Opening Ceremony Held on December 5

SEKISUI CHEMICAL CO., LTD. (President and Representative Director: Teiji Koge; hereinafter, “SEKISUI CHEMICAL”) announces that the High Performance Plastics Company (President: Keita Kato) has added a third production line to the Mexico Plant in response to increasing manufacturing capacity of automobile makers in the Central and South America market. Construction was completed in June 2017 and full-scale operation will commence from January 2018. The new line will mainly produce high-performance interlayer films with better sound insulation than conventional products.

Our Mexico Plant was established in 1971 and is the second oldest of our Group’s plants for laminated glass interlayer films. In the past, the North American plant corresponded to North American market demand and the Mexico plant corresponded to Central and South America market demand. However, the entire Americas market is growing robustly and the present increase in demand is being met mainly by imports from Japan. Now, with the expansion of the manufacturing capacity of our Mexico Plant, the entire Americas demand will soon be met by the Mexico and North America plants, and our competitiveness will be even stronger.

Our Mexico Plant is operated by SEKISUI CHEMICAL’s consolidated subsidiary SEKISUI S-LEC MEXICO S.A. de C.V., which is a joint venture with Marubeni Corporation (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Fumiya Kokubu). We collaborate with Marubeni Corporation for the sales of our interlayer film products in the South America market.

On December 5, an opening ceremony was held at our Mexico Plant. Government officials, such as those from the state of Morelos in Mexico and the Embassy of Japan in Mexico, as well as local glass manufacturers who are our customers, were invited to the ceremony. Approximately 150 people, including representatives from Marubeni Corporation and SEKISUI CHEMICAL, attended the event.

Sekisui Chemical’s interlayer film business

SEKISUI CHEMICAL has expanded globally the manufacturing and sale of interlayer films for laminated glass, and we boast the world’s top share of the automotive interlayer film market (for fiscal 2016, based on SEKISUI CHEMICAL’s projection). We continue to strengthen our manufacturing capacity to correspond to increases in the number of automobiles manufactured and expansion of the glass area of a single automobile. Specifically, the demand for high-performance interlayer films developed for increased automobile interior comfort needs continues to increase, such as for sound insulation interlayer film, heat insulation interlayer film, sound and heat insulation interlayer film, and wedge-shaped interlayer film for head-up displays. Most notably, the use of sound insulation interlayer film is expanding from windshields to other parts such as front doors and roof panels, and its sale is steadily expanding. Moving forward, we will continue to promote development and sales of high-performance films even more actively, and expand our interlayer film business to contribute to the continuously growing automobile industry.

Mexico Plant Overview

SEKISUI CHEMICAL Group’s interlayer film manufacturing locations