09 Kansai Paint Co., Ltd.
Osaka, Japan
www.kansai.co.jp

PUBLIC COMPANY
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1918
HEADCOUNT:  7,752
Coatings REVENUEs:  $2.397 billion s (2008: $2.299)
TotaL REVENUEs:  $2.397 billion s (2008: $2.299)
Net income:  $127 million s (2008: $108)
R&D Budget:  No info for 2009 (2008: $55 million)
Segment breakdown
• Automotive coatings: 47%
• Industrial coatings: 24%
• Decorative coatings: 19%
• Marine and protective coatings: 10%

KEY People
Shoju Kobayashi, president and representative director; Masanobu Ohta, chief director of general paint, president of a subsidiary, director; Shinichi Hamamatsu, senior managing director, representative director; Yuzo Kawamori, senior managing director, deputy chief director of paint business, chief firector of industrial coating material.

Kansai Paint Co., Ltd. divides its business into automotive (47%), industrial (24%), decorative (19%), and marine and protective (10%) segments. Coatings revenues for 2009 amounted to $2.397 billion, representing a slight increase from the previous year due to a favorable currency exchange rate.
   
Operating in Japan, Europe, the U.S. southeast Asia, India and China, Kansai offers automotive coatings for new cars, including automotive parts, as well as refinishes; industrial coatings, which comprise pre-coated metal coatings and electrodeposition coatings for aluminum sashes, as well as coatings for beverage cans, home electric appliances, and construction and industrial machinery; decorative coatings for housing, commercial buildings, and public facilities, primarily coatings for new buildings, and coatings for repair and maintenance; and coatings for ships, marine containers, marine structures, bridges, and chemical plants. 
   
During the year, Kansai Paint appointed Shoju Kobayashi as chairman of the board, and appointed Yuzo Kawamori to replace Shoju Kobayashi as president of the company, effective April 1, 2010.
   
Continuing its push into China, Kansai Paint announced that it will establish a wholly owned subsidiary, which will be mainly engaged in China businesses, strategy formulation, marketing and capital management in Shanghai, China, in June 2010.
   
In 2009, Kansai Nerolac Paints Limited, India’s second largest paint manufacturer, began setting up its second manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu at Hosur with an initial investment of approximately Indian Rupees 90 crore. The company has a similar facility in Perungudi at Chennai.
   
The new facility commenced operations in October. It manufactures decorative paints and paints for general industrial products.
   
The 50-acre facility is dedicated to the manufacture of water-based paints and has an initial capacity of 15,000 tons, and will be scaled up to 75,000 tons in three phases.
   
On the total investment for all the three phases, the company said it will be based on the market demand. The company will commence phase two work after 18 months from the day phase one production starts. The plant will cater to markets in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and parts of eastern India.

Eco-friendly Ales Shikkui

On the new product front, Kansai Paint introduced Ales Shikkui, an eco-friendly plaster coating for interior finish. The primary ingredient of Ales Shikkui is slaked lime, and it is a paint-like “Shikkui,” which is a traditional plaster coating in Japan that has all of the primary functions of plaster, such as deodorant, formaldehyde absorption and detoxification, dew condensation suppression and antibacterial qualities. Because it has no VOC components, such as auxiliary agents for producing film or antifreeze agents, which are considered essential for water-based coatings, there are high expectations for this product as an eco-friendly interior finishing coating material.
   
The company also introduced a multicolor finishing method for  Ales Shikkui that features a special roller and new standing colors in addition to the normal white. Kansai also developed Ales Shikkui EZ clean as a clear coating for application on Ales Shikkui for protection from dirt and to make cleaning stains easier.

Characteristics of Ales Shikkui

Deodorant function: Absorbs and eliminates bad smells found in daily life, such as thosed caused by cigarette smoke, pet-related smells and garbage.

Antibacterial and antivirus function: Suppresses the growth and proliferation of bacteria and mold.
VOC Adsorption and decomposition function: Adsorbs and renders the VOC formaldehyde harmless, and absorbs and eliminates toluene, xylene, etc.

Fireproof certified material.

Dew condensation suppression function: The film of this product has a porous structure. With moisture absorption and dispersion qualities, this is effective for the suppression of dew condensation.

Carbon dioxide absorption function: The coating film formed absorbs carbon dioxide from the air over a long time period, contributing to the reduction of CO2.