DAICEL at a glance

Daicel was founded in 1919 through the merger of eight celluloid companies. From the beginning Daicel worked to make celluloid less inflammable and ended up developing acetate plastic. After establishing the Arai Plant in 1935, we then in 1938, laid the foundations for our cellulose and organic chemicals businesses by setting up a system for consistent production of the raw material cellulose acetate from acetic acid.

Production of acetate plastic went into full operation at our Aboshi Plant in 1950, and in 1953, joint research with Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.^*led to the beginning of production of TAC, and in 1958 our Sakai Plant began production of acetate toe, which is used in cigarette filters, rounding out our cellulose business. Since cellulose nitrate is a raw material for pyrotechnics, our pyrotechnic business developed, and we established the Harima Plant in 1954.

During the 1960s, Daicel participated in Japan’s first petrochemical complex and began its petrochemical business with the construction of the Ohtake Plant. In the synthetic resins business, in addition to manufacturing AS resin and ABS resin, Daicel entered into a joint venture with the U.S. company Polyplastics, Co. Ltd.^*and went into the engineering plastics business.

In order to deal with a structural slump and to strengthen our main businesses, we went into the methanol carbonylation business, which was the cutting-edge technology at the time, as part of an effort to switch to raw materials that do not depend on petroleum. Participating in the C1 Chemistry Project^*, we played a role in reorganizing the acetic acid industry.

During the 1980s, we established local subsidiaries in Europe, the United States, and Asia. In 1988, we established a subsidiary for manufacturing inflators for automobile air bags. In 1990, we set up a manufacturing base for optical isomer separation in the United States, and in 1992, we began manufacturing acetate toe at a joint venture company in China.

We have expanded our inflator business and established bases for that purpose in six countries around the world. We have also expanded our display business by taking TAC, originally a raw material for movie and other films, and using it for manufacturing optical film. In the area of technology, we rolled out the Daicel Production Innovation system established at the Aboshi Plant across the company and accelerated process innovations. In 2017, we opened Innovation Park as a center for research and development and concentration of production technology.

Against the backdrop of digital transformation (DX), in 2020, Daicel used its proprietary AI technology to advance “DAICEL Production Innovation”—the foundational philosophy of manufacturing—and developed the Autonomous Production System.This system integrates and processes more than 8.4 million pieces of know-how extracted from the expertise of skilled operators, along with production operation data and real-time data accumulated over approximately 20 years, and the fundamental principles of chemical engineering. Through this, the company pursues an optimal balance of safety, quality, cost, and delivery time, driving the advancement of its production infrastructure.

With the aim of creating further synergies, we integrated Polyplastics—which we made a wholly owned subsidiary in 2020—into Daicel in 2026, thereby unifying our operations. We are working to enhance corporate value by further strengthening Engineering Plastics, which drives our growth.

In addition, as part of our efforts to apply the technology we have developed through our inflator business to medical applications, we established Daicel Medical Ltd. in 2023. In 2025, we obtained approval in Japan for the manufacture and sale of the Daicel injector as a medical device, and we are now fully expanding our business in the medical field.