the economic and social devastation they caused the residents of Flint were the subject of the documentary film Roger & Me (1989), by Flint native Michael Moore.

Flint Ink was reorganized in 1991, consolidating several subsidiary firms under the Flint Ink umbrella.

Robert Flint retired his positions as chairman and CEO in 1992, but continued to serve as chairman of the executive board, which now was comprised of four directors from outside the Flint family.

Walle noted that control technique guidelines for offset lithographic printers set forth by the EPA in September 1993 recommended the use of cleaning solutions that do not contain any hazardous air pollutants and have less than 30 percent VOC by weight in their useable form.

Flint Ink continued its growth by acquisition strategy in 1999.

In 2001, INKS-Chemicals B & T SA, a Venezuelan paste ink manufacturer, was purchased.

In their data from 2014, the number of children tested with 10 micrograms or more was steady at about 0.5 percent.

In January 2015 the city informed residents that elevated levels of carcinogenic trihalomethanes had been detected in Flint’s water but insisted that it remained safe to drink.

The matter of blame appeared to be settled conclusively in March 2016, however, when Snyder’s nonpartisan task force released its blistering final report.