History of the business

Here, we present the history of each of our businesses, from their beginning to the present, in History of Divisions.

• Ship & Offshore

  With the belief that the shipbuilding industry carried the fate of the nation, Kawasaki Tsukiji Shipyard was established in 1878, with shipbuilding as the origin of our company’s business expansion.

• Rolling Stock

  The Unga Branch Works was opened in 1906, and since then, we have constructed various rolling stock and railway systems, such as electric trains, freight cars, and locomotives, including diesel locomotives.

• Aerospace Systems

  Taking note of the success of aircraft overseas, we began manufacturing airplanes in 1918, and have since branched out into a wide range of businesses as one of Japan’s leading manufacturers of aircraft and aircraft engines.

• Aircraft engine

  In 1907, Kawasaki Aircraft Co., Ltd. opened a factory in Akashi and has handled various products from our jet engine overhauling business.

• Plant Engineering

  In 1880, Kawasaki began manufacturing boilers and other marine machinery. Along with the active expansion of the land-based department, the company expanded into various industrial machinery and other businesses.

• Energy & Marine Machinery

  We started manufacturing marine steam turbines in 1907 (Meiji 40), and since then, our business has branched out while expanding our product areas from the sea to land.

• Motorcycles &
  Engines

  Around 1949, Kawasaki Aircraft began developing motorcycle engines before later starting the integrated production of motorcycles.

  

• Precision Machinery

  In 1916, we introduced steering gear technology from overseas for use on merchant ships and cruisers. Since then, we have developed and produced a wide range of hydraulic machinery and systems.

• Robot

  In 1968, we entered a technical tie-up with overseas, and we started the production and sale of the first Japanese-made industrial robots the following year.