Hashimagun, Gifu, Japan
www.otsukacorp.co.jp
2024 Nonwovens Sales: $100 million

Key Personnel
Yukirou Otsuka, president

Plants
Kadoma, Sekigahara, Kashihara, Kakamigahara

Processes
Needlepunched

Major Markets
Automotive interiors, automotive insulations, geotextiles, carpet

Otsuka manufactures needlepunched nonwoven fabrics at many factories in Japan and its capacity exceeds 30 million square meters per year with sales volumes reaching 20 million square meters for automotive use alone. Most of the nonwoven fabric produced is supplied for automotive use, and the company is the top manufacturer of these materials in Japan with a 25% marketshare.

Otsuka has a particularly high market share in floor carpets and headliners for car interiors. It also has joint ventures in China and Indonesia, producing nonwoven fabrics for automobiles in China and molding nonwoven fabrics for automobiles in Indonesia, where it built a facility in Kakamigahara in 2022 to produce nonwoven fabrics for fender liners. The new factory has a production capacity of 2.4 million square meters per year. Nonwoven fabric for fender liners is also produced at the Sekigahara Plant, but the new plant in Kakamigahara has space for additional equipment, so the company will make future equipment installations there.

Recent efforts at Otsuka are focused on recycling nonwoven fabrics, which is being driven by upcoming European regulations mandating the use of recycled resin in plastic materials, initially, and textiles, eventually, being used in automotive applications. Otsuka is using scrap material from its production and molding process to develop recycled raw material for its nonwoven materials. To overachieve challenges association with recycling blended PET and PP fibers, Otsuka is developing technology to produce pellets by melting scrap fibers and then using those pellets to manufacture recycled fibers.

Recycled fibers are colored and have inferior physical properties compared to virgin fibers. Therefore, when used in the manufacture of nonwoven fabrics, recycled fibers and virgin fibers are mixed in a 50:50 ratio to maintain the physical properties of the nonwoven fabric. Currently, Otsuka uses scrap materials generated at its own factories and those of its business partners, but in the future, it aims to collect nonwoven fabrics from scrapped vehicles and recycle them.

Recycling nonwoven fabrics recovered from scrapped vehicles can be technically difficult because of the presence of dirt or foreign materials attached to them. The proposed ELV regulations in Europe require that plastic be recovered from scrapped vehicles and recycled for use in new vehicles, so it is possible that similar regulations will be implemented for textile products in the future. For this reason, it is necessary to promote the development of recycling based on the premise of Car to Car.

Plants: Kadoma, Sekigahara, Kashihara, Kakamigahara, Japan
Processes: Needlepunch
Major Markets: Automotive interiors, automotive insulations, geotextiles, carpet

Founded in 1963, Otsuka produces needlepunch nonwovens in several factories. and has a capacity exceeding 30 million square meters per year, with sales volumes reaching 20 million square meters for automotive use alone. The majority of nonwovens produced are supplied for automotive applications, and the company is the leading manufacturer in the automotive nonwovens market. The company has a particularly high market share in floor carpets and headlining for vehicle interiors. The company also has joint ventures in China and Indonesia that produce automotive nonwovens.

Currently, the demand for nonwovens used for tire fender liners is increasing significantly. Liners are used on tire fenders as soundproofing material, and the liners were made of resin or rubber for both the front and rear wheels. However, for rear-wheel fender liners, nonwovens with excellent sound absorption properties are now being used, and the switch from resin and rubber to nonwovens is underway.

Otsuka’s needlepunched nonwovens are used for these fender liners. Otsuka’s nonwovens were first adopted around 2000 and have been in increasing demand. Recently, there has been a significant increase in demand. To meet this demand, a new plant began operation in Kagamihara in 2022. The production capacity of the new plant is 2.4 million m²/year. Nonwoven fabrics for gender liners are also produced at the Sekigahara plant, but the new plant in Kagamihara has space for additional equipment. Future installation of equipment will take place at the new plant.

Currently, Otsuka is developing a means to recycle nonwoven waste generated in the production and molding processes. The company is trying to recycle this and reuse the fiber in automobile insulators and other products,, although this is difficult because of the mixture of different fibers in the end material.