Kerajet

Inspired by the radical changes the inkjet technology had brought to the printing industry, José Vicente Tomás, an industrial engineer specialized in the ceramic industry, decided to develop a technology that could enable the use of a digital printing machine over a ceramic surface. With this aim, He founded Kerajet in 1998, the first company in the world to develop inkjet printing technology and equipment for the ceramic industry. Even though Kerajet was located in Castellón, the heart of the Spanish ceramic industrial district, José Vicente struggled looking for technical and financial support from its different agents. None of the main companies believed in the viability of developing inkjet technology as a new decoration technique for the industry so rejected collaborating with him. A few months later and with the unconditional support of Antonio Querol, he was able to convince Ferro, an American multinational specialized in producing ceramic glazes and colors. As a result, José Vicente and Antonio started working along with Ferro developing the digital printing machine and looking for clients. 2003 represented a turning point for Kerajet: Ferro decided to stop collaborating with Kerajet due to the wide range of problems and costs the adaptation of inkjet technology was generating among the small number of clients they had. Determined to demonstrate the benefits of using their technology to the industry, José Vicente and Antonio decided to continue by themselves and to look for new ways of boosting sales; soon they realized that many were out of the scope of Kerajet's capacity. They had three options: They could exploit their privileged location and approach their neighbors, which implied changing their attitude. The second option was accepting a collaboration agreement that Seiko, a Japanese company made to them; it was an attractive proposal but, would it really work? And the third option was selling Kerajet to a multinational company, which probably was the fastest way to guarantee the provision of financial and commercial support for the continuity of its project. Which was the best option for Kerajet?