Japan Vilene Company, Ltd. supplies nonwovens for a wide range of applications from apparel and daily necessities to industrial- and automotive-related materials. Since its foundation in 1960, the company has been a leader in the Japanese nonwovens market. With its 60th anniversary in sight for 2020, Japan Vilene started a new three-year business program in 2018 for achieving further growth, and intends to continue serving the industry playing the role of a leader.
Apparel materials (fusible interlinings) are one of the products the company started with at the beginning. Today, Japan Vilene has expanded its business to various sectors that include not only apparel and daily necessities, but also industrial materials such as air filter materials, medical materials, electric materials and other industrial materials, as well as automotive-related materials including interior materials, etc. The company boasts holding the largest share in a number of these applications, exhibiting its presence in the market.
In the sectors of apparel and daily necessities, the main course of business has shifted from fusible interlinings for apparel to masks and paddings and interlinings for handicrafts, and sales of household masks are also expanding. In the sector of air filter materials, the company has established itself a solid position with the sales of Viledon air filters, which is also a synonym for prefilters in the market.
As for medical materials, Japan Vilene also holds a large share in transdermal backing materials, and its mainstay in electric and industrial materials is battery separators (such as for nickel cadmium and nickel hydride batteries). Main applications in the automotive industry include floor mats and headliner materials, and the company has established a system that enables production and supply from its global bases (the Americas and Asia).
The new three-year business program from 2018 attaches importance to the four points of globalization, profitability improvement, the creation of synergies and integration with Freudenberg SE. With this new program, the company aims to achieve sales of 82-83 billion yen and operating results of 6 billion yen in 2020.
As far as automotive materials are concerned, Japan Vilene will endeavor to strengthen its business by promoting operations that make full use of its bases. In the sector of floor mats, the company has acquired Hanns Glass GmbH & Co. of Germany. In medical materials, it is focusing on developing the markets for transdermal backing materials. Even for energy and life science sectors, the company intends to expand its activities.
Japan Vilene is steadily making its way forward, and is certain to be the center of attention at ANEX 2018.