History

Central Research Laboratories established (Shiga).

Immediately after our founding, we established the Research Section, and since then—aside from the development of production technologies closely linked to the actual conditions at each plant—we have emphasized the company-wide objective of independent research. However, during World War II we could not avoid a slump in research activities due to the decreased number of research personnel. After the war, we resumed research on Nylon 6, and in 1952 we began research on "Fiber-III" (polyester fiber) as our third synthetic fiber after rayon and nylon. As a project commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of our founding, in April 1956 we finished the construction of our Central Research Laboratories on the Sonoyama Plateau southwest of the Shiga Plant, and expanded our research beyond fibers into areas such as plastics and films. Here, Toray created the seeds of its future business expansion and diversification, doing so through R&D in areas such as "Fiber-IV" (acrylic fiber), polypropylene fiber and polyester film.