HISTORY

50 Years of History

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History of SHOWA INDUSTRIES,
which has been supporting the evolution of brushes

Established in 1971
Growth with roll brushes for the steelmaking industry

Showa history

The founder Kazuo Ishikawa, who was born in Hokkaido and worked as a sales representative for a brush manufacturer in Tokyo, founded a company in Osaka with the desire to start his own business. The company started to manufacture and sell brushes, mainly roll brushes for steelmaking companies. In the early years of the company’s founding, there was a shortage of gasoline due to the oil crisis, and employees sometimes had to load up on fuel for the return trip to make deliveries.
The founder was strict about quality and sometimes encouraged employees with the question, “Aren’t you ashamed of this quality?” He actively introduced testing and manufacturing machinery while promoting technological improvement. He also encouraged employees to take on challenges and did not blame employees for their failures.

Overview

November 1971
Ishikawa Kogyosho established in Kishiwada, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture
Started manufacturing and sale of brushes for steelmaking and general industrial use
June 1972
SHOWA INDUSTRIES CO., LTD. established (Capital: 1 million yen)
April 1973
Relocated the Head Office and plant to Goryo 2-chome, Daito City, Osaka Prefecture
November 1974
Increased capital to 4 million yen

Jointly developing tail seal brushes for shield machines and making a full-scale entry into the field of civil engineering

Showa history

While the use of underground spaces was progressing in Japan, the development of tail seal brushes for shield machines, which were conceived in the United Kingdom, continued in many countries. SHOWA INDUSTRIES participated in a joint development project with a construction equipment manufacturer and succeeded in developing a high-performance tail brush. The company entered a new business domain with the full-scale start of its production.
In the meanwhile, starting with a patent on the roll brush in 1980, the company acquired many patents and developed products for diverse applications based on its original ideas. The company also tirelessly improved brushes for steelmaking and began production of the SK Type Hyper-Tight Channel Roll Brush, which achieves both high density and high heat dissipation.

Overview

April 1985
Relocated the Tokyo Sales Office from Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture to Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama City for its expansion
January 1986
Constructed a new plant and installed manufacturing equipment on the company’s premises in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture
May 1986
Began production of tail seal brushes for shield tunneling machines
January 1989
For business expansion, newly established the Second Plant at Goryo 3-chome, Goryo, Daito City and moved the Head Office function and part of the First Plant there
February 1989
Increased capital to 12 million yen

Market expansion into LCD and medical fields
To improve the technology of precision brush manufacturing

Showa history

In the 2000s, SHOWA INDUSTRIES patented the SK Type Twin Tight Roll Brush, a cassette-type brush for steelmaking. The company is providing on-site guidance at overseas plants to roll out the brush systems in earnest.
Meanwhile, it established a new plant in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture, where it set up a clean booth and introduced high-precision measuring equipment to meet the high cleanliness requirements of brushes for display-related products (LCDs, plasma displays, organic EL displays), refining its high-precision brush manufacturing technology. The company also started manufacturing endoscope cleaning brushes that meet the strict tolerance level of a brush outer diameter of 0.1 mm.

Overview

July 2001
Expanded the Second Plant and merged the Head Office First Plant and the Head Office Second Plant into the Head Office Plant
August 2001
Appointed Tomoyuki Arai as Representative Director
January 2003
Constructed the F-1 Workshop for manufacturing roll brushes for LCDs at the Fukuyama Plant site
March 2005
Extended the Fukuyama Plant for business expansion
July 2008
Subsidy for supporting prototyping and development of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises and small-sized enterprise operators for FY2012 granted
December 2009
Began production of endoscope cleaning brushes at the F-1 Workshop in the Fukuyama Plant

High-performance, high-precision brush manufacturing enabled through the development of brushes for semiconductors

Showa history

While the manufacture of large brushes for steelmaking and civil engineering applications remains strong, SHOWA INDUSTRIES is seeking new possibilities to work on development of manufacturing technologies for high-performance brushes and high-precision brushes. With regard to the “brush-based flexible fiber conditioner for semiconductor manufacturing processes,” on which the company has long been involved in joint research, the company verified its effectiveness and presented the scientific evidence at several professional conferences. The company has also established the technology for manufacturing #1 channels with a width of 1.1 mm, leading to the realization of Coriolis-type flowmeter cleaning brushes.

Overview

May 2010
For business expansion, relocated the Head Office, Osaka Sales Office and Head Office Plant to Deguchi 1-chome, Hirakata City as the Head Office, Osaka Sales Office, and Hirakata Plant
September 2010
Opened the Fukuyama Office for business expansion
September 2015
Established SHOWA HOLDINGS CO., LTD. as a holding company
October 2015
Established SHOWA INDUSTRIES INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD. to promote new business
January 2018
Established the H-1 Workshop for development and installation of automated manufacturing equipment at the Hirakata Plant site
November 2018
Appointed Tomoyuki Arai as Chairman and Representative Director and Yutaro Arai as President and Representative Director
February 2019
Supplementary subsidy for improvement of manufacturing, commerce and service management capabilities for FY2017 granted
June 2019
Supplementary subsidy for improvement of manufacturing, commerce and service productivity for FY2018 granted

Brush functionality for all kinds of job sites

Showa Future

The development and manufacture of industrial brushes still relies in large part on the ideas and skills of engineers.
SHOWA INDUSTRIES has been providing brushes made using various manufacturing methods, in various sizes and with various functionalities to the world by sincerely responding to the demands for brushes required at all kinds of manufacturing sites. The diversity of technology and flexibility refined by these achievements will be the driving force for the future growth of SHOWA INDUSTRIES. Energy, medicine, space industry, science... the possibilities for brush functionality are still expanding. SHOWA INDUSTRIES will continue to boldly take on challenges to what has not been available yet in the world and support a wide range of industries through its brushes while refining and passing on its technologies.