{{short description|Japanese chemicals company}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox company | name = Toray Industries, Inc. | native_name = 東レ株式会社 | native_name_lang = ja | romanized_name = Tōre Kabushiki-gaisha | logo = Toray logo.svg | logo_size = 270px | image = 200px | image_caption = Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower, headquarters of Toray, in Chūō, Tokyo| | image_size = | type = Public (K.K) | traded_as = {{TYO|3402}}<br />TOPIX 100 Component<br />Nikkei 225 Component | foundation = {{start date and age|1926|01}} | location = 5F, Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower 2-1-1, Nihonbashi-Muromachi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-8666, Japan | area_served = Worldwide | key_people = Sadayuki Sakakibara, chairman<br />Akihiro Nikkaku, president | industry = Chemicals<br />Textiles | products = {{unbulleted list|Fibers|Textiles|Plastics|Chemicals|IT-related materials|Carbon fiber composite materials|Water treatment membranes|Pharmaceuticals|Medical products}} |revenue = {{profit}} $ 17.86 billion (FY 2014) (¥ 1,837 billion) (FY 2014) |net_income = {{profit}} $ 579 million (FY 2014) (¥ 59.6 billion) (FY 2014) | num_employees = 45,881 (consolidated, as of March 31, 2014) | owner =The Master Trust Bank of Japan (7.90%)<br />Japan Trustee Services Bank (6.43%)<br />Nippon Life (4.45%)<br />Mitsui Fudosan (1.19%)<br />Mitsubishi Heavy Industry (0.51%) | homepage = {{Official website|http://www.toray.com/index.html}} |footnotes= <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.toray.com/aboutus/outline.html |title=Company Outline |access-date=August 2, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.toray.com/ir/pdf/fin/fin_a072.pdf |title=Financial Results 2014|access-date=August 2, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.toray.com/aboutus/executives.html |title=Company Board of Directors |access-date=August 2, 2014}}</ref> }}
{{nihongo|'''Toray Industries, Inc.'''|東レ株式会社|Tōre Kabushiki-gaisha}} is a multinational corporation headquartered in Japan that specializes in industrial products centered on technologies in organic synthetic chemistry, polymer chemistry, and biochemistry.
Its founding business areas were fibers and textiles, as well as plastics and chemicals. The company has also diversified into areas such as pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and R&D, medical products, reverse osmosis big membranes, electronics, IT-products, housing and engineering, as well as advanced composite materials.
The company is listed on the first section of Tokyo Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the TOPIX 100<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tse.or.jp/english/market/topix/data/b7gje60000003v9e-att/Large70-201310-e.pdf |title=TOPIX Large70 Components |publisher=Japan Exchange Group |access-date=August 2, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131013065445/http://www.tse.or.jp/english/market/topix/data/b7gje60000003v9e-att/Large70-201310-e.pdf |archive-date=October 13, 2013 }}</ref> and Nikkei 225<ref>{{cite web |url=http://indexes.nikkei.co.jp/en/nkave/index/component?idx=nk225#03 |title=Components:Nikkei Stock Average |publisher=Nikkei Inc. |access-date=August 2, 2014}}</ref> stock market indices.
==History== Toray Industries had been originally established as Toyo Rayon in 1926 by Mitsui Bussan, one of the two largest Japanese trading companies (''sogo shosha'') of the time (the other being Mitsubishi Shoji). The fact that Mitsui did not allow the company to be named as a Mitsui company indicates their skepticism of the risk on the business. Risk arose from the fact that, when it was established, the company did not have the right technology to produce Rayon. It had approached Courtaulds and then Du Pont to buy the technology but, because the price was too high, it decided to buy equipment from a German engineering company and hire about twenty foreign engineers to start the operation.<ref name="Odagiri-Goto">{{cite book | last = Odagiri | first = Hiroyuki | title = Technology and Industrial Development in Japan | publisher = Clarendon Press, Oxford | year = 1996 | isbn = 0-19-828802-6 | pages = 88, 127–128 }}</ref>
When Nylon was invented in 1935 by Wallace Carothers of DuPont, Toray immediately got hold of a sample product through the New York City branch of Mitsui Bussan, and started research by dissolving this sample in sulfuric acid. Because of the patent protection, the company had to make its own effort to synthesize polyamide and make fibre out of it. In 1941, just three years after Du Pont's announcement of nylon, Toray completed the basic research on nylon and started building a small plant to produce Nylon 6. The operation started in 1943 and the product was sold, mainly to make fishing nets.
In 1946, following the end of World War II, Du Pont requested an investigation by GHQ (the General Headquarters of Allied Powers) of Toray's infringement of Du Pont's nylon patents but GHQ found no evidence of infringement, certifying that Toray's nylon technology was its own.<ref name="Odagiri-Goto"/>
Toray is currently the world's largest producer of carbon fiber, and Japan's largest producer of synthetic fiber.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Toray-planning-50-plus-boost-in-carbon-fiber-capacity |title=Toray planning 50%-plus boost in carbon fiber capacity |work=Nikkei Asian Review |publisher=Nikkei Inc. |date=December 18, 2013 |access-date=August 2, 2014 |archive-date=19 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219031613/http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Toray-planning-50-plus-boost-in-carbon-fiber-capacity |url-status=dead }}</ref> Its carbon fiber is extensively used in exterior components of the Boeing 787 airliner.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aRu6WIrqhc0Y |last=Suga |first=Masumi |agency=Bloomberg L.P. |title=Boeing, Toray in Talks to Expand $6 Billion 787 Deal (Update5) |date=November 20, 2007 |access-date=August 2, 2014}}</ref>
In September 2013, Toray Industries announced a plan to buy Zoltek for half a billion dollars. The company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Toray and continued operating as a separate business unit.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kubo |first1=Nobuhiro |last2=Saito |first2=Mari |date=26 September 2013 |title=Japan's Toray agrees to buy U.S. Zoltek for $584 million |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-toray-zoltek-idUSBRE98Q01L20130927 |access-date=9 October 2013 |website=www.reuters.com |publisher=Reuters}}</ref><ref>marketwatch [http://www.marketwatch.com/story/zoltek-announces-closing-of-the-merger-with-toray-industries-inc-2014-02-28 Toray completes acquisition of Zoltek.]</ref>
In 2014, as a major aerospace composites supplier, Toray opened a polyacrylonitrile (PAN), the carbon fiber precursor, production line in Lacq, south-western France.<ref name=AvWeek11oct2018>{{cite news |url= http://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/new-carbon-fiber-factory-france-key-airbus-and-safran |title= New Carbon Fiber Factory In France Key For Airbus And Safran |date= Oct 11, 2018 |author= Thierry Dubois |work= Aviation Week & Space Technology}}</ref>
In November 2017, Toray admitted to committing 149 quality data falsifications between 2008 and 2016, including on tests run on tire-strengthening cords. As clients to Toray, the companies Boeing and Uniqlo may have been affected.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2017-11-28 |title=Japan Inc scandals widen as Toray admits cheating |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-toray-scandal-idUSKBN1DS05A |access-date=2023-10-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Soble |first=Jonathan |date=2017-11-28 |title=Japan's Toray, a Major Supply Chain Link, Says It Falsified Data |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/28/business/toray-japan-falsified-data.html |access-date=2023-10-03 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
==Operations== * The world headquarters is in the Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower, 1-1, Nihonbashi-Muromachi 2-chome, Chūō, Tokyo, Japan * Toray has operations in 20 countries and regions: Japan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia (Penfibre SDN Berhad), Singapore, Thailand, India, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Mexico, and the United States
In 2013, Toray acquired an approximately 13% stake in Spectral Diagnostics, a Canadian pharmaceutical company focused on sepsis.<ref name="genengnews-2013">{{cite news |title=Toray takes $5M Stake in Spectral Diagnostics |type=paper |page=12 |work=Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News |date=April 1, 2013 }}</ref>
In 2018, Toray announced it would acquire TenCate Advanced Composites to advance carbon fiber production capabilities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.compositesworld.com/news/toray-acquires-tencate-advanced-composites|title=Toray acquires TenCate Advanced Composites|last=Sloan|first=Jeff|website=www.compositesworld.com|date=14 March 2018 |access-date=2018-03-15}}</ref>
==Gallery== {{Gallery|width=180| File:Nakanoshima-Mitsui-bldg-01.jpg|Nakanoshima Mitsui Building, Osaka head office of Toray, in Kita-ku, Osaka| File:Vue de l'usine textile et chimique de Saint-Maurice-de-Beynost.JPG|The company's plant in Saint-Maurice-de-Beynost, France| File:" 13 Fiat-Chrysler - Safety - Carbon Fiber Composite Roof Assembly SRT Viper capote.jpg|A roof assembly for the SRT Viper from Toray made carbon fiber composite material|}}
==See also== {{Portal|Japan|Chemistry|Engineering|Companies}} * Composite material * Textile manufacturing * Alcantara (material) * Mitsubishi X-2
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== *{{Official website|http://www.toray.com/}} {{in lang|en}} *[http://www.toray.com/products/ List of products] *[http://www.torayentrant.com/en/ Entrant sports fabrics] *[http://www.toraysee.jp/e/ Toray See] popular glass-cleaning cloth for eyewear or stemware *[http://www.toray-ppo.com/en/tournament/ Pan Pacific Open Tennis Tournament]
{{TOPIX 100}} {{Nikkei 225}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Toray Industries Category:Chemical companies based in Tokyo Category:Textile companies of Japan Category:Aerospace companies of Japan Category:Aircraft manufacturers of Japan Category:Defense companies of Japan Category:Manufacturing companies based in Tokyo Category:Mitsui Category:Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Category:Companies listed on the Osaka Exchange Category:Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Category:Companies in the Nikkei 225 Category:Chemical companies established in 1926 Category:Conglomerate companies based in Tokyo Category:Japanese companies established in 1926 Category:Eyewear companies of Japan Category:Japanese brands