Stable Period1950 – 1967Laying the Groundwork for the Future — Expansion of business and organizational strengthening

Establishment of Personnel Department and Executive Office to Improve Management Organization and Internal Regulation

With the growth of Nagase's business, the number of employees had increased to 750 and its organizational structure and inner workings had expanded, heightening the need for appropriate personnel management. To that end, the Personnel Department was established at the head office in 1957 to manage human resources for the entire company. In addition, because Nagase had not adopted a mandatory retirement system, establishing such a system was a priority issue. All personnel-related work, which had been handled by the General Affairs Division, was transferred to the Personnel Department. Nagase also revised its rules for salaries, travel expenses and retirement benefits, established a mandatory retirement age, improved its position appointment system, and began holding new employee training sessions.

As business continued to expand, the need for accurate long-term plans and firm internal controls also became apparent. In 1960, the Executive Office was established at the head office as an administrative support unit reporting directly to the president. The Executive Office maintained close cooperation with divisions and departments, working on interdepartmental coordination and planning and adjustment of capital expenditures, with the goal of establishing organizational, operational and administrative procedures. It established various organizational rules, coordinated management plans including the budget, adjusted the mix of products handled by Nagase, and later was involved in the introduction of computers, planning and development, and other work. In 1971, having fulfilled its intended purpose, the Executive Office was gradually disbanded, and its functions were transferred to the Development, Electronic Data Processing, Finance and General Affairs departments.

Establishment of the Division for Kodak Products

While Eastman Kodak continued to do business with Nagase, primarily consisting of trading in raw film stock for movies, it provided other products such as general photographic materials and equipment, mainly for still photography, to the Japanese market through eight sales agencies.

In light of changing circumstances after import restrictions were relaxed, Eastman Kodak planned to establish a sole distributor in Japan to expand sales of its products, and chose Nagase as its partner. Nagase accepted the distributorship, and established the Division for Kodak Products on April 1, 1960. Then-Managing Director Shozo Nagase, who later became president, was the first manager of the division. In January 1962, Nagase established the Graphic Arts Technical Center and began providing technical guidance on the photoengraving process based on Kodak systems.

Expansion of Facilities and Factories

In the decade from 1955 to 1965, the Japanese economy grew at a remarkable rate that was unprecedented anywhere in the world, even with recessions sandwiched in between. In this period, Nagase actively expanded its buildings and facilities in tandem with the growth of its businesses. Improvements were made to the head office and sales offices, including expansion of the head office building, establishment of the Hiranomachi and Shiomachi sales offices, construction of a new Tokyo branch office building, the opening of the Honmachi sales office, and construction of a new Nagoya branch office building.

Demand for petrochemicals was rapidly rising, and bulk transactions, in addition to the conventional drum container transactions, were increasing. In response, Nagase built a tank storage facility. Construction began in December 1961 on about 11,000m² of reclaimed land that Nagase received from the city of Kobe, and the first phase of construction of the Kobe Tank Terminal was completed in May 1962. Later, led by the Executive Office, Nagase established Nippon GATX Co., Ltd. (now Nippon Vopak Co., Ltd.) in a joint venture with GATX Corporation of the U.S. and Nippon Express. In December 1966, Nagase transferred all facilities of the Kobe terminal, except the land, to the joint venture.

Economic growth was also accompanied by soaring industrial demand for plastics. Nagase responded by building the second Setsunan Factory from 1960 to 1961 to carry out coloring and processing of plastics. After completion, the original Setsunan Factory was transferred to and integrated into the new one. In February 1966, Nagase spun off the plant as a new company, Setsunan Kasei Co., Ltd., and leased the land and facilities to it.

Rise of the Plastics Business

Nagase's chemicals business began handling plastics around 1942. At the time, sales were limited to methacrylic resin for aircraft. Plastics came into widespread use in the private sector after the war. Nagase quickly focused its attention on polyethylene, for which demand was rapidly growing. Nagase vigorously sold domestic products and imports, mainly Eastman Chemical products, and was the largest supplier of polyethylene imports, with a consistent market share of 10 percent or more. The lineup gradually expanded to include polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, nylon and plasticizers. Prior to that, Nagase began importing Araldite, an epoxy resin from Ciba, in 1950 and later undertook modifications of epoxy resins and curing agents at the Amagasaki Higashi Factory based on Ciba's technology.

Because of the substantial growth in the volume of both imported and domestic products that Nagase handled, the Plastics Division was established at the head office and the Tokyo branch office on August 1, 1961, and took over plastics-related business from the Chemicals Division.

Public Listing and Celebration of 135th Anniversary of Founding and 50th Anniversary of Establishment

Nagase listed its shares on the second section of the Osaka Securities Exchange in September 1964.

Nagase had attracted the attention of securities companies as a well-run unlisted company, and was receiving frequent offers to list its shares.

At that time, 1,560,000 shares were offered at a price of ¥190. The closing price on the first day was ¥207 per share.

On the day it was listed, Nagase's capitalization was ¥1.0 billion and it had 632 shareholders. In April 1966, Nagase raised additional capital for the first time since listing, bringing its capitalization to ¥1.5 billion. Another capital increase in May 1968 raised Nagase's capital to ¥1.8 billion.

Nagase marked two milestones in 1967: the 135th anniversary of its founding on June 18 and the 50th anniversary of its incorporation on December 9. Since June 18 that year was a Sunday, the 135th / 50th anniversary celebrations were held on June 17.