Nagase & Co., Ltd. is stepping up its business operations targeting the automotive sector. In April 2003, the company launched its new medium-term three-year plan called Wisdom Intelligence Technology-21 (WIT-21), in which the automotive segment is regarded as one of the strategic businesses. The aim is to increase sales targeting the automotive sector including plastics, chemicals and electronics materials from the current ?\48 billion by ?\12 billion, to ?\60 billion in the final year of WIT-21, that is, in 2005. The company has been successively opening overseas bases for businesses targeting the automotive sector recently, including Nagase Tianjin International Trading Ltd., which launched full-fledged marketing activities in the beginning of the year in Tianjin, which will serve as Toyota's production center in China. The company has even started conducting a feasibility study lately, to construct a mold plant in China.

For the purpose of establishing a solutions business for the automotive industry, Nagase & Co., Ltd. established Design and Die Co., Ltd. in Inazawa City, Aichi Prefecture (President: Shigeharu Tanaka, D&D) in February 2002, which renders possible 3D and solid designing of automotive components. D&D, in which Nagase & Co., Ltd. has a 51% stake, is a joint venture with plastic mold manufacturers Tatematsu Mold Works Co., Ltd. and Creative Technology Inc. and automotive components design firm ITO-TTB Corp. Last month, Nagase & Co., Ltd. also established Nagase Plastics Design and Die (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. in Tianjin, China and Design and Die USA Inc. in Michigan, USA, which have similar functions to D&D, in an effort to accelerate the globalization drive. The idea is to acquire parts & molds designing functions and work with automakers and components makers who form the clientele from the automobile development stage, in order to meet automakers' global optimal procurement requirements. The construction of the new design centers in USA and China will enable the company to assure quality and delivery dates comparable to those in Japan. It will work on offering low-cost services from the most suitable region.

On the other hand, Nagase & Co., Ltd. is also becoming more active due to the strong tendency among Japanese leading automakers to expand into China. About half of all 80 staff members of the Shanghai base are involved in the automotive business, and Guangzhou Nagase Trading Ltd., based in Guangzhou, is becoming increasingly Honda-oriented. Recently, Nagase Tianjin International Trading Ltd., (headed by Susumu Ozawa) was established in Tianjin, which will serve as Toyota's production center in China, as a fully-owned subsidiary of Nagase (Hong Kong) Ltd. In November, the Tianjin arm launched full-fledged marketing activities.

Nagase & Co., Ltd. owns plastic mold plants in Canada and Thailand, and has affiliations with plants in USA, South Korea and Taiwan. Now, the company has started to conduct a feasibility study to build a mold plant in China. Radical cost cutting is expected to ensue in the development of plastic components for automobiles, as a result of the alliance between this new mold plant currently subject to the feasibility study and Nagase Plastics Design and Die (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. The company has also started to consider running a business in Eastern Europe, for the purpose of building a global network, and is looking into forming alliances not only with Japanese companies but also with foreign firms.