TOKYO — May 15, 2019 — Toray Industries, Inc., announced today that President Akihiro Nikkaku accepted the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary for distinguished service to that nation. He is the second Japanese business leader to receive such an honor. Mr. Levente Magyar, Parliamentary State Secretary and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, bestowed the award in a ceremony at the Embassy of Hungary in Tokyo on May 13.
Toray has contributed much to economic development and employment in Hungary through Zoltek Zrt., a leading-edge carbon fiber composites manufacturer. That entity is a subsidiary of Zoltek Companies, Inc., of the United States, which Toray acquired in 2014.
Zoltek Zrt.’s aerospace, automotive, and wind turbine blade materials are pivotal for industrial advances in Hungary and throughout the European Union. Since 2018, that company has produced polyphenylene sulfide, a super-engineering plastic whose light weight and outstanding thermal and chemical resistance make it ideal for automotive powertrain and sensor applications.
The Toray Group will continue to innovate technologies and advanced materials in cultivating operations in Hungary to capitalize on emerging opportunities in the European market.
May 29, 2019
Source: Toray Industries, Inc.