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CorporateOverview

Unique technologies, unrivalled skills, niche markets.

About Us

Corporate Strategy

Maximizing expertise to gain global market share.
Yamauchi’s corporate strategy is “Be niche,Go global.”

Be niche,Go global

At Yamauchi, we offer a broad variety of products, covering everything from resin parts for hard disk drives as small as 2 millimeters in diameter, to papermaking rolls up to 11 meters in length. All of our products offer advanced functions that made possible by our unparalleled expertise. We have no “standard” product; using original technologies, we produce everything specifically to meet the performance and function requirements of each customer, and that’s why our products are utterly unique and not available anywhere else. Backed by more than 100 years of experience, our vast expertise is known and trusted by leading manufacturers in various industries the world over. Our corporate strategy says it all: Be niche,Go global.

Corporate Overview

Our Journey

The fact that our products have been used in various products in Japan and around the world gives testimony to Yamauchi’s expertise and superior technologies.

The Be niche,Go global strategy is based on our many past successes. One of these was the pinch roller* for video cassette recorders. Offering high quality and high performance thanks to original Yamauchi technologies, this part achieved a worldwide market share of more than 90% in the 1980s. For the paper manufacturing industry, we provide urethane rolls. In 1963, Yamauchi made a papermaking press roll (High Top Roll) from polyurethane for the first time in the world. This made “Yamauchi — The technology-oriented company” known worldwide. Since then, Yamauchi has continuously progressed based on the Be niche,Go global strategy.
Today, the company provides a stream of products with huge potential for future growth, such as vibration insulation rubber for disk drives, torque limiters for copy machines and banknote verification systems, and high-performance cushioning (YOM, Top Board) for press use.
*Rubber pinch rollers press video tape against a capstan in a tape recorder to ensure smooth,constant-speed tape transport.

Precision Molded Resin Parts

Pinch rollers for video cassette recorders

YOM & Top Board

Polyurethane roll for papermaking (High Top Roll)

Yamauchi’s advanced technologies and speedy development capabilities provide customer solutions.

Product development is a race against time. We have to present prototypes to our customers as soon as possible. We also need to conduct R&D activities to improve product performance and quality in the shortest possible time. Yamauchi conducts various types of R&D in response to diverse customer needs in order to achieve the best results. For example, when we develop parts for a product that must be introduced to market at the most opportune time, such as a disk drive and audio/visual equipment, we use a unique system that we called YQR (Yamauchi Quick Response). For a rubber product to isolate vibration, we can complete a series of processes ranging from computer simulation of the product characteristics to production of molds and delivery of prototypes in only three days. This helps to reduce the customer’s R&D turnaround time. For the paper manufacturing industry and others that require various parameter settings for improving product performance and reliability, we invest ample personnel and time to develop products that far exceed the performance of previous products.

For nearly a century since its foundation in 1918, Yamauchi has been contributing to society as a company that specializes in the manufacture of industrial rubber and plastic products. Today, Yamauchi supplies high-quality industrial parts to manufacturers of various products in diverse fields, such as audio and visual products, copy machines, printers, disk drives, papermaking machines and textile machines. In recent years, the company has begun developing a number of products that may well become global standards.

To respond to a wide range of needs of manufacturers around the world, Yamauchi conducts dynamic business activities in collaboration with other
Yamauchi Group Companies.

Name
Yamauchi Corporation

Representative
Takao Yamauchi, CEO and President

Foundation
April 1918

Incorporation
March 1948

Head office address
2-7, Shodai-tajika, Hirakata, Osaka, Japan
TEL：072-856-1130　FAX：072-868-3310

Capital
¥240,000,000

Number of employees
On a non-consolidated base: 396 persons (including 57 part-timers)
On a consolidated base: 2,150 persons

Yamauchi has built and fostered technologies,customer confidence, and a global network since 1918.

The history of Yamauchi can be divided roughly into five phases. The first was the “inception period” in which Yamauchi expanded its business in Osaka Prefecture by acquiring companies in the western part of Japan. In the second phase, the “technological development period,” the company focused on developing original products based on composition technology and the development of precision processing technologies that would enhance product functions. In the third phase, the “domestic base expansion period,” the company built factories one after another in Japan to expand its customer-oriented sales network. Yamauchi then established overseas subsidiaries and factories with the aim of achieving global business growth in the fourth phase, the “overseas business expansion period.” In the fifth phase, the “period of challenging global standards,” Yamauchi set out to achieve compliance with ISO, REACH, CSR and other major standards, mainly in China, the ASEAN nations and the European Union. The following milestone events mark each of those periods.

Corporate History

1st Period
2nd Period
3rd Period
4th Period
5th Period

Inception Period — 1918 to 1950

1918 to 1950: Yamauchi began selling industrial parts mainly in Osaka City.
It then expanded business by merging with companies in Japan.

1918 April
Founded in Ikuno-ku, Osaka by Suezo Yamauchi.
Began manufacturing automotive fan belts.

1941 November
Began manufacturing flat belts by the order of the Ministry of Marine.

1943 January
Began manufacturing large rubber rolls.

1948 March
Yamauchi Rubber Industries, Ltd. was established with capital of ¥6,000,000.

1950 November
Began manufacturing textile machine rubber parts, the first time in Japan.

Osaka Factory at the time of the company’s foundation.

Statue of founder Suezo Yamauchi.

Technological Development Period — 1950 to 1975

Yamauchi introduced products that solidified the business foundation of the company.
The company focused on the development of technologies based on Composite Science.

1956 May
Entered into a technical tie-up with Armstrong Co. (U.S.A.) to produce textile machine parts.

1959 July
Developed rubber magnets (elastic magnets) and became Japan’s sole manufacturer of rubber magnets for refrigerators.

1960 November
Succeeded in developing its first heat-resistant press cushion board (Top Board, patented) and became Japan’s sole manufacturer and seller of the product.

1963 November
Succeeded in developing its first waterproof sealing material (Sealant) for construction applications.

11964 April
Became an investment candidate of the Osaka Small and Medium Business Investment & Consultation Co., Ltd. for its technological development capabilities.

1965 January
Succeeded in developing its first urethane roll (High Top Roll).

1971 June
Began large-scale mass production of a newly developed magnetic sheet (elastic magnets).

1975 March
Succeeded in developing a corrosion-resistant tape (Petra Tape).

Hirakata Factory at the time of establishment.

Commuter bus in the early years.

Domestic Base Expansion Period — 1965 to 1987

Yamauchi built major factories one after another in Japan.
The company also expanded sales bases to respond better to customer needs.

1968 January
Moved to the newly constructed head office building and plant in Hirakata City, Osaka, and increased capital to ¥150 million.

1971 June
Completed the first construction phase of the Kanuma Factory in Kanuma City, Tochigi, and began full-scale factory operation.

1976 December
Installed a large press and consolidated heat-resistant press cushion board production lines.

1978 March
Completed a production system for audio and office equipment parts after a two-year construction period.

1979 December
Opened sales offices in Sendai, Mito, Tokyo, Kumagaya, Nagoya, Matsumoto, Kanazawa, Matsuyama, Fukuoka and others, and increased capital to ¥240 million.

1980 April
Constructed a new building and facilities for urethane roll production at the Kanuma Factory.

1981 December
Constructed Kyoto Osadano Factory No.1 in Fukuchiyama City, Kyoto, to consolidate production lines for audio and visual equipment parts, and began full-scale operation.

1981 December
Hirakata Factory expanded the resin magnet production system, and began operating the new facilities.

1986 November
Completed Kyoto Osadano Factory No. 2 in Fukuchiyama City, Kyoto, and began operation.

1987 March
Changed the company name to Yamauchi Corporation.

Osadano Factory at the time of establishment.

Kanuma Factory at the present time.

Overseas Business Expansion Period — 1979 to 2000

Looking toward global markets, Yamauchi established overseas subsidiaries and factories.
The company also actively promoted technical affiliations with overseas companies.