Company History Chugai Ro's History

When World War II ended in August 1945, many Japanese companies went bankrupt due to declining production capacity and inflation. In such a social climate, Chugai Furnace Manufacturing, which was established in April 1945, took steps to strengthen its technical team and made its name known in various industries by publishing technical manuals, etc., and received many orders for forging furnaces, heat treatment furnaces, drying furnaces, etc. In 1950, special procurement demand due to the Korean War helped the company gradually establish a firm foothold in the steel industry. The company's business activities are still going strong today.
In May 1954, we signed a technical cooperation agreement with Surface Conversion, Inc. The introduction of overseas technology supported the development of metal heat treatment technology in Japan.

The technical tie-up with an overseas company met the needs of the industry at the time, which was eager to introduce the latest facilities and equipment, and the company grew significantly along with Japan, which experienced remarkable growth, increasing its GNP by 3.5 times over the past 10 years.
We also focused on air conditioning, which was not even recognized in Japan at the time, and sold dehumidification equipment. We steadily increased our line of business by entering into technical contracts with overseas companies for secondary processing equipment such as film, paper, and metal coating lines.
It was also around this time that the company began to aggressively expand its business operations, opening the Kokura Plant and the Kashima Plant in Osaka City, as well as a sales office in Nagoya.

Although the first five years of the "Izanagi Boom" saw the Japanese economy continue to boom, the second half saw the "Nixon Shock" and the "First Oil Shock" bring the Japanese economy to a standstill. In the midst of this situation, we not only delivered many of the latest walking-beam heating furnaces to the steel industry, which continued to grow dramatically, and secured an overwhelming share of the market, but also delivered a succession of annealing rare earths, essential for the production of CRT televisions, which were mainstream at the time, to domestic and overseas manufacturers, securing an exclusive market share from 1980 onward. In addition, we delivered a succession of annealing rears, which were indispensable for the production of CRT televisions, the mainstream item at the time, to domestic and overseas manufacturers, leading to our securing an exclusive market share from 1980 onward.

After the second oil crisis in 1979, soaring crude oil prices led to active oil field drilling outside of the OPEC countries, which in turn led to a rush of orders for seamless steel pipes from Japanese steel makers. In response to this capital investment, we delivered a large number of equipment using the latest technology. In addition, we proposed and received orders for the latest type of fluidized bed furnaces in the sewage field, which was expected to grow significantly at that time, especially in the sludge incinerator field where our thermal and combustion technologies could be put to use, and we overcame the severe market conditions.
This decade also marked the beginning of the passing down of the founding spirit to a new generation, as the top management of the company passed from the founder, Masao Tanikawa, to Muneyuki Kosei and then to Hiromasa Maekawa.

Despite the arrival of an unprecedented bubble economy in this period, the Company struggled, experiencing operating losses. However, it was able to achieve a significant recovery in business performance due to aggressive public capital investment in the sewerage system, which had been the focus of the Company's efforts for some time. At the same time, the company was promoting fundamental reforms within the company, and in 1991, Tadashi Tanigawa replaced Hiromasa Maekawa as Representative Director, while continuing to work diligently to improve efficiency throughout the company.
Therefore, even as the yen appreciated and the economy plunged into recession after 1990, we continued to grow steadily, thanks in part to the fact that we dared to concentrate on the development of thermal technology without getting deeply involved in real estate or stock investments.

Between the 50th and 60th anniversaries of the company's founding, in-depth management and operational improvements were promoted. These included the establishment of an in-house drafting organization that introduced the latest CAD technology, the integration of the design function with the manufacturing headquarters, the construction of an in-house network, and the aggressive adoption of IT technology such as 3D CAD for the next era.
In addition to management reforms, the company also strongly promoted research and development during this period and struggled to create new products such as high-performance industrial furnaces, thermal storage-type exhaust gas treatment equipment, precision coating equipment for plasma displays and other flat-screen TVs that were expected to become popular, and biomass gasification and power generation equipment. It was a decade that could be described as an era of pioneering new technologies.

In 2005, the engineering staff at the head office, which constituted the majority of the company's workforce, was concentrated at the Sakai Plant, which became the Sakai Office, and the integration of engineering and manufacturing technologies was promoted at a rapid pace. During the difficult decade that followed, new products such as precision coating systems for display manufacturing and photovoltaic cell manufacturing equipment became a major pillar of our earnings, driven by the growth of various industries, and we maintained solid performance even during the global financial crisis that began in 2008.
In 2012 and beyond, the slowdown of the Chinese economy caused the company to once again enter a difficult phase, but it was able to achieve a recovery in business performance through aggressive proposals for capital investment by Japanese automakers, which were performing well, as well as a comprehensive review of purchasing and procurement costs. In overcoming these difficulties, President & CEO Yoshihiko Sato (2006-) and President & CEO Yuji Nishimoto (2013-) made management decisions with an eye on business conditions.

As the world's situation changes more rapidly than people can imagine, Chugai Furnace Manufacturing has continued to evolve in order to deliver products that meet the needs of our customers. This belief has been passed down from generation to generation based on our management philosophy of "creating new value through thermal technology. In this new decade, we will continue to create new values that steadily meet the needs of the times, aiming for a prosperous society where people and the earth coexist in harmony, based on the wealth of experience and achievements we have accumulated over the years to become a 100-year company.