03/30/2021 | Press Releases

Driving forward high-tech materials: Jun Inoue joins the management of Kuraray Europe

Hattersheim, March 24, 2020. Jun Inoue (55) is joining the management of Kuraray Europe GmbH (KEG) as co-managing director, alongside Dr. Matthias Gutweiler. Speciality chemicals producer Kuraray has its European headquarters in Hattersheim, Germany, and production facilities at Höchst Industrial Park in Frankfurt and in Troisdorf. Jun Inoue will also be in charge of the Advanced Materials division. In addition to the speciality chemicals business, he will therefore be responsible for the Elastomer, Dental, Industry and Microfibres business units. He intends to drive forward the focus on high-performance materials in Germany and Europe. Priorities are materials with a strong sustainability profile and the establishment of innovative 5G technologies for production and service. Jun Inoue (55) is an economics graduate and takes over from Naoya Uehara, who is moving to a new management role at Kuraray in Japan.

“Industry is facing enormous challenges to make products and processes more efficient and more sustainable. Kuraray already offers high-quality alternatives to petroleum-based materials, for example bio-based Liquid Farnesene Rubber,” says Jun Inoue, co-managing director of Kuraray Europe GmbH since this spring. “The innovative strength of our European sites is very important for the expansion of our portfolio of sustainable products. I look forward to playing an active role in this as managing director in the coming years. To develop sustainable materials, we will be drawing even more on the combined expertise of our employees around the world. We are paving the way for this by testing state-of-the-art 5G technology, for example at our site in Troisdorf.”

Shaping the Elastomer business for more than 30 years

Jun Inoue has extensive experience of high-performance materials and an excellent knowledge of Kuraray's international business. An economics graduate, Jun Inoue has worked for speciality chemicals producer Kuraray for more than 30 years, including holding positions in Japan and the USA. Before his appointment to Germany, he made a significant contribution to Kuraray’s Elastomer business in various management roles. Most recently, he was responsible for this entire business as General Manager Elastomer. In Hattersheim, he is taking over from Naoya Uehara, who is moving to a new management role in the Kuraray Group at the company's global headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. 

Extending the sustainability portfolio by 2026 

“We would like to thank Naoya Uehara for his commitment. The fruitful collaboration with him over the past three years has facilitated the ongoing development of our sites in Germany and Europe and enabled us to set important new market impetus, especially in the area of sustainable materials,” stresses Dr. Matthias Gutweiler, Managing Director of Kuraray in Europe and a member of the Board of Directors of the Kuraray Group in Tokyo. “With Jun Inoue’s input and expertise, especially in Advanced Materials, we will be continuing this focus in the coming years. We will be including the first targets for this in our five-year plan, which defines the strategic focus of KEG up to 2026. I am looking forward to that.”

The Kuraray Group, which is headquartered in Tokyo, has more than 11,100 employees around the world and is a leading supplier of industrial polymers and synthetic microfibres. Kuraray Europe GmbH (KEG) was established in 1991 and is based in Hattersheim am Main, Germany. It has more than 700 employees in Germany and a further 200 at six other European sites. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuraray. In 2019 its annual sales were EUR 661 million.

About Kuraray

Established in 1991, Kuraray Europe GmbH is based in Hattersheim, near Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In 2020 the company generated annual sales of EUR 593 million. It has more than 800 employees in Germany at its sites in Hattersheim, Frankfurt and Troisdorf. Kuraray is a global speciality chemicals company and one of the largest suppliers of industrial polymers and synthetic microfibres for many sectors of industry. Examples are KURARAY POVAL™, Mowital^®, Trosifol^® and CLEARFIL™. Kuraray Europe also has around 215 employees at six other European sites. They are also working on the development and application of innovative high-performance materials for a wide range of sectors, including the automotive, paper, glass and packaging industries, as well as for architects and dentists. 

Kuraray Europe is a wholly owned subsidiary of the publicly listed Kuraray Co., Ltd., which is based in Tokyo, Japan, and has more than 11,200 employees worldwide and sales of EUR 4.4 billion. 

Dr. Bettina Plaumann
Head of KEG Communications & Marketing
Kuraray Europe GmbH
Philipp-Reis-Straße 4
65795 Hattersheim am Main, Germany
Phone: +49 69 305 85797
Email: Bettina.Plaumann(at)kuraray.com  
Internet: www.kuraray.eu 

Christopher Kampfmann
Wortwahl – Agentur für Unternehmens- und Onlinekommunikation
Bahnhofstraße 123
63263 Neu-Isenburg, Germany
Phone: +49 6102 36678-22
Email: kampfmann(at)wortwahl.de  
Internet: www.wortwahl.de 

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Captions/source of photos: Kuraray

Driving forward the development of advanced materials: Jun Inoue has been appointed co-managing director of Kuraray Europe, Hattersheim, Germany, alongside Dr. Matthias Gutweiler, with immediate effect. An economics graduate from Japan, Jun Inoue has worked for speciality chemicals producer Kuraray for 30 years and has an excellent knowledge, in particular, of its Elastomer business. Jun Inoue sees extending the portfolio of sustainable high-performance materials as a key area of focus, with modern 5G technology providing a basis for even closer global collaboration.

A strong base in Germany: Kuraray produces the Mowital brand of polyvinylbutyrals and the Poval brand of polyvinyl alcohols at Höchst Industrial Park (photo above left). Since 2012, this speciality chemicals company has had its European headquarters (photo above right) in nearby Hattersheim am Main. Kuraray has around 700 employees in Germany and 200 employees at six other European locations. Jun Inoue, new co-managing director of Kuraray Europe GmbH, sees Europe as a key driver in the development of sustainable high-performance materials.