Around Town Business
Kaneka Aerospace
Introduction to the Community
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Genevieve Hand
At the outer edges of the Benicia Industrial Park is a business that is on the cutting edge of the aerospace business. Kaneka Aerospace is creating specialty solutions that address challenges and needs for the next generation of aerospace through their lightweight and durable resins, polymers, and composites. The business was established through the acquisition of the privately owned company API in 2017 and has doubled its production footprint since. Kaneka Aerospace is a subsidiary of Kaneka Corporation, a 73-year-old company founded in Osaka, Japan, which now has a footprint in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania. Its legacy products are polyvinyl chloride polymers (PVC), which launched them into business fields that include synthetic fibers, electronics, renewable energy, life science and healthcare, nutrition and agriculture, and beyond. Kaneka’s mission statement: “Kaneka is committed to our customers, employees, and social responsibility. United in our creation of products that are safer, smarter and healthier.” “Hold in your hands To that end, Kaneka North America established the the future you have Kaneka Foundation which always dreamed regularly makes charitable contributions to socially and of. We are a highly environmentally oriented nonprofit organizations, perceptive and has developed an employee volunteer collaborative valueprogram (Kaneka KARES), creating group or, and offers employee volunteer grants, corporate as we like to say, scholarships, and grants for natural disasters. a ‘Dreamology According to the General Company.’” Manager of Kaneka Aerospace, Dr. Ekaterina Ryjkina, the company is looking forward to becoming a good neighbor and corporate 20 • Benicia Magazine
citizen, and a well-known partner in meeting the varied needs of our community. “We are working closely with the Benicia Community Foundation (BCF) and have already started building some significant community involvement through a generous donation to BCF last year. It is important for us to have a local partner to better understand where our involvement and resources are needed most. We have had very open and productive discussions with the foundation’s Chair, David Batchelor, about what we could do together to provide financial sponsorship and our employee’s support for many of the community-need initiatives.” Dr. Ryjkina has had an impressive international career that has taken her from native Russia to Germany, Canada, and many other countries. She has an educational background in chemistry and has since moved into management and leadership roles for global market leaders, building a reputation for “transformational turnarounds” with mindfulness toward long-term value creation. Part of her long-term strategy for Kaneka Aerospace and Benicia includes more community involvement, particularly in the area of education. Ekaterina has dreams of motivating and inspiring the young people of Benicia, especially girls, for a career in technology, engineering, and yes, aerospace. “I personally believe that a major impact we can have on our future is to invest in the education of the next generation. Kaneka employees are willing to contribute resources and personal involvement in the technical educational programs and workshops, including organized visits to our facility and internships for those who would like to learn about the remarkable world of leading-edge industries like Composites and Aerospace.” We look forward to learning more about what Ekaterina and Kaneka Aerospace have in store for our community.
