Overview of our Business

Combining the comprehensive strengths of the Kao Group to create value and contribute to the realization of a rich lifestyle and culture in a sustainable society

For over a century since its founding, the Kao Group has been providing consumer products for general consumers and chemical products that precisely meet the needs of industry.Our Chemical Business has continued to development a range of unique chemical products centering around fats and oil derivatives, surfactants and functional polymers and today, these products are used in myriad applications in a broad range of industries all over the world.The Kao Group will continue to mobilize its comprehensive strengths to create value by innovating new materials, technologies, and new products, while expanding its business to encompass a wide range of industries around the world, to contribute to the realization of a rich lifestyle and culture in a sustainable society.

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Contributing to the creation of a sustainable society through a wide range of products made from natural fats and oil

The Kao Group produces a large number of sustainable products via integrated production from a range of natural fats and oil, and is expanding its business not only in consumer products, but also in industrial chemical products.In addition to our mainstay products, including fatty acids, fatty alcohols, fatty amines, and glycerin, we also provide surfactants derived from these products, and maintain a key position as one of the world's leading companies in the oleochemicals field. In recent years, through the introduction of new technologies we have developed a range of base materials for cleaning products made from fats and oil, something that to date has been uncommon and will continue to work towards contributing to create a future of industry and a sustainability of society.

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Research, production and sales network to meet the diverse needs of global customers

In order to meet the diverse needs of our global customers and deliver quality products when they are needed, production bases of our Chemical Business in Japan, Asia, Europe and the United States all work together through all product phases, from research to production and sales.

Research & Development

The Kao Group conducts product research and development in five key business areas: Hygiene and Living Care, Health and Beauty Care, Life Care, and 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.

Production and sales network

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.

Major business locations

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