Press and packaging group Wifag/Polytype has snapped up the Swiss R&D team of failed photo paper manufacturer Ilford Imaging.

Former Ilford chief operating officer Lars Sommerhäuser and a team of chemists, laboratory technicians and process engineers – based in Marly, near Wifag’s Fribourg headquarters – have joined the company bringing expertise in the development of inkjet inks and functional layers.

Ilford Imaging went bankrupt last year.

Polytype Converting and Wifag Maschinenfabrik chief executive Jörgen Karlsson says hiring the core Ilford research and development team is another step in the group’s transformation. “Today we stand for a holistic portfolio, far more than any other system supplier in printing, coating and converting,” he says.

The move opens new segments outside of publishing and packaging: Sommerhäuser has a doctorate in mechanical engineering, while the former Ilford team have skils ranging from functional foils for medicine and agriculture to coated substrates for battery and RFID chip production.

The group will probably form another competence centre, joining those for digital and automation already established.

Pictured: Lars Sommerhäuser (fourth from left) with ten of the former Ilford employees and Jörgen Karlsson (fourth from right). Far left is Wifag-Polytype managing director Esa-Matti Aalto