Kuraray Co. Ltd.

History

Year	Detail
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.