| Feb. 2, 2004 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Toray Renames Swiss-Based Water Treatment Firm |
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| Toray Industries, Inc. on January 16, 2004 renamed
the Switzerland-based water treatment firm of Ropur AG to Toray Membrane Europe
AG. Toray acquired the management right of Ropur in March 2003 by raising its share in the company from 29% to 60%. On January 1st 2004, Yoshio Ozaki from Toray assumed office as president and CEO. This enables Toray Membrane Europe AG as a strategic water treatment subsidiary to further promote the water treatment business in Europe and the Middle East markets by offering Toray's high-quality membrane-related products and services. In April 2002 Toray introduced a new management reform program "AP-New Toray 21" to strengthen its business structure geared to the 21st century. In line with the program, the company aims to conduct its business not as a "manufacturer" but as a "New Value Creator", a business strategy that places emphasis on development of new materials, products and marketing network. The company positions its water treatment business as one of the strategically expanding areas of IT-related Products, Life Sciences and Environment, Safety, and Amenity in which Toray is investing managerial resources with top priority. Toray plans to make the water treatment business one of its major businesses by promoting global alliances including M&A projects. In line with the above strategy, the water treatment business, which is the core of the company's environment-related business, was upgraded to the Water Treatment Division in June 2002. In cooperation with Toray Engineering Co., Ltd., Toray Construction Co., Ltd. and Toray Water Treatment Maintenance Co., Ltd., Toray is aggressively promoting membrane sales and the membrane system plant businesses, which are based on the company's highly advanced proprietary membrane technology. In particular, the company has set up production bases in the U.S. and Europe for its reverse osmosis (RO) membrane business, in alignment with overseas affiliated companies. For example, Toray established Toray Membrane America, Inc. in June 2000 with the U.S.-based Ionics Inc., a major water treatment and engineering firm, to manufacture and market RO membranes in the U.S. In Europe, Toray invested in Ropur, a RO membrane marketing firm, in December 2000 to promote the RO membrane business in Europe and the Middle East. |
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(Reference) |
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Outline of Toray Membrane Europe AG |
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