From Fashion to Medical Care: How Asahi Kasei’s Core Technologies and Innovations Drive the Evolution of Business

In the 1920s, when agriculture was a major segment of the economy, Asahi Kasei became the first company in Japan to synthesize ammonia for the manufacture of fertilizer. This not only became the basis for an industrial chemicals business, but also led to the development of a fibers business. After more than 100 years of changes and challenges since our founding, we currently have businesses in the three sectors of Material, Homes, and Health Care. The growth of Health Care in particular has been remarkable. At the root of our businesses, and behind our transformation, are the core technologies and innovations that have been passed down from generation to generation since our foundation. Throughout our history, the people in our company have inherited our predecessors' spirit of taking challenges to work toward the future through core technologies and innovations.

Enriching people’s food and clothing – the origins of our core technologies and innovations

In 1922, our founder Shitagau Noguchi began construction of a fertilizer plant in Nobeoka City, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan, and a hydroelectric plant upstream on the Gokase River that flows through the city, to supply power to the fertilizer plant. He wanted to help improve the productivity of agriculture which provides food to sustain people's lives. The following year, Asahi Kasei became the first company in Japan to manufacture synthetic ammonia, an essential ingredient for fertilizers. This is how the history of our company began, utilizing the plentiful water resources in the region of Nobeoka.

At the time, the most common clothing in Japan was the silk kimono. Noguchi felt that people's standard of living would improve if high-quality fabric could be made more affordable. In 1924, Asahi Kasei began manufacturing viscose rayon, a regenerated cellulose fiber. The aspiration to help improve people’s standard of living with better food and clothing was the origin of our business, and this led to technologies and innovations that we still use today.

We then began manufacturing Bemberg? cupro, another regenerated cellulose fiber, in 1931. We expanded our fibers business throughout the 1920s to 1950s mainly focusing on viscose rayon and Bemberg? cupro, which are regenerated fibers. In 1957, we began manufacturing Cashmilon acrylic, a synthetic fiber, further enhancing our knowledge and technology for fibers.

From fashion to medical care – entering the Health Care sector by cultivating core technology

Although Cashmilon acrylic benefited from growing demand for the synthetic fiber in the apparel industry in the early 1970s, Bemberg? struggled. While a new synthetic fiber plant was under construction, the Bemberg? researchers, whose number had been reduced to only two, were desperately searching for new applications for the material outside of apparel. They considered what the world needed, and how they could use Bemberg? technology to meet those needs. As a result, they decided to develop artificial kidneys using the regenerated cellulose material of Bemberg? for hollow-fiber membranes. In the field of medical care, there were high expectations for artificial kidneys as a medical device for dialysis treatment in patients with renal failure. We began commercial manufacture of artificial kidneys in 1975. Although it was challenging to develop such an application, the successful development based on our technological strength in the fibers business resulted in our company’s expansion into the Health Care sector.

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