After recent growth in demand for its products, an international ink company with a location in the Monadnock Region recently announced a $21 million investment in its Keene factory.

Markem-Imaje’s Keene facility will use the funds to triple its production capacity, said Shawn Marsh, global director of quality and environmental health and safety.

The investment will focus on automation and will not add any new jobs, according to Marsh, who said it’ll help retain positions that already exist in the Keene facility.

Situated at 150 Congress St., the Keene facility is a “center of excellence” for the production of Touch Dry ink and currently employs 287 workers, Marsh said.

Markem-Imaje has seen global growth in demand for this particular ink, Dane Hileman, product division director at Markem-Imaje, said in a June 27 news release.

“With this expansion in Keene, we’re strengthening our global production capabilities while continuing to invest in the local community,” Hileman said in the release.

The company’s Touch Dry ink is used to print barcodes, logos, text and graphics directly onto corrugated boxes, trays, shrink wrap and other types of packaging.

The ink is safer to handle than other inks and is more sustainable to produce, as it is odorless and free of “volatile organic compounds,” the news release said. As international health and safety regulations for chemicals change, the company has seen an incremental rise in demand over the past few years because of those traits, Marsh said.

— NOAH DIEDRICH, KEENE SENTINEL