Plants: Okayama and Saijo, Japan
Processes: Chemical bonded, spunlaced, meltblown, steam jet
Brand names: Kuraflex, Microflex, Felibendy, Vecrus

Kuraray Kuraflex, a subsidiary of Kuraray, makes spunlaced nonwovens and chemical bonded nonwovens with a capacity of 10,500 tons per year as well as steam jet nonwovens with a capacity of 2700 tons per year and 2700 tons of meltblown per year.

In 2021, demand for mask materials, sanitizing wipes and personal care wipes have all decreased. Additionally, Kuraray’s Counter Cloth brand of food service wipes continued to be impacted by lockdown measures and shorter operating hours in restaurants.

On a positive note, Kuraray has grown its filter business in automotive, HVAC applications and in liquid cartridge areas. These markets have grown thanks to increases in the company’s meltblown capacity, made initially to satisfy face mask demand.

Within cars, the materials are being used in sound absorption buffers for both gas and electric vehicles.

Plants: Okayama and Saijo, Japan
Processes: Chemical bonded, spunlaced, meltblown, steam jet
Brand names: Kuraflex, Microflex, Felibendy, Vecrus

Kuraray Kuraflex, a subsidiary of Kuraray, makes spunlaced nonwovens, chemical bonded nonwovens with a capacity of 10,500 tons per year as well as steam jet nonwovens with a capacity of 2700 tons per year and 2700 tons of meltblown per year.

In 2020, Kuraray increased its exposure to the face mask market but other areas decreased, particularly the use of its counter cloth wipes for makeup removal and car cleaning. The business was also impacted by restaurant closures and lower sales of away from home products.

In investment news, Kuraray has increased production of its meltblown nonwovens from 1800 to 2700 tons per year. This decision was made before the Coronavirus pandemic, but was well placed as meltblown shortages were widespread in 2020.

Kuraray’s counter cloth wipes material received international forest certification system (FSC) certification in September 2020. The company was recognized for its use of rayon.

Plants: Okayama and Saijo, Japan
Processes: Chemical bonded, spunlace, meltblown, steam jet
Brand Names: Kuraflex, Microflex, Felibendy, Vecrus
Major Markets: Wipes, medical and household materials

Kuraray Kuraflex, a subsidiary of Kuraray, produces spunlace nonwovens and chemical bonded nonwovens with a capacity of 10,500 tons/year, and steam jet nonwovens with a capacity of 1000 tons/year. Additionally,  1800 tons of meltblown nonwovens was produced annually at Kuraray’s Saijo location.

In meltblown, a new facility with the capacity of 900 tons/year will being operation in the latter half of 2020. Therefore, the production capacity of meltblown would total 2700 tons/year. Although, the existing meltblown facilities are in the Saijo location of Kuraray, the new facilities will be introduced into the Okayama factory of Kuraray Kuraflex. The Okayama factory is a production base nonwovens for the company. By installing meltblown line there, it will be easy to put together the materials with other nonwoven fabrics. There is various processing equipment for nonwovens in the Okayama factory. Until now, the meltblown nonwoven produced in Saijo had been transferred to the Okayama factory to be processed there. The ingredient polymer of the meltblown nonwovens is not only the general polypropylene but also of liquid crystal polymer. Nonwovens made of liquid crystal polymer are also used in the parts of copiers. Nonwovens made of thermoplastic elastomer are used in the medical market.

Sales volume of the wipes for industrial use (trade name: Counter Cloth), the main product of the company, increased in 2018. Kuraray Kuraflex currently supplies Counter Cloth to a Japanes restaurant chain and is planning to expand exports of Counter Cloth with a primary focus on Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.