Overview of our Business

The Kao Group conducts product research and development in five key business areas: Hygiene and Living Care, Health and Beauty Care, Life Care, Cosmetics and Chemicals. We are also engaged in fundamental technology research in various areas, including "material science," "life science," "human science," "production technology" and "environmental science," collaborating organically with our overseas research laboratories to develop innovative products and technologies. Domestic research centers for our Chemical Business located in Wakayama, Kashima, and Toyohashi also work closely with our overseas research bases in Asia, Europe, and North America to conduct research into industrial chemicals with our overseas bases in particular focusing on the development of materials and applied research that meet customer needs and industrial fields unique to each region.

Aiming to make use of the knowledge and technologies we have acquired through our various business activities to benefit not only the people of Japan, but also all over the world, the Kao Group is actively engaged in production and sales activities on a global scale. We are expanding worldwide in the field of industrial chemical products. In Japan, our research helps to develop quality and efficient production processes, to manufacture a range of chemical products at our Wakayama Plant, and other plants in Kashima, Tochigi, and Toyohashi. Overseas, we manufacture oleochemicals in the Philippines and Malaysia, shipping them to customers and affiliates around the world. In China, Indonesia, Thailand, Germany, Spain, the United States and Mexico, we manufacture and sell a variety of performance chemicals to local industrial sectors. By effectively spreading our supply chain, we are able to readily supply products from various locations around the world. Our Chemical Business will continue to collaborate globally in all aspects of research, production and sales in order to provide products that deliver total customer satisfaction.