Jun Inoue is joining the management of Kuraray Europe GmbH (KEG) as co-managing director, alongside Dr. Matthias Gutweiler. Speciality chemicals producer Kuraray has its European headquarters in Hattersheim, Germany, and production facilities at Höchst Industrial Park in Frankfurt and in Troisdorf. Jun Inoue will also be in charge of the Advanced Materials division. In addition to the speciality chemicals business, he will therefore be responsible for the Elastomer, Dental, Industry and Microfibres business units. He intends to drive forward the focus on high-performance materials in Germany and Europe. Priorities are materials with a strong sustainability profile and the establishment of innovative 5G technologies for production and service. Jun Inoue takes over from Naoya Uehara, who is moving to a new management role at Kuraray in Japan.
“Industry is facing enormous challenges to make products and processes more efficient and more sustainable. Kuraray already offers high-quality alternatives to petroleum-based materials, for example bio-based Liquid Farnesene Rubber,” said Jun Inoue and added: “The innovative strength of our European sites is very important for the expansion of our portfolio of sustainable products. I look forward to playing an active role in this as managing director in the coming years. To develop sustainable materials, we will be drawing even more on the combined expertise of our employees around the world. We are paving the way for this by testing state-of-the-art 5G technology, for example at our site in Troisdorf.”
Jun Inoue has extensive experience in high-performance materials and an excellent knowledge of Kuraray’s international business. An economics graduate, Jun Inoue has worked for Kuraray for more than 30 years, including holding positions in Japan and the USA. Before his appointment to Germany, he made a significant contribution to Kuraray’s Elastomer business in various management roles. Most recently, he was responsible for this entire business as General Manager Elastomer. In Hattersheim, he is taking over from Naoya Uehara, who is moving to a new management role in the Kuraray Group at the company’s global headquarters in Tokyo, Japan.
“We would like to thank Naoya Uehara for his commitment. The fruitful collaboration with him over the past three years has facilitated the ongoing development of our sites in Germany and Europe and enabled us to set important new market impetus, especially in the area of sustainable materials,” said Dr. Matthias Gutweiler, Managing Director of Kuraray in Europe and a member of the Board of Directors of the Kuraray Group in Tokyo. “With Jun Inoue’s input and expertise, especially in Advanced Materials, we will be continuing this focus in the coming years. We will be including the first targets for this in our five-year plan, which defines the strategic focus of KEG up to 2026. I am looking forward to that.”
The Kuraray Group, which is headquartered in Tokyo, has more than 11,100 employees around the world and is a leading supplier of industrial polymers and synthetic microfibres. Kuraray Europe GmbH (KEG) was established in 1991 and is based in Hattersheim am Main, Germany. It has more than 700 employees in Germany and a further 200 at six other European sites. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuraray. In 2019 its annual sales were EUR 661 million.