Kuraray Co. Ltd.

History

YearDetail
1926 Kuraray was founded in 1926 as Kurashiki Kenshoku Co., Ltd. in Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, to commercialize synthetic rayon.
1928 The company commercialized rayon filament and began producing rayon filament at the Kurashiki Plant.
1951 The company acquired the Ozaki Plant by merging with Japan Spinning and Weaving.
1955 The company ventured with Korenori Unyu Soko Co., Ltd. and established Korenori Hoso Zairyo (now Kuraray Living Co., Ltd.).
1961 The company established Osaka Goseihin Co., Ltd. (now Kuraray Trading Co., Ltd.)
1968 The company established Niigata Kasei Co., Ltd. (now Kuraray Niigata Kasei Co., Ltd.).
1970 The company changed its name to Kuraray Co., Ltd. And established a representative office in Hong Kong (the office functions were transferred to Kuraray Hong Kong Co., Ltd. in 1998).
1971 The company jointly established the nonwoven fabric manufacturing firm Kuraray-Chicopee Co., Ltd. (absorbed into Kuraray in 1987) with Johnson & Johnson of the U.S.
1983 The company established Eval Company of America jointly with Northern Petrochemical Company of the U.S. (became a wholly owned subsidiary in 1991).
1986 The company established Clarino America Corporation, an artificial leather sales company, in the U.S. jointly with Marubeni Corp. (absorbed into Kuraray America, Inc. in 2001).
1996 The company established the PVA manufacturing firm Poval Asia Pte. Ltd. in Singapore jointly with The Nippon Synthetic Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.
2001 The company acquired Clariant AG's PVA-related operations and transferred them to the manufacturing and sales company Kuraray Specialities Europe in Frankfurt, Germany.
2004 The company acquired HT Troplast AG's polyvinyl butyral (PVB) film business and commenced operations as a Kuraray Specialties Europe GmbH division.
2005 The company acquired the VECTRAN high-performance polyacrylate fibers business of U.S.-based Celanese Advanced Materials Inc. and commenced operations as a division of Kuraray America Inc.
2008 Kuraray America, Inc. was merged with Eval Company of America and SEPTON Company of America.
2014 The company acquired the vinyl acetate business, a DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers segment, for $543 million.
2015 The company acquired Plantic Technologies Limited, engaged in the bio-based barrier film business.
2018 The company acquired U.S. Calgon Carbon Corporation, which manufactured and sold activated carbon.
2022 The company expanded the reactivated carbon production facilities of Calgon Carbon’s Belgium subsidiary and started operations.
2024 The company expanded activated carbon production facilities at the U.S.-based Calgon Carbon Corporation’s Pearl River Plant in Mississippi and started operations.