Business Activities and Sustainability

Since the company's founding in April 1968, the JCU Group has supported the growth of the automotive,electronics, and other industries with a focus on providing a variety of surface treatment technologies that grew out of decorative and rust-proof plating technologies.
Our long-term goal is to become a ‶global company that continues to grow sustainably," a company that manages its business in a way that links its operations to ESG and SDGs, and a company that is able to survive in any country.
As a comprehensive manufacturer of surface treatment technologies, we are committed to continue to work tirelessly to meet the diverse demands of our customers.

Overview and Strategy of Our Chemicals Business

In our chemicals business, we are engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of surface treatment chemicals, and the sale of related materials for the Japanese and international markets . Our R&D strategies for our chemicals business consist of “R&D that is conscious of the environment, cost, and health” and “R&D that outperforms our competitors.”

We have been expanding international sales with a focus on chemicals for automotive parts and printed circuit boards, and as a result, the share of international sales of our chemicals business has grown to nearly 80%.

In order to continue sustainable growth, we will move forward with our global sales strategy and carry out concerted and efficient sales activities.

In terms of production, we operate our own production plants in five countries overseas, in addition to our mother plant in Japan, and have established a system that ensures a stable supply of high-quality products globally. While providing the same quality and service in all regions around the world, we aim to improve sales through initiatives that incorporate strategies for development, production, pricing, and public relations that are coordinated across the group.

Decorative and Functional Fields

In the decorative and functional fields, we manufacture and sell chemicals mainly used with automotive parts and faucet hardware.

Demand for chemicals in this fields is expected to grow moderately over the long term. Environmentally friendly plating chemicals products have become essential with the increasing popularity of electric vehicles and other environmental conservation initiatives.

With respect to environmentally friendly products, we are developing and will be bringing to the market as soon as possible processes that do not use environmentally regulated chemical substances such as hexavalent chromium, and processes for developing variations of design plating for diverse designs.

Electronics Field

In the electronics field, we manufacture and sell chemicals used for high-density printed circuit boards and semiconductor package substrates, mainly for smartphones, PCs, tablets, and servers. In addition to our mainstay products such as the “via filling copper sulfate plating process” and “etching process for fine wiring formation,” we are also developing technologies for reducing the environmental impact of entire supply chains with the use of our products, including processes that shorten our customers’ production processes.

Looking to the future, we will continue to contribute to a sustainable society by developing products that adapt to increasingly sophisticated and demanding technologies that are spurred by the rise of automated driving and generative AI.

Overview and Strategy of Our Equipment Business

In our equipment business, both in Japan and overseas, we are involved in everything from design to manufacturing and sales.

Our fully automated and precisely developed surface treatment equipment are used in a variety of sectors, including the automotive and electronics-related industries. Based on the concept of “integrated sales of systems and chemicals,” which has been our philosophy since the time our company was founded, our equipment division also takes part in the R&D of chemicals. And through verifications̶from the viewpoint of equipment mechanisms̶of technical issues that cannot be resolved with chemicals alone, we promote the development and sales of differentiated equipment that maximize the performance of chemicals. In addition to plating equipment, we also sell printed circuit board etching and cleaning equipment that use plasma technology which has a high affinity with chemicals, and other equipment that support high-density manufacturing technologies.