Nippon Paint
Sales: $2.15 billion
Expanding
throughout Asia
Company Facts:
Nippon Paint Co., Ltd.
2-1-2, Oyoda-kita, Kita-ku
Osaka, 531-8511, Japan
Tel: (81) 6-6458-1111
www.nipponpaint.co.jp
• 2007 SALES REVENUE: $2.15 billion
(2006 SALES: $1.7 billion)
• KEY PERSONNEL: Makoto Matsuura, representative director and president; Kenji Sakai, representative director and senior VP; Koichi Kimoto,
representative director and senior VP.
• MAJOR PRODUCTS: Automotive OEM and refinish coatings, trade-use paints, industrial coatings,
marine coatings, household paint and road paints.
Nippon Paint Group operates in
two business segments—paints
and coatings, and fine chemicals. The paints and coatings segment
comprises four sectors—automotive
coatings ( 30.9%), trade-use paints
( 17.3%), industrial coatings ( 18.8%), and
other paints, which include auto refinish, marine coatings, household paints
and road paints ( 27.7%). In 2007 these
segments reported combined sales of
$2.15 billion.
Speaking of automotive coatings, a
major goal for Nippon has been to bolster its response capabilities and boost
its production capacity of its bases in
North America. The company has
accomplished this with the establishment of NB Coatings, Inc. in the U.S.
Nippon Paint can now chart its own
distinct course in the North American
auto market. At the same time, this
move has enabled Nippon Paint to
expand production capacity in the
North American region.
In addition, as plastic materials are
being increasingly used in a wider range
of areas in automotive design and the
need for coatings useable on both steel
plating and plastic is in demand NB
Coatings will help Nippon to strengthen
and promote the development of coatings for plastic.
EXPANDING THROUGHOUT ASIA
Nippon has also been pursuing a variety
of strategies to expand business in
Asian markets. As many Japanese
automakers are developing operations
particularly in Thailand, Nippon Paint
has enhanced local capacity to respond
to the annual growth in automotive production in the country. During the year
it purchased shares in Nippon Paint
(Thailand) Co., Ltd. With two plants in
Thailand, Nippon Paint (Thailand) produces and sells coating materials for
automobiles, motorbikes and cycles,
electrical equipment, machinery, con-struction,automotive repair, civil engineering and residential use.
In China, sales of VOC-free and eco-friendly powder coatings in China are
growing at an annual rate of 20%. While
Nippon Paint had previously established
Langfang Nippon Paint Lidong Co., Ltd.
in Langfang, China, the Group opted to
add two more plants in the city of Tianjin
and in Guangdong Province. Plans are
also under way to secure production sites
in Beijing and in Jiangsu Province.
Nippon holds the largest share of the
powder-based coatings market in Japan,
and also has production and sales sites
for these products in Thailand (Bang
Pakong) and the U.S. (Cleveland).
Along with China, India is continuing
to witness rapid economic growth. In
this country, Nippon Paint has established the joint venture Nippon Paint
(India) Pte., Ltd. Going forward, the company intends to set up two production
sites, one in Delhi, the other in Chennai.
Elsewhere, Nippon Paint Group company Nippon Bee Chemical Co., Ltd. and
Indian coatings manufacturer Berger
Paints India Ltd. reached an agreement
in July 2007 to establish a joint venture
for the manufacture and sale of coatings
for automotive plastics. With this move,
it intends to develop business in India,
mainly targeting the growing numbers
of Japanese and Korean automakers
operating in the Indian market.
