Komatsu Celebrates 100 Years

Jul 28, 2021 - 4 years ago

Komatsu celebrated the company’s 100th anniversary in May, followed by a series of activities over the next year centered around the company’s commitment to its new brand promise of “creating value together.”

A video celebrating 100 years of creating value together can be found on the company’s website.
Originally established in 1921 in Komatsu City, Japan, to sustain the surrounding community after the closure of a nearby copper mine, Komatsu has spent the past century dedicated to its founding principles of quality first, technology and manufacturing innovation, global reach and people development. Through the years, Komatsu’s continued investment in core capabilities and strategic acquisitions have connected smart, diverse people and cutting-edge technologies with a shared belief that partnerships are the best way to solve challenges and meet society’s needs.

Komatsu’s purpose is a combination of its mission and vision, and honors the company’s legacy while looking toward the future.

Purpose
Creating value through manufacturing and technology innovation to empower a sustainable future where people, businesses and our planet thrive together.

Values

Ambition: With a 'challenging spirit' and without fear of failure, we innovate and always aspire to do more
Perseverance: Even when the work is difficult, we remain committed to our promise and reliably carry them through to completion
Collaboration: Creating value comes from teamwork, inclusion, respect, diversity and a win-win approach to all relationships
Authenticity: To earn and maintain trust, we always act with sincerity, integrity and honesty, and communicate transparency.

Brand promise
In our next 100 years, Komatsu will focus on supporting the mining, construction, forestry, industrial machinery and agriculture industries in their transformations to the digital workplace of the future: equipment and people, connected through smart technologies on an open platform, driving towards zero harm, zero waste and zero emissions. By helping to digitalize jobsites worldwide, our customers can optimize on-site operations towards a carbon-neutral environment.

Remaining true to Komatsu’s founding spirit, the company will continue to play an active role in supporting local communities with a specific emphasis on sustainability. As part of that commitment, last year Komatsu launched One World One Komatsu, a new online platform for Komatsu employees that challenges them to be a force for good at work, and at home. One World is a place where employees can take part in sustainability-focused campaigns and competitions, share ideas and engage with colleagues. Through One World, simple individual employee actions amplify Komatsu’s core business activities to create a collective global movement toward a more sustainable future together.

Komatsu’s Origin Story
Komatsu’s roots stretch back more than 100 years ago to a lush forest in Japan that was once home to a copper mine, vital to the surrounding community. Founder Meitaro Takeuchi was an entrepreneur with an extraordinary humanitarian vision, committed to enhancing the community’s quality of life, developing future generations and growing with society’s needs. Dedicated to the ideals of education for the people and determined to bring to Japan the latest industrial technology from abroad to help build a competitive, industrial nation, Takeuchi built a company by nurturing his community.

Komatsu Is Founded
When Takeuchi took over the Yusenji copper mine near Komatsu City, Japan in 1902, he funded projects to mechanize the mining processes and teach new skills to the people in the community. He established schools, sent his staff overseas to learn the latest techniques and purchased machines to help improve mine efficiency. At the same time, he funded and supported a department of science and engineering at Waseda University in Tokyo, as well as a local industrial school to significantly advance educational opportunities and options in the rural areas near Komatsu City.

Takeuchi also knew that the copper deposits in the mine would soon run out and was determined to provide a new source of employment for area residents, so in1917 he established Komatsu Iron Works, a machinery company for the maintaining of mining equipment. In May of 1921, he put together a group of investors and spun off the company to form Komatsu Ltd.

The new company began producing cast steel products, providing employment for many of those who had been dependent on the now-depleted mine. The first product produced was a press in 1924: a one-cylinder sheet-forming machine.

As Takeuchi and his team worked to grow operations, he remained true to his principles: quality first, technology innovation, globalization and development of people.

Though conventional wisdom at the time dictated that the company’s head office should be in Tokyo, Takeuchi felt strongly that the company must remain tied to, and benefit, the rural area where it was founded. He felt that if young people from the country were educated and trained by the company, they would remain loyal, long-time employees. That mutual commitment between company and community has been a vital part of Komatsu’s ability to weather challenges together and form lasting partnerships to meet the ever-evolving needs of society.
In 1931, as the Japanese government sought to mechanize the agricultural industry and transition away from animal-powered production, Komatsu was ready to supply the country with the first crawler farm tractor.
Leading up to World War II when Japanese defense budgets and naval construction increased, Komatsu teams helped fulfill the demand for a wide variety of products required by the military. Once the war ended, the government sought Komatsu’s assistance to increase production of agricultural tractors, plows and other equipment.

By the 1950s, Komatsu’s commitment to creating value through manufacturing and technology innovation went global as the company began exporting products and opening locations in other countries. Motor graders and hydraulic presses for Argentina in 1955 were the first Komatsu exports, followed by exports to China and Indonesia. In 1958 Komatsu founded its first liaison office in India. From 1964 to 1986 the company established offices, manufacturing plants and lasting partnerships with dealers in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa. As the company expanded around the world, Komatsu leveraged the strengths of global production while nurturing local leadership and creating value for their customers, investing in every community and supporting society wherever they worked. With each challenge faced, Komatsu teams pushed forward together, working to innovate, diversify into new markets and expand globally.

Komatsu Celebrates 100 Years

The Brand Legacy Lives On
Takeuchi’s vision and strong guiding principles stood the test of time. Through the years, Komatsu’s continued investment in core capabilities and strategic acquisitions have connected smart, diverse people and cutting-edge technologies with a shared belief that partnerships are the best way to solve challenges and meet society’s needs.

Komatsu’s philosophy is passed down from generation to generation through its principles, strategies, The Komatsu Way and the belief that Corporate Social Responsibility is part of our core business and the value we create. In regions across the globe, Komatsu continues to provide products and solutions which address social needs and give back to communities where they do business by leveraging skills and passion of their people.

Komatsu seeks to play an active role in supporting the long-term success of society through sustainable efforts that reach far beyond Komatsu. In line with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, the focus is on enhancing quality of life through products, services and solutions which accelerate sustainable infrastructure and energy/resource development, reducing carbon emissions and environmental impact throughout a value chain, developing Komatus’s and partners’ employees as well as increasing opportunities for skills development in our communities, and engaging with stakeholders to understand societal needs and work towards social solutions.
From Komatsu’s founding city to the global community in which they operate today, Komatsu knows they are stronger when they are creating value together.

Source: Komatsu