01.01.09
Location: OSAKA, JAPAN
Sales: $195 Million
Description: Key Personnel
Toshio Takanashi, general manager, nonwoven fabrics division; Katsuhiko Hinamoto, general manager, spunbonded fabric sales; Tetsuya Nakamura, general manger, Bemliese sales Plants Moriyama, Nobeoka
Processes
Spunbonded, meltblown
Brand Names
Eltas, Bemliese, Microweb, Semia, Smash, Precise
Major Markets
coverstock, wipes, gauze, packaging, white blood corpuscle removing filters
Asahi Kasei annual production capacity of nonwovens is: SMMS, 13000 tons per year, PP spunbond, 13,000 tons; PET spunbonded nonwovens, 5500 tons; nylon spunbond, 3500 tons; cupra spunbond, 4500 tons; compound spunbond nonwovens (Precise), 2000 tons and meltblown nonwovens, 200 tons.
While earnings decreased in 2008, the situation was not as bad as it could have been because of the defensive nature of one of Asahi’s core business, disposable baby diapers. However, demand decreases have been unavoidable so Asahi Kasei has emphasized cost reductions in nonwovens production. Additionally, new product development has been an important future undertaking.
One of these new products, an SMS with PPS as a crude material polymer, was introduced in May 2009. These nonwovens are made by laminating the PPS polymer in three structures through a spunbond/meltblown method. The fiber of the spunbond nonwovens is 2 dtex while that of meltblown is 0.03 dtex and the mass per unit area is 10-200 gsm. A line able to make this material—a couple hundred tons of it—was set up in March 2009 and the development of new end use applications has been promoted. Asahi has also been making SMS from PET under the brand name Precise since 2007 with a capacity of 2000 tons.
As for the SMS, raw and processed materials were diversified from initial PP to PET or PPS, furthermore a new product with newer polymers has been exploited.
Another new product, a nanofiber nonwoven made from cellulose fibers, was released in December 2008. Crude material of these nonwovens is pulp and the average diameter of the nonwovens is 150nm or less; the thickness is 5-20 um and the mass per unit area is possible to be less than 10gsm.
Sales: $195 Million
Description: Key Personnel
Toshio Takanashi, general manager, nonwoven fabrics division; Katsuhiko Hinamoto, general manager, spunbonded fabric sales; Tetsuya Nakamura, general manger, Bemliese sales Plants Moriyama, Nobeoka
Processes
Spunbonded, meltblown
Brand Names
Eltas, Bemliese, Microweb, Semia, Smash, Precise
Major Markets
coverstock, wipes, gauze, packaging, white blood corpuscle removing filters
Asahi Kasei annual production capacity of nonwovens is: SMMS, 13000 tons per year, PP spunbond, 13,000 tons; PET spunbonded nonwovens, 5500 tons; nylon spunbond, 3500 tons; cupra spunbond, 4500 tons; compound spunbond nonwovens (Precise), 2000 tons and meltblown nonwovens, 200 tons.
While earnings decreased in 2008, the situation was not as bad as it could have been because of the defensive nature of one of Asahi’s core business, disposable baby diapers. However, demand decreases have been unavoidable so Asahi Kasei has emphasized cost reductions in nonwovens production. Additionally, new product development has been an important future undertaking.
One of these new products, an SMS with PPS as a crude material polymer, was introduced in May 2009. These nonwovens are made by laminating the PPS polymer in three structures through a spunbond/meltblown method. The fiber of the spunbond nonwovens is 2 dtex while that of meltblown is 0.03 dtex and the mass per unit area is 10-200 gsm. A line able to make this material—a couple hundred tons of it—was set up in March 2009 and the development of new end use applications has been promoted. Asahi has also been making SMS from PET under the brand name Precise since 2007 with a capacity of 2000 tons.
As for the SMS, raw and processed materials were diversified from initial PP to PET or PPS, furthermore a new product with newer polymers has been exploited.
Another new product, a nanofiber nonwoven made from cellulose fibers, was released in December 2008. Crude material of these nonwovens is pulp and the average diameter of the nonwovens is 150nm or less; the thickness is 5-20 um and the mass per unit area is possible to be less than 10gsm.