Daicel, established through a corporate merger that took place more than 100 years ago, has remained focused on developing and providing a variety of materials of benefit to society. Throughout our history, we have sought to enrich lives by emphasizing a spirit of harmony and mutual prosperity.

At the same time, humanity has had to contend with a series of challenges as typified by global environmental issues, geopolitical risks, natural disasters, and the spread of unexpected infectious diseases. In addition, artificial intelligence and other disruptive technologies have been advancing at an accelerating rate, bringing about major transformations to the way we live and work.

Under these circumstances, we have formulated a new long-term vision we have titled “DAICEL VISION 4.0” that encompasses the medium-term business strategy we have termed “Accelerate 2025.” Timed to coincide with our company’s centennial and designed to focus on the next generation of personnel, this initiative adheres to our founding philosophy of “co-creation.” We thus intend to evolve as a more resilient corporate group, build a new value chain with all who share our philosophy, and address larger social issues that would be difficult for us to solve on our own.

We intend to expand and develop businesses that contribute to human happiness, focusing on areas that enable us to take advantage of our Group’s strengths: human health; safety and security; comfort and convenience; and preservation of the environment. Moreover, in order to accelerate our reform agenda, we will address various measures related to people and organizations that represent the driving force of these efforts. We have already completed the acquisition of Polyplastics Co., Ltd., our largest group company, as a wholly owned subsidiary. In the engineering plastics business, which represents a growth field, we will contribute to the advancement of modern life through next-generation communications as well as innovations in mobility. In addition, we are refining our monozukuri approach to Japanese manufacturing to meet society’s expectations through novel ideas and through co-creation with customers. This includes developing materials for air conditioner filters that efficiently remove viruses and reduce energy consumption as well as providing new functions in completely different fields through the cross-pollination of technologies adapted from existing products.

Furthermore, in terms of manufacturing process innovation, we will undertake joint research with universities and with other enterprises to develop processes targeting production efficiency. This will enable us to reduce the size of our chemical plants and thus reduce our energy consumption. At the same time, we are committed to developing new chemical processes with a low environmental impact that enable the production of innovative materials using renewable resources. As for the need to address global warming, we are taking steps to control the generation of greenhouse gases and are developing technologies that will effectively utilize CO2.

Through these initiatives, we aim to contribute to the emergence of a society committed to recycling by providing valuable products and improving corporate performance. We will achieve this by building new co-creation mechanisms with a variety of companies and organizations.
We intend to expand the number of people who support our vision, and with the understanding and cooperation of our stakeholders, we will dedicate ourselves to building a happier and more sustainable world.

*Monozukuri: Innovation & creation of significant value in manufacturing

President and CEO