Flex Products Will Supply Banknote Pigment to China

Flex Products Inc., a subsidiary of Santa Rosa, Calif.-based Optical Coating Laboratory Inc., will establish a manufacturing facility in China that will produce the company's patented optically variable pigment for use on Chinese currency and security documents issued by the People's Republic of China. The agreement was made with a wholly owned subsidiary of the People's Bank of China, the China Banknote Printing and Minting Corp., which will create a joint venture company with SICPA Holding S.A., Flex's exclusive customer for the pigment in the document security market.

As part of the deal, the Chinese government offered its assistance in the establishment of the facility. Upon its completion, scheduled for within 24 months, Flex also will supply pigment to the government from its Santa Rosa plant.

The president and CEO of Flex, Joseph Zils, said that the deal is a significant endorsement of his company's anticounterfeiting coatings technology.