Our Business Model

A Business Designer that Fully Utilizes the NAGASE Group’s Various Functions

The NAGASE Group is a unique corporate group that owns research facilities and manufacturing companies within the Group while acting as a trading company that specializes in chemicals. We develop global business for a variety of industries including dyes/pigments, coating materials/inks, surfactants, office automation (OA), electrical equipment, home electronics, automobiles, LCDs, semiconductors, pharmaceutical/ medical applications, cosmetics and functional food ingredients. The NAGASE Group is noted for its broad product development which extends from upstream to downstream operations; it is through this development that the number of business partners both domestically and overseas has increased to nearly 9,000.

In addition to various manufacturing and processing functions such as Nagase ChemteX Corporation, Hayashibara Co., Ltd. and Prinova, we also possess R&D functions such as the Nagase R&D Center, Nagase Application Workshop (NAW) and NVC (New Value Creation) Office.

These various “functions” allow us to string each one together to create new businesses. As a Business Designer that goes beyond the framework of a specialized trading company, we develop unique businesses that set us apart from competitors.

Denafilter™

Nagase Filter Co., Ltd. is a Group company whose mainstay product is Denafilter™, a stainless-steel filter used for removing (filtering) foreign particles from raw materials such as molten polymers. The business was created with a focus on the patented TP retainer technology that makes up the filter’s mesh structure.

This filter is primarily used in film production lines for food packaging and industrial usage. We were one of the first companies to notice the potential of a market for optic films for LCDs, which were not selling well at the time, and so we worked on furthering sales activities and boosting the functionality of the product. Together with Nagase ChemteX, we developed cleaning technology, which clears blockages so the filter can be reused, and built a factory. Meanwhile, we made steady business developments, such as introducing testing equipment to Nagase Application Workshop and problem-solving together by actually using the filters with the customer’s plastics. In 2006, we incorporated OEM companies for business expansion and will continue to utilize the broad business domain of the NAGASE Group moving forward. We also plan to develop business in fields such as oil and gas.

Epoxy Sheet

Epoxy sheet is a remarkable material that maintains the adhesiveness and heat resistance of epoxy resins while forming a sheet shape that is easy to process. When Nagase ChemteX began development in 2000, most epoxy resins used in the manufacturing of electrical components for communication through devices like cellphones came in liquid form. The NAGASE Group developed and marketed a sheet that would allow hollow sealing (creating a hollow structure in which the resin does not enter) of the electrical components, which did not work well with the liquid epoxy. This sheet was the first of its kind in the world.

Epoxy sheet made from hollow sealing material was an unconventional product, and the technology exceeded our customers’ expectations. Therefore, it was strategically positioned as a technology that distinguishes NAGASE’s strengths from its competitors. By accurately assessing problems through communication with customers, we have developed and proposed epoxy sheets that are incorporated into the customer’s manufacturing process. Through introduction of the epoxy sheet, manufacturing processes were simplified, the cost of producing peripheral parts was lowered, and downsizing was achieved. This led the epoxy sheet to become the de facto standard for a subset of parts manufacturing, and it developed through NAGASE’s network to its main customers in Europe, North America and Asia.