Toray Industries, Inc. (head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Akihiro Nikkaku; hereinafter referred to as "Toray") announced that it held the opening ceremony of Automotive Center Europe (hereinafter referred to as “AMCEU”), established in the suburbs of Munich, Germany, on January 25, 2019, with guests representing the government of the state of Bavaria, automobile manufacturers and Tier 1 automotive suppliers. The facility will serve as technological development base of Toray Group to expand its Green Innovation (GR) Business in Europe. Toray’s GR business is at the forefront of environmental restrictions, by leveraging the Group’s highly functional materials as well as its cutting-edge technologies for automobiles.
Toray has been pursuing the development of new products and businesses through new materials and technologies based on its four core technologies (organic synthetic chemistry, polymer chemistry, biotechnology, nanotechnology). These will contribute towards solving global-scale social issues such as environmental, resource and energy problems as well as realizing a society of health and longevity. Further Toray is engaged in business activities spread across various fields such as fibers, resins, chemicals, films, carbon fiber and water treatment in Europe with 21 bases in nine countries.
The automobile industry currently is said to be in the midst of a once-in-a-century revolution, where eco-friendly automobiles and new business-models for connected, autonomous, shared and electrified vehicles are being developed. This results in the design in so far unconventional components and additional challenges such as the reduction of the environmental footprint and leading-edge lightweight and multi-material concepts.
Following the idea of “Cars evolve through materials”, Toray is constantly developing new materials that can meet leading-edge requirements as well as supporting customers in all phases from early concept stage throughout design to series production. This holistic approach ensures the maximum usage of the technical and technological features provided by materials and molding technologies.
Historically, Toray established the Automotive Material Strategic Planning Department, which functions as the contact office for the company in 2006, and further in 2008 it established the Automotive Center (abbr.: AMC, location: Nagoya) as a technical support. These two have a cross-functional setup across the various technological, sales and research departments within the entire Group and affiliated companies. All these functions were providing comprehensive solutions for customers, followed by an annual growth of sales averaging 11% in between the years of 2014 and 2017 whereas the growth in automobile production averaged 3% per annum.
The newly opened AMCEU is now providing Toray’s cross-functional support to automotive OEMs and suppliers in the area Western Europe which is known as the worldwide leading region for automobile development Toray will not only promote joint development activities employing its advanced technologies and materials, it will as well support all stages from concept through design with all analytical, molding, simulation and processing technologies.
Ever since its establishment, Toray follows the guiding principle of “Research and development make tomorrow’s Toray” and drives forward advanced materials science in its technology centers to strengthen basic research and fundamental material technologies. In future the Toray Group will continue to contribute to a society with a low environmental footprint and to take the challenge to develop solutions for future mobility demands.
