ENEOS Materials' R&D is generally conducted at three locations: Yokkaichi (within the ENEOS Materials plant), Yokohama (within ENEOS Central Technical Research Laboratory, ENEOS Corporation), and Kawasaki (within Kawasaki Refinery, ENEOS Corporation).

At our Yokkaichi R&D base, we focus on material development, process development, and production technology development in our current core business areas of tires and lithium-ion rechargeable batteries.
We have world-class technical capabilities in the development of rubber for fuel-efficient tires, and we are actively addressing next-generation needs such as electric vehicles and sustainability. We are also developing materials that contribute to longer service lives for lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. We are utilizing emulsion technologies that we have cultivated since our founding to meet the need for things like higher capacity, higher voltage, and lower environmental impact.
In terms of process development and production technology development, our role is to ensure developed products, created in the R&D process, are high-quality products ready for sale. We are also doing things like designing overseas tire rubber production plants to contribute to global business expansion (new SSBR plants opened in Thailand in FY2013 and in Hungary in FY2020). In this way, we are able to do everything from R&D through to process and production technology development, manufacturing, and quality assurance at a single base (within plants), which is one of our strengths. We have recently started putting effort into utilizing digital technologies as well, including materials informatics, to accelerate the pace of R&D and production technology development.

At our Yokohama and Kawasaki bases, we focus on next-generation material development as a future profit center. Taking advantage of our strengths in the petrochemical field, we are incorporating new technologies to develop highly unique advanced materials.
We are focusing particularly on development of materials, including high heat-resistant thermosetting resins and low dielectric dissipation liquid crystal polymers, with potential applications in semiconductor encapsulation, next-generation mobile communication systems, and next-generation automobiles. Through a technical collaboration with the ENEOS Central Technical Research Laboratory of ENEOS Corporation, we will accelerate the pace of R&D by incorporating know-how in the areas of upstream raw materials and separation and refinement processes, and knowledge in the area of digital transformation.

ENEOS Materials is developing materials that support “today's normal,” and take the lead for “tomorrow's normal,” through co-creation with customers and academia. Leveraging the strengths of each base, we aim to contribute to society through our high-quality products.