Denka Co., Ltd. (CEO Manabu Yamamoto, headquartered in Tokyo Japan) celebrates Denka Singapore’s 40th anniversary this year.
To ramp up its production of acetylene black, a highly conductive material used as a filler in manganese dry cells and high voltage cable coverings, Denka established its Singapore entity on 20 September 1980 and was one of the first to do so among Japanese chemical manufacturers. Following acetylene black, Denka Singapore rapidly expanded its state-of-the-art manufacturing portfolio to include fused silica (for which Denka has a sizable world market share) used in semiconductor encapsulation, styrene resins used in a growing number of applications, and synthetic PVC fibers traded under the name Toyokalon®. Denka now operates four (4) plants, manufacturing seven (7) products here in Singapore. In 2009, Denka established a holding company to oversee its businesses in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2013, Denka set up a Southeast Asia business hub for special cement additives to meet the growing investment demand for infrastructure projects in the region. In 2016, Denka went on to create a life science R&D research center to address tropical infectious diseases.
All these business endeavors have led to Denka Singapore’s attainment of USD 500 million in sales and USD 60 million in operating income, the highest figures achieved among the Denka Group of companies, and 300 jobs created over the past 40 years. In recent years, Denka Singapore has promoted local talents to senior management positions, sent young university graduates to Japan for training and development, and onboarded highly qualified individuals with Ph.Ds.
Singapore has a highly competitive edge owing to its stable supply of raw materials and utilities coming from its world-class petrochemical hub ‘Jurong Island’, world’s largest leading-edge container terminals, preferential investment taxation incentives, and highly transparent legal system. Taking full advantage of these Singapore strengths, Denka, with strong support from EDB (Singapore Economic Development Board), will ramp up the production capacity of super pure acetylene black, while moving forward with investments in a new spherical alumina production line and an additional MS resin production line, both slated for commencement in 2021. Super pure acetylene black is used in lithium ion batteries, spherical alumina in next-generation semiconductors made for xEVs and 5G equipment, and MS resin in LED light guide panels. Denka enjoys a prominent market share in MS resin for LED light guide panel use. Positioned as a model plant for the Denka Group, the styrene resin manufacturing plant at Seraya will be injected with IoT investments for its transformation into a smart factory enabled to analyze big data and forecast real-time demands.
Through its proactive hiring of human resources equipped with skills and capabilities for deployment in new investment projects, Denka plans to add more than 40 new jobs in Singapore by the end of the year 2022.
Denka has designated Singapore as a strategic location and will continue its efforts to actively propel forward its business development and advanced R&D in Singapore,
“Denka has established a long-standing relationship with Singapore over the past 40 years, and the company’s continued growth is testament to its trust and confidence in Singapore.” said Mr Damian Chan, Executive Vice President, EDB. “We are heartened by Denka’s commitment and efforts over the years to grow your manufacturing base in Singapore, digitally transform your operations and develop a strong base of talent here. This has created good job opportunities for our people and strengthened the skills of our workforce. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone in Denka for their contribution to the company and Singapore, and look forward to our continued partnership as Denka positions itself as a Specialty-Fusion Company.”
Comment from Manabu Yamamoto (CEO, Denka Co., Ltd.)
On this happy occasion of our 40th anniversary in Singapore, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Singapore Government, our customers, employees, and all stakeholders. Denka operates globally with an aim to improve productivity across all its Group companies so as to become “an enterprise truly needed by societies around the world”. In our pursuit of such productivity improvement, Singapore is a very important strategic base because it has one of the most advanced IT system in the world and abundant highly talented and skilled human resources. With continued support from EDB, we at Denka, are determined to expedite our productivity innovation with DX (digital transformation), so as to further our business development.
