Success Stories: Ideas for Potential Players SAINT-GOBAIN K.K

Success Stories: Ideas for Potential Players MFManufacturing Saint-Gobain as a group is number one worldwide in Sales / Services SAINT-GOBAIN K.K. industrial ceramics, plastics, abrasives, reinforcement Japan brings new vitality to centuries materials, refractory products, gypsum and cast iron of success pipe, number two in glass containers and number three in flat glass. Now among the world’s hundred leading industrial corporations, its workforce numbers more than 200,000, including subsidiaries and partner firms. Among the 55 countries in which the group is established, however, few are more important than Japan—one of the largest, most advanced economies on Earth, and one where competition in the material and high-technology markets is harshest. Although Saint- Gobain has been doing business in Japan since 1917, it has been particularly strong since the 1970s in merging with companies there in order to share technologies and distribution channels for flat glass, and other high- performance materials. The Japanese affiliate was formally established in 1975. Japan is also home to Saint-Gobain Asia-Pacific General Delegation Office, employing about 600 staff members in Saint Gobain K.K.’s headquarters in Tokyo, built in 2000. the fields of building and automotive glass, glass fiber, ceramics, plastics and abrasives, and providing leading- A worldwide leader in the materials and high-tech edge products and technical services. industries, Saint-Gobain is renowned as an innovator, producer and distributor of glass, ceramics, plastics, cast The construction sector has suffered as much as any in iron, and other materials. This multinational group has Japan’s post-bubble market and persistent economic been developing products for 340 years and now downturn. Now, in Japan’s reviving construction industry, operates in 55 nations. demand is growing for Saint-Gobain’s customized glass 1917 Start of business in Japan by Norton Company (U.S.). 1975 Establishment of Nihon Norton company. 1985 Establishment of Saint-Gobain K.K., a Japanese subsidiary trading & manufacturing glass products, ceramics, plastics and abrasives. 1990 Saint-Gobain acquires Norton Companies. 2002 Establishment of NSG Vetrotex, reinforcement materials manufacturing joint venture with Nippon Sheet Glass. Establishment of Saint-Gobain Hanglas Japan, building glass sales joint venture with Hankuk Glass (Korea). 2003 Establishment of Central Saint-Gobain, automotive glass sales joint venture with Central Glass. Establishment of Saint-Gobain TM, refractories manufacturing joint venture with Nippon Electric Glass. Gilles Colas, President of General Delegate Asia-Pacific, SAINT-GOBAIN K.K. MFManufacturing Sales / Services that includes industrial divisions currently managing 15 larger development centers in Europe and the United States. Japan is targeted as one of Saint-Gobain’s most promising engines of growth. For example, the company’s Ceramics & Plastics business, the world’s leading producer of industrial ceramics, technical polymers and single crystals, sees the nation as a base from which to double its share of new sales. This will involve developing more differentiated product lines, improving production capacity and integrating logistics, as so many multinational enterprises have done throughout Japan over the years. While Saint-Gobain K.K.’s head office in Japan sits in Tokyo, it has placed its factories and business departments strategically throughout the greater area: The boldly designed glass cover for the entire building its Suwa Plant for manufacturing high-performance made the PRADA Building a landmark in Omotesando, plastics is in the Suwa district of Nagano, the crystal Tokyo. Austrian Saint-Gobain Group company Eckelt used highly permeable Diamant double-glazed glass to Kashima Plant is in Kamisu, Ibaraki, and the diamond create the specially curved surfaces, and furthermore used the special Vario construction system to create the products division’s Chiba Factory is in Isumi, Chiba. striking side structures. and other high-value-added products. The stunning CHANEL building in Ginza and retail stores for PRADA and GUCCI luxury brands have become instant temples of culture and consumerism in Tokyo that stand out for their brilliant glass skins of Saint-Gobain’s creation. Saint-Gobain is well-suited for further expansion in Japan because Japanese customers are renowned as highly discriminating trend-setters who are fashionable Japanese Operation and sensitive to the trends. Moreover, Japan is Established : June 1975 accumulating unparalleled expertise in the emerging Employees : 600 Asian markets in which it has long conducted business. Business : Manufacturing, processing and distributing As one of the ultimate testing grounds for new industrial materials including glass, ceramics, developments, Japan is becoming increasingly plastics and abrasives prominent in Saint-Gobain’s plans. Location : 3-7, Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0083 Japan URL : http://www.saint-gobain.co.jp A growing number of Saint-Gobain development units Parent company : Saint-Gobain (Courbevoie, France; more than 200,000 employees worldwide) are being set up in Japan and China, adding to about one hundred such units worldwide that oversee Group companies : Saint-Gobain K.K., Saint-Gobain TM K.K., NSG Vetrotex K.K., Saint-Gobain Hanglas Japan K.K., development at local manufacturing sites. These are Saint-Gobain Sekurit Japan K.K. becoming more prominent in a global R&D scheme .

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