Toyo Ink SC Holdings, the parent company of the Tokyo-based specialty materials manufacturer Toyo Ink Group, has announced plans to double the laminating adhesives production capacity from the current level at its Malaysia-based subsidiary Toyochem Specialty Chemical. By strengthening its global supply chain, the Toyo Ink Group plans to expand sales of high-functionality and environmentally friendly solutions such as solvent-free adhesives, the demand for which is expected to grow worldwide.
Expansion work is now underway at the Malaysian site with full operation slated to begin in the third quarter of 2023. Once in operation, Toyochem Specialty Chemical is expected to serve as the mother factory of laminating adhesives in the Asian region, especially high-performance products, an area of core competency for the group.
At present, the demand for laminating adhesives, which are mainly used to coat multilayered films in flexible packaging structures, is expanding in use for retort food pouches and pharmaceutical packaging primarily in Asia. This includes applications such as press-through package (PTP) sheets, a common form of blister packing for drug tablets. Rising populations in countries across Asia are expected to further propel the growth of the retort pouch sector by about 10% over the next five years.
“The Toyo Ink Group has long been a pioneer in developing high-performance adhesive solutions together with our subsidiary Toyo-Morton, which is Japan’s largest producer of laminating adhesives,” said Toshinori Machida, executive operating officer of Toyo Ink SC Holdings. “We’re now looking to bring our unique brand of packaging adhesives, coatings and inks to other regions of the world, in line with our global expansion plan. In addition to Malaysia, we’ve recently bolstered our production infrastructure in China and Turkey. And our Turkish facility is set to serve as the supply hub for markets in the Middle East and North Africa, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe. To ensure a stable supply to meet future demand, we’ve set a target to increase our global production capacity for laminating adhesives by one-and-a-half times the current level by the end of 2027.”