J APAN Chemicals for a better world Behind the scenes, Japa- LEXUS’ instrument panels in its nese chemical companies vehicles, which is far superior to invest heavily in innovation the PVC the U.S. car company and R&D to produce next- used before, according to the Sanyo Chemical president. generation materials that “The superior polyurethane pow- make everyday products der, developed by a mixture of our greener and more energy various seeds and new technolo- effcient gies, has the benefts of being soft and pleasing to the eye by resem- Sony’s Compact Disc, the Walkman, bling genuine leather with thread the Nintendo Gameboy, Nikon’s dig- stitching,” says Mr. Ando. ital SLR camera, the Toyota Prius, “Lexus used to adopt PVC for 3D-printers, bullet trains, robots… instrumental panels, but now it the list of Japanese technology and uses our polyurethane materials. innovations over the past few de- The benefts of switching from the cades could go on. By supplying essential materials far and was made possible after we use of PVC to polyurethane are the But while household names like to felds such as automotive and were approved as a medical device lightweight properties, the leather- Sony, Nikon and Toyota may typify electronics, the chemical industry business operator in 2011.” like texture, and the lower melting Japanese innovation, working be- is the backbone of Japanese manu- One special feature of Sanyo temperature, which saves the pro- hind the scenes are Japan’s ‘silent facturing, employing some 860,000 Chemical’s R&D is, what it calls, cessing energy and contributes to heroes’: the companies behind in- people and making up 14 percent of ‘The NeeSeeds-Oriented’ approach the car’s performance.” novative chemical products, which the shipment value of all manufac- – a combination of needs-oriented Sanyo’s polyurethane material is help to make everything, from air turing industries. It also accounts R&D and seeds-oriented R&D. a small touch, but one which, aside conditioning and thermal insula- for 22 percent of the manufactur- “We achieve diverse perfor- from being pleasing to the eye of tion units, to light bulbs, construc- ing sector’s total spending on R&D, mance by combining the needs a LEXUS luxury car owner, also tion paints and LEXUS cars, more which has helped to make Japan’s with multiple seeds (existing helps to make the vehicle lighter energy effcient and less harmful chemical industry a world leader. technologies, products and know- and more energy effcient, and thus to the environment. Through their “In terms of competitiveness how),” says Mr. Ando. “A technique helping to reduce its CO2 emissions. continuous investments in R&D our main strategy is to produce developed to meet a certain need Another company helping to and innovation, these companies high-end-value products. In order is combined with another tech- lower emissions is KH Neochem, have positioned themselves at the to create this excellent market nique to create another new seed whose high-performance materials forefront of pertinent issues such as position, we put a large portion of technology for new products. The can be found in a range of consumer climate change and food security. the workforce into the R&D sector. ‘NeeSeeds-Oriented’ approach has products, from cars, TVs and lap- “The advances in chemistry Thirty percent of our employees are helped us to broaden our range of tops, to food and drink packaging, make the world a better place for involved in R&D,” says Mr. Ando, technologies to as many as 3,000 paints and cosmetics. everyone. Our mission is to give whose company develops materials different types of products. The company is also a leader in shape to the unlimited possibilities for the health, petroleum, automo- If you’re the owner of a LEXUS, the production of materials used to of chemistry for our customers, and tive, plastic, textiles and construc- you’ll be more familiar with one produce R32 refrigerant lubricant, as such, we are responsible for sup- tion industries, amongst others. of these ‘NeeSeeds’-developed which is used in air conditioning plying innovative products all over “We are currently focusing our products than you think. Sanyo units. R32 is a much environmen- the world,” says Takao Ando, Presi- efforts on medical applications. Chemical’s specially developed tally friendlier alternative to the dent and CEO of Sanyo Chemical This is something new and differ- polyurethane is used to make the current standard R410A lubri- Industries. ent from what we have created so leather-like material that covers cant and its predecessor R22, an a high GWP (Global Warming Po- made great strides in energy eff- tential) rate of 2080, which is even ciency, and is ranked second in the higher than R22 with 1080 GWP. world (level with Italy and behind R32, is mainly being introduced in Germany) on the International En- Japan. R32 refrigerant’s GWP rat- ergy Effciency Scorecard, a survey ing is 675; a third less than R410A. conducted by the American Coun- “One of our strengths is that we cil for Energy-Effcient Economy produce raw materials for synthet- (ACEEE). ic base chemical lubricants for R32. Japan’s chemical companies are And are proud to be indirectly con- leading the charge, not just by pro- tributing to the protection of the ducing greener products, but also ozone layer and global warming ensuring the production processes reduction with the production of to make these products adopt the “It is essential for “We embrace these products.” best technologies in order to in- companies to be globalization not only The middle classes in developing crease energy effciency. environmentally for proft margin but countries are growing, and so to are “One of the environmental con- friendly. We are to educate employees their demands for home appliances cerns that we are successfully ad- proud to be indirectly and to create quality such as air conditioning, particu- dressing is in the feld of energy larly in warmer countries. The use saving. Our results show that the contributing to the products all over the of “greener” refrigerant lubricants energy we use to make one ton of protection of the world. Our mission is like R32 will be imperative in order product per year has been continu- ozone layer and global to give shape to the to mitigate environmental impact. ously declining,” says Mr. Yuji Fuku- warming reduction” unlimited possibilities of “With the expected growth of the yama, President and CEO of Honshu chemistry” middle-class segment, this type of re- Chemical, which produces special- Keiichi Asai, President and frigerant might be used even more,” ized materials for the automotives, adds Mr. Asai. “In 2016 about 90 IT and healthcare industries. CEO, KH Neochem Takao Ando, President million air conditioners were pro- “Our core generation system en- and CEO, Sanyo Chemical duced for residential use and this is ables us to make and supply our ozone-depleting substance which expected to increase to 113 million in own electricity. We concentrate on is now being phased out in the U.S. President and CEO of KH Neochem. 2025, so there is a big opportunity reducing such things as air con- “R22 is being eliminated because “The current standard refriger- for business in this market.” sumption, waste water, waste dis- it has a signifcant impact on ozone ant R410A does not deteriorate the From small enterprises to large posal and gas and we have excel- deterioration,” says Keiichi Asai, ozone layer. However, R410A has conglomerates, Japan has already lent control on water temperature. The software system that we use enables us to plan production and Proudly Sponsored By: energy use so usage is kept to a minimum and high levels of pro- duction effciency are maintained.” Like Sanyo Chemical, Honshu Chemical produces state-of-the- art materials used in cars to in- crease energy effciency, as well as the vehicle’s aesthetics. It also makes materials for optical lenses which will be used in autmomous vehicles and eco-vehicles. “Speciality bisphenol is used in the engineering of plastics which are extremely hard, similar to the hardness of metal or iron. How- ever, unlike these metals they are lightweight – leading to high fuel effciency – and have a higher heat #TheWorldfolio resistance. The plastic is much #JapanTheWorldfolio easier to use than metal and so it is possible to make very unique cardoor designs,” explains Mr. Fu- kuyama. PRODUCED BY “With the introduction of eco- GLOBUS VISION cars and driverless cars, the next Antoine Azoulay – Country Director step will be to introduce high- Aline Ouaknine – Project Director performance lenses and cameras Alexis Amitrano – Editorial Director that will be used in these types Alexandre Marland – Editorial Associate of vehicles. We would like the Andrea Conde – Project Coordinator overall target of our companies Naoko Mai – Project Assistant to be capable of providing more Fabrizio Fitzgerald Farina – Regional reliable and effcient products for Institutional Director the customer.