Shin-Etsu invests ¥20 billion in a silicone production facility

Shin-Etsu is in its 60th year of manufacturing silicone −producing over 4,000 different silicone products worldwide.

The material is used in a wide range of applications such as electronics, construction, cosmetics and toiletries and the company has been expanding its efforts to grow its business by establishing production bases in Asia, the US and Europe.

Its market share now stands at over 50 per cent and the objective of the new facility in Japan is to strengthen its R&D and trail to mass production process.

"At Shin-Etsu Chemical’s Gunma Complex, its largest production base in Japan, the company is investing ¥5 billion as it goes forward with the construction of a new research building adjoining its existing Silicone-Electronics Materials Research Center, and is aiming to start its operations in the spring of 2016​," brand reps explained in a statement.

Investment in updated technologies​

Furthermore, Shin-Etsu plans to invest another ¥12 billion at the Gunma Complex to introduce new facilities that will reinforce and enable the production of various silicone products to meet demand.

Moreover, at its Naoetsa Plant in Niigata Prefecture, the company says it will be investing ¥3 billion to set up a new manufacturing facility for silicone products that will be used as marine paint material.

With these new investments totaling ¥20 billion for its silicone business, Shin-Etsu will carry will supply 'highly functional and high-quality' products globally by closely coordinating its research, production, and sales capabilities.

Each new facility is scheduled to be completed by March of 2017.

As far as investment developments regarding the silicones business outside of Japan, in Thailand, Shin-Etsu obtained for about ¥5 billion new industrial land adjoining its Thai silicone facilities, where a major production capacity expansion project is on-going.

In addition, in the United States, Shin-Etsu has established a new Technical Center in the State of New Jersey.