Development of Funcster (Long-Fiber Glass Reinforced Thermoplastic Resin) in U.S.A.

Chisso Corporation (Head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo, President: Shunichi Okada) announces the start of a new business in the United States by establishing a company for manufacture and distribution in the US for "Funcster", a long-fiber glass reinforced thermoplastic resin developed by Chisso.

Funcster is a long-fiber glass reinforced thermoplastic resin for injection molding developed by Chisso's original technology, having excellent stiffness and impact resistance. Funcster is a high performance resin with high expectations for remarkable improvement in production, capable of forming products by injection molding with performance equivalent to moldings produced by the conventional stampable sheet processing.

Prior to the development of Funcster in the US, Chisso Corporation has established a new company, North American Chisso Corp., for unifying the wide range of companies in the US, reorganizing the management department, and achieving the goal of optimally distributing business resources and accelerating new business development. Furthermore, a manufacturing and distribution company COMUSA LLC will be established with the full investment of this new company, for planning the development of long-fiber glass reinforced thermoplastic resin "Funcster" in the US. A production facility of 10,000-ton capacity will be newly installed in the Covington Plant of FiberVisions Incorporated, a partner of Chisso's fiber business, in Georgia, reinforcing the supply system to the local area while improving customer service by setting up a business outlet in Detroit, aimed for new business development in the automobile industry etc. in North America.

Since putting Funcster on the market in 1994, Chisso has attained a broad range of application development, such as home appliances, industrial components, functional components in the field of automobiles etc., and large structural components, and domestic and international sales centered on structural components for automobiles are on the increase. In the future, in addition to domestic business, an international supply system for Funcster will be organized by aggressive business development starting with North America, the center of the automobile industry, and other key regions such as Europe.

Additionally, domestic sales of Funcster are operated by Japan Polypropylene Corporation (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President: Eiichi Murakami), a company managed jointly by Mistubishi Chemical Corporation and Chisso Corporation.