History of Kao's Chemical Business

[Japan]
Opening of Nagase Shoten in Tokyo, Japan by Kao's founder, Mr. Tomiro Nagase.

[Japan]
Crude glycerine is launched.

[Japan]
Establishment of Kao Sekken Nagase Shokai Co., Ltd..
Aimed at mass production and mass selling and undertook management modernization.

[Japan]
Sales of ECONA edible oil for food industry use  begins.
Results from research into fats, the raw material used to produce soap, enable Japan's first sales of shortening .

[Japan]
Based on detached Azuma factory, Dai Nihon Yushi Co., Ltd. is established.
Sales of coconut fatty acid begins.

[Japan]
Sales of fatty alcohol (octyl alcohol) begins.

[Japan]
Hydrogenation and dehydration (HD) process is invented.

[Japan]
Nihon Yuki Co., Ltd. is established through fifty-fifty investment with Tekkosha Co., Ltd.
Sakata Plant goes into operation in northern Japan.

[Japan]
Dai Nihon Yushi's Wakayama Plant goes into operation in western Japan.
Trial production of aircraft lubricating oil begins.

[Japan]
Kao Sekken Nagase Shokai Co., Ltd. is renamed Kao Co., Ltd.

[Japan]
Nihon Yuki Co., Ltd. is renamed Kao Soap Co., Ltd.
At the same time, Kao Yushi Co., Ltd. is established through the merger of Kao Co., Ltd and Dai Nihon Yushi Co., Ltd.

[Japan]
Sales of VINYCIZER plasticizer begins.

[Japan]
Sales of surfactants begins.

[Japan]
Sales of FARMIN fatty amine begins.

[Japan]
Kao Soap Co., Ltd. is established through the merger of Kao Soap Co., Ltd. and Kao Yushi Co., Ltd.
Sales of NEW ECONA shortening begins (cooking oil division).

[Japan]
Sales of KAOLIZER urethane form catalysts, which serves as the initial step towards the future development of urethane business, begins.

[Japan]
Industrial Science Research Laboratories is established in Wakayama.
Tokyo Research Laboratories is established in 1967 to enhance R&D activities.
Sales of MIGHTY concrete additives begins.
MIGHTY is widely used for building expressways, skyscrapers and other structures because of its ability to produce high-strength, highly durable concrete.

[Worldwide]
Kao Industrial (Thailand) Co., Ltd. is established.
Kao (Taiwan) Corporation is established.

[Japan]
Kao-Quaker Co., Ltd. is established as a joint venture with Quaker Oats Company (U.S.) to manufacture and sell furan resin for use with casting sand. (The new company becomes a wholly owned Kao subsidiary in 1997.)

[Worldwide]
Quimi-Kao, S.A. de C.V. (Mexico) is established.

[Worldwide]
Pilipinas Kao, Inc. (Philippines) is established as a joint venture company with Aboitiz & Co., Inc. in the Philippines. Plant is built in Mindanao in 1979, and production of fatty alcohol, etc. made from coconut fatty acid begins.

P.T. Pole Kao Indonesia Chemicals is established. (The company is renamed PT. Kao Indonesia Chemicals in 1996.)

[Japan]
Establishment of Tochigi Research Laboratories

[Japan]
Kashima Plant, the second domestic chemical plant after our Wakayama Plant, goes into operation.

Sales of toner binders for copiers begins.
Sales of toners begins in 1983.

[Japan]
Toyohashi Plant is buit and goes into operation as our main plant for producing binder for casting.

[Worldwide]
Kao acquires High Point Chemical Corporation (U.S.). (The company is reorganized as Kao Chemicals Americas Corporation, High Point Textile Auxiliaries LLC, and Kao Specialties Americas LLC in 1999.)

[Worldwide]
Fatty Chemical (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. is established.
Kao (Southeast Asia) Pte. Ltd. (now Kao (Singapore) Private Ltd.) is established.

[Worldwide]
Kao acquires Chemische Fabrik CHEM-Y GmbH (now Kao Chemicals GmbH) in Germany.

[Worldwide]
Kao Plasticizer (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. is established and production of plasticizers begins.
Kao Chemical Corporation Shanghai is established in China.

[Worldwide]
Tertiary amine production plant is built at Kao Chemicals GmbH in Germany.
Toner binders production plant goes into operation and its sales begins at Kao Specialties Americas LLC in the U.S..
New plant for aroma chemicals is built at Kao Corporation S.A. in Spain.

[Worldwide]
New sulfation facilities and manufacturing plant for MIGHTY concrete additive is built at Kao Chemical Corporation Shanghai in China.

[Japan]
New fragrance production facility is opened at the Wakayama Plant.

[Japan]
Production and sales of colorants for inkjet printers begins.

[Wordwide]
Fatty alcohol production plant is expanded at Fatty Chemical (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. in Malaysia.

[Worldwide]
New plant is built in Thailand to boost production base in Southeast Asia.
Tertiary amine production plant is expanded at Kao Chemicals GmbH in Germany.

[Worldwide]
New plant for producing refrigerant oil base built is built at Kao Chemical Corporation Shanghai in China.

[Worldwide]
New plant in Pilipinas Kao, Inc. plant goes into operation, expanding yearly production capacity for fatty alcohol to 300 thousand tons together with our Malaysia plant.

[Worldwide]
Tertiary amine plant is expanded at Pilipinas Kao, Inc in the Philippines.

[Japan]
Toner binder plant is opened in Wakayama plant.

[Worldwide]
Kao do Brasil Representação Comercial Ltda established in Brazil.
New plants for casting agents go into operation at Huludao Jinxing Casting Materials Co.， Ltd in China.

[Worldwide]
New plant in P.T.Kao Indonesia Chemicals goes into operation at Karawang consolidating Tambun plants in Indonesia.
The operation of Tambun plant is moved and transferred to Karawang in December 2014.
Capacity for fatty alcohol is enhanced at Pilipinas Kao, Inc in the Philippines. 

[Worldwide]
New plant is established at Kao (Shanghai) Chemical Industries Co.，Ltd. in China.

[Worldwide]
Kao acquires Chimigraf Holding in Spain and renames it Kao Chimigraf.

[Worldwide]
New chemical factory of Kao's Indonesian joint venture company (PT Apical Kao Chemicals) is completed.

[Worldwide]
Kao to establish a Tertiary Amine Production Plant in Texas, U.S. to Strengthen the Foundation of its Chemical Business.
Chemical Business Division in Kao Vietnam Co., Ltd. is established.
Kao Is Expanding Its Synthetic Fragrance Production Facilities in Spain, with the Aim of Strengthening Its Fragrance Business in Europe.
Kao Joins Geno as Founding Member of $120M+ Venture to Globally Scale Palm Oil Alternative.
Business Alliance Formed with Polar Star Space toward the Establishment of Ganoderma Disease Monitoring Technology on Oil Palm Farms.