Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd.

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Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd.

Shin-Ohtemachi Building
2-1, Ohtemachi 2-chome
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100
Japan
(03) 3245-4321
Fax: (03) 3245-4337

Public Company
Incorporated: 1934 as Sumitomo Machine Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
Employees: 6,000
Sales: ¥369.37 billion (US$2.57 billion)
Stock Exchanges: Tokyo Osaka Nagoya Frankfurt

Sumitomo Heavy Industries, one of the major companies affiliated with the Sumitomo Group of Japan, manufactures industrial machinery and equipment, and is one of Japan’s foremost shipbuilders. It is also the leading maker of mass-production machinery, including injection molding machines and actuators.

The Sumitomo Group traces its origins to the 17th century when Masatomo Sumitomo opened a medicine and book shop in Kyoto and laid the foundation for the family’s business involvement over future generations. Upon Sumitomo’s death in 1652, his brother-in-law, Riemon Soga, became head of the Sumitomo family. Soga’s earlier experience as an apprentice in a copper refinery influenced the company to shift toward that industry. In 1590 Soga had opened his own shop in Kyoto called the Izumiya and adopted the igeta, or well frame, symbol as Izumiya’s logo. The igeta was registered as the trademark for the Sumitomo Group in 1885 and later adopted by Sumitomo Heavy Industries and most of the other affiliates.

By 1888, the company’s mining operations had expanded sufficiently to warrant the opening of a machinery production and repair shop at Sumitomo’s Besshi copper mine. In 1897 Sumitomo established the Uraga Dock Company for shipbuilding. In 1934 the Besshi machine shop was merged with Uraga Dock to form Sumitomo Machine Manufacturing Company, which functioned as a subsidiary of the Sumitomo zaibatsu, or conglomerate.

Over the next 11 years, the company’s name was changed several times, from Sumitomo Machine Manufacturing Company to Sumitomo Machinery Company, in 1940, and to Shikoku Machinery Company, in 1945. As one of Japan’s leading industrial concerns, the Sumitomo zaibatsu was disrupted significantly by military action during World War II. After 1945, the zaibatsu was broken up into independent companies, in compliance with the orders of the Supreme Commander of Allied Powers (SCAP). These orders gradually were relaxed over the next decade, allowing the Sumitomo affiliates to reestablish ties with each other and coordinate planning activities.

In 1952, Shikoku Machinery Company again became Sumitomo Machinery Company. In 1957, Sumitomo Machinery opened its first overseas office, in New York City. In 1959, it established its Nagoya manufacturing plant and also incorporated Shin Nippon Machine Manufacturing to produce turbines, pumps, fasteners, blowers, and heat exchangers.

Sumitomo Machinery opened Japan Air Filter Company, Ltd. in 1960 to produce air purifying equipment and dust collectors. In 1962, the company formed the Hiratsuka Research Laboratory to develop cryogenic technology. Overseas expansion continued over the next several years, with the opening of a London office in 1964 and the establishment of Sumitomo Machinery Corporation of America in 1966, including a production plant for power-transmission equipment in New Jersey. The plant was transferred to a larger facility in Virginia in 1988. In 1969 Sumitomo Machinery Company merged with Uraga Heavy Industries to form Sumitomo Heavy Industries.

The 1970s were a period of consistent growth and development for Sumitomo. It incorporated Sumitomo Jukikai Environment in 1971 to build water-treatment plants and manufacture industrial waste-disposal equipment. After completing the world’s largest forging press in 1971, the company inaugurated the Oppama Shipyard and Toyo Works in 1972 and incorporated Lightwell Company in 1973 to design and produce data-processing equipment and software. Sumitomo established its Systems Research Laboratory in 1975.

Internationally, Sumitomo acquired an interest in Cyclo Getriebébau Lorenz Braren GmbH in West Germany and established Sumitomo Maquinas Pesadas do Brasil in 1974. It opened an office in Singapore in 1979. New products included the first cyclotron medical diagnosis system in 1972. Sumitomo also launched Japan’s first supertanker in 1975.

In 1980 Sumitomo launched Japan’s first gas turbine naval escort ship, and in 1982 completed the Kinokawa Maru, the world’s first voice-controlled ship. The company also received an order for the Nippon Maru, Japan’s first original-design schooner, for training merchant mariners. The Nippon Maru was launched in 1984.

These developments were bittersweet, however. Stagnation and excessive capacity in the shipbuilding industry forced Sumitomo to deliver its ships at a loss throughout most of the decade, a disappointment when compared to the profits of the previous ten years. Only the continued growth of Sumitomo’s machinery divisions, the construction boom in Japan, and internal cost reductions enabled the company to improve profits.

The company focused on technology and software engineering during the 1980s. It entered the business of electron beam accelerators in 1986 by buying Radiation Dynamics. The following year Sumitomo began developing the world’s smallest syncotron for making computer chips. This operation brought together the cryogenic, vacuum, superconducting, and accelerating technologies in which Sumitomo had gained expertise since the establishment of the Hiratsuka Research Laboratory. In 1987, Osaka University ordered a large cyclotron from Sumitomo. In 1989 Sumitomo entered a joint agreement with CGR-MeV, of France, to work on high-energy linear accelerators.

The firm incorporated Sumitomo Heavy Industries Forging in 1980 to manufacture casting and forging equipment and Sumitomo (S.H.I.) Construction Machinery Company in 1986 to manufacture construction equipment. Several acquisitions during the 1980s strengthened the company’s base of operations. These include Nittoku Metal Industries, Ltd., in 1984, which led to the establishment of the precision-products group; Radiation Dynamics in 1986, Lumonics Inc. of Canada, the largest laser equipment manufacturer in the world, in 1988; and RPC Industries of San Francisco, California, a manufacturer of low-energy machines, in 1989. Sumitomo also entered the real estate business in 1988 to redevelop idle facilities into more profitable endeavors. The company incorporated SHI Resort Development Company the following year, to turn its old Kawama works site into a seaside resort area.

In 1989 Shigeru Gohda was named company chairman and Masataka Kubo was named president. Sumitomo Heavy Industries continues to focus on its main manufacturing areas, producing iron and steel production systems, presses, loading and unloading systems, physical distribution systems, printing machines, precision dies, aircraft components, heavy steel structures, and other products. Future strategies for growth center on expanding the company’s involvement in advanced fields such as semiconductor-manufacturing systems, accelerator science and technology, cryogenics and superconductivity technology, biotechnology, nuclear engineering, and mechatronics. Sumitomo plans to expand its international presence through export sales, joint ventures, and technology transfer.

Principal Subsidiaries

Shin Nippon Machine Mfg., Ltd.; Sumitomo Heavy Industries Forging, Ltd.; Sumitomo Jukikai Environment, Inc.; Japan Air Filter Co., Ltd.; Sumitomo (S.H.I.) Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.; Lightwell Co., Ltd.