Futaba Takanawa Building, 5F
3-19-15 Takanawa, Minato-ku
Tokyo 108-0074 Japan
81-03-5449-7911
www.tapyrus.co.jp

Since 1987, Japan’s Tapyrus has been providing high quality meltblown nonwovens to customers in a range of markets. “Our goal has been to manufacture products in order to suit our customers’ individual needs, and we have been improving technology day by day,” says company president Yasu Takenaka. “In business, there are things which should remain unchanged. The key one is our offering products tailored to our customer’s needs and we have been endeavoring to make technological improvements to achieve this ambition.”

Based in Tokyo, Tapyrus was established in 1987 by Tonen Chemical, an affiliate of Exxon Chemical, the company that developed the meltblown process in the mid 1960s and commercialized it in 1974. In 2003, the operation was spun off from Tonen and renamed Tapyrus Co., Ltd.

According to executives, Tapyrus can attribute its success to excellent and sophisticated technology. The company makes meltblown nonwovens using a number of raw materials including polypropylene, nylon, PBT, PPS, PEEK and PLA and provides an array of products in fiber diameters ranging from 0.5—30um and basis weight variations from 7-400 gsm. The company offers a unique operation control technique that provides webs with high uniformity.

“With its own in-house developed technology, Tapyrus offers specialized grades that can conform to each application,” explains spokesman Yuichi Komuro.

Products are currently used in a number of application areas including liquid filters, air filters, face masks, battery separators, coalescers, water purifiers, automotive filters, acoustics, wipes and medical products. All of its nonwovens are self-binding, meaning they do not use binders and are non-toxic and safe.

In late 2011, Tapyrus announced it would start up a subsidiary in Thailand to help aid a customer expand into southeast Asia. The company expects to begin manufacturing and selling nonwovens at the new site near Bangkok in spring 2013. The $2.5 million (70 million Baht) investment  will also help strengthen Tapyrus’ supply system within Japan and Thailand.
It is hoped that this expansion will help boost international sales for the company whch currently exports only about 10% of total sales. Tapyrus’ most recent expansion was in 2007 to its Japanese site.