History

On January 15, 1914, Ube Shinkawa Ironworks was born with about 70 employees and 100,000 yen in capital.
The company started with a one-story wooden factory consisting of four buildings: one each for lathe, finishing, casting, can manufacturing, forging, and boiler.
The company's main products in its early years were coal mining machinery, including winders, coal wagons, pumps, and crushers.
In 1917, four years after its founding, the company was reorganized as Ube Ironworks Co.

In 1924, at Ube Cement Manufacturing, which had been established the previous year, a huge kiln (*) with a diameter of 3 meters and a length of 50 meters.
The people at that time were talking about "how a huge cannon was installed toward Kyushu".
Ube Ironworks was involved in the manufacture of key devices for the kiln, including the undercooler.

(*) A kiln is used for firing cement, insulators, ceramics, etc.

After the inauguration of the Okinoyama Coal Mine in 1897, Ube Ironworks, a mining machinery company, Ube Cement Manufacturing, which uses Ube coal and its waste soil, and Ube Nitrogen Industry, which uses Ube coal as fuel and raw materials, were successively established.
These companies developed based on Ube's human resources and capital, and were conscious of the prosperity of the region.
On March 10, 1942, under the tightening of the war situation and the severer control economy, these four companies, which also had Ube's coal as a background, merged to establish Ube Industries, Ltd.
Ube Machinery Works was established as one of the plants of Ube Industries.

In the process of seeking new opportunities for machinery products after the war, there were several areas that were strategically developed.
One of them was to enter the electric power industry, with which we had a relationship through its coal-related machinery business.
With postwar reconstruction underway, we began supplying screen equipment to thermal power plants, which were in the midst of a construction boom due to increased demand for electricity. This equipment removed jellyfish and dust from seawater used to cool generators, contributing greatly to the stable supply of electric power.
We have been manufacturing this equipment since its pioneering period, and have established an unshakeable position in this field up to the present day.

The first result of a business tour to Europe and the U.S. was a technical tie-up with LOESCHE AG of West Germany for mills, shaft-kilns, and pelletizers. The vertical mill* manufactured by us in the cooperation had many advantages over conventional tube mills, such as compactness, low noise, and low cost, and gradually gained recognition for its performance.
While we lost its mainstay products due to the change in energy structure from coal to oil and suffered from slow growth in new orders, new businesses such as vertical mills, limestone calcination furnaces, and diesel engines, which were launched through aggressive technical cooperation with European, American, and Japanese companies, contributed greatly to the modernization of Ube Machinery Works.
(*) A vertical mill is a device that crushes cement materials and coal by crushing and grinding them between a rotating table and rollers.

Japan was in the midst of a period of rapid economic growth, and demand for quicklime, which is used in cement, steelmaking, and other industries, was rapidly increasing.
Ube Machinery Works, which had a number of quicklime manufacturers and users among its affiliated companies, was in desperate need of a calcination kiln that could increase the purity of the quicklime and ensure stable production.
Against this backdrop, in 1966, Ube Machinery Works completed and delivered its first Beckenbach kiln (limestone calcination furnace) through a technical tie-up with the West German company.
The kiln improved the quality of quicklime and significantly reduced production costs, and it was greatly welcomed by users of quicklime supplies.

As the world entered the plastic age during the heyday of home appliances, and our die casting machine business was getting on track, we decided to enter the injection molding machine industry, which had a much larger market, because the die clamping device could be shared with die casting machines, and as a plastic manufacturer, we could sell plastic along with the machines.
In March 1967, an injection molding machine with screw-in-line system was developed in-house, and in September of the same year, an injection molding machine was launched through a technical tie-up with BorgWarner Inc. of the U.S.
With ABS resin developed by the Chemical Division, we began sales of injection molding machines and received orders from the domestic automobile industry and other customers.

As the high economic growth progressed, the trend toward larger models manufactured by Ube Machinery Works was further accelerated.
However, the production capacity of the existing plant had already reached its limit. In 1968, the decision was made to relocate and build a new plant on a large site that included the former site of the closed Okinoyama Coal Mine and its adjacent land. The new plant was completed in 1972, after a thorough pursuit of the best layout for the most rational process sequence from processing of materials and parts, assembly, to shipping.
Thus, over a period of five years and at a total cost of 8.7 billion yen, Ube Machinery Works was transformed into a group of plants equipped with large, high-performance, state-of-the-art facilities.

Since the delivery of the initial die casting machine in 1962, larger and larger machines have been produced.
However, after the oil crisis, the automobile industry, which was the main user of die casting machines, became even more fuel-efficient, and aluminum parts were increasingly used to reduce the weight of car bodies.
We anticipated this trend from an early stage and aimed to develop a no-burr die casting machine.
Without burrs, the finishing process can be simplified and the die casting machine can be operated unmanned in the casting process, resulting in significant labor savings.
As a result of trial and error, we succeeded in developing the world's first fully automatic no-burr die casting machine "UNI-FF," which incorporates a computer in all processes from aluminum casting to product removal from the mold.
Then, our UNI-FF received orders from major Japanese automakers, and we expanded our supply to the Big Three automakers as well as other automakers in Europe and the U.S.

In the business of injection molding machines, in 1976, we launched its proprietary "UBEMAX injection molding machine," which incorporated an in-line screw system.
This machine is equipped with a high-cycle toggle mechanism in the mold clamping unit and achieves overwhelming energy savings compared to conventional machines.
Similar to our die casting machines, sales of injection molding machines grew as a result of the increased use of plastics for the purpose of reducing the weight of automobiles.
We produced the world's largest toggle-type injection molding machine at the time, with a clamping force of 2500 metric tons, and later, more than 3000 metric tons, and supplied the machine to almost all automobile manufacturers in the world.
Not satisfied with the delivery of the machine, we made continuous efforts to improve the quality of the machine, and this sincere attitude led to the receipt of a very large order in the U.S. years later.

In order to respond to the changing times of energy conservation, our industrial machinery business products have promoted the improvement of existing models as well as the incorporation of new technologies. As a result, each model of industrial machinery, such as cement manufacturing machinery, achieved both scale effects and energy savings.
In the business of mill equipment, the "UBE-LOESCHE Mill LM/42" was developed to realize the "one kiln, one mill" method, which greatly contributes to reducing equipment and running costs in cement production, and boasted a production capacity of 550 tons per hour, the largest in the world at the time.

After the oil crisis, Ube Industries worked hard to add value to its products, especially in the energy conservation efforts.
At the same time, we planned to construct the Kosan Ohashi Bridge, a large-scale bridge that would be the culmination of the Ube Industries private road (a dedicated automobile road between Isa and Ube) for the development of the entire Ube region.
This bridge was to be built at the mouth of the 800-meter wide river between Okinoyama and Nishi Okinoyama, and had to be strong enough to support four 100-ton ultra-large double trailers traveling simultaneously, with bridge girders high enough to accommodate 20,000-ton ships, and completed in two-and-a-half years.
After careful consideration, the bridge design team decided to erect the truss bridge in one piece, dividing the superstructure over the sea into four blocks (A to D), which were assembled on the ground and erected.
The bridge, which weighed up to 2,770 tons, was erected using cranes, but was completed in a short period of one and a half years without any accidents, and opened to traffic on March 1, 1982.
We received the Tanaka Award from the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) and the Achievement Award from the Japan Steel Construction Association (JSIA) in 1982. The successful completion of this large-scale truss bridge gave the Bridge Division confidence, and from then on, we took on the challenge of building a wide variety of large steel structures, particularly bridges.

The sharp rise in oil prices caused by the second oil crisis led to a shift to alternative resources to petroleum, which again brought about a major turning point in Ube Industries' coal business strategy.
As part of the functional expansion of the call center to accommodate the increased volume of coal handled, two unloaders were built with a capacity of 2,000 tons per hour, one of the largest in the world at the time, making it possible to unload nearly twice as much coal as before.
In addition, we also improved the coal storage area by installing a stacker/reclaimer that remotely controls the loading and unloading of coal and helps prevent the dust generated by conventional truck transportation. Such mechanization has greatly increased the annual volume of coal handled at the Okinoyama Coal Center, and has firmly established its position as the largest coal handling center in Japan.

Having developed revolutionary die casting methods, such as the GF system and squeeze casting, and become one of the world's leading die casting machine manufacturers, we decided to take on the challenge of producing aluminum wheels for automobiles.
What triggered our decision was our own trial production of aluminum wheels in order to expand sales of the die casting machines for manufacturing aluminum wheels to automobile manufacturers.
As a result, we were confident that high-end aluminum wheels could be produced with the same level of design freedom and fashionability as cast aluminum wheels, and with quality comparable to the forging method. In 1987, U-mold Co., Ltd. was established, and by the following year, the company had an annual production capacity of 540,000 wheels.
In 1991, when production was back on a steady track, a plant with an annual production capacity of 1 million units (A-MOLD Corporation) was established in Ohio, US, to provide a stable supply system for the US automotive industry.
Although we have since withdrawn from the aluminum wheel business due to intensifying cost competition, the fact that we, as a BtoB machinery manufacturer, were able to make entry into a product that is directly judged by consumers is an invaluable experience that has been passed on to our business activities, including reflection on the experiences.

Since its early days, our molding machine business, including die casting machines and injection molding machines, has been actively exporting to U.S. companies such as the "Big Three". In order to further enhance the sales and service of these molding machines, UBE MACHINERY SALES INC. was established in 1992.
In 1996, UBE Machinery Incorporated(hereinafter: UMI) was established in Ann Arbor, Michigan, near Detroit, a center of the automotive industry, and began manufacturing die casting machines and injection molding machines in the U.S. UMI has a 105,000 ㎡ site and is capable of assembling approximately 50 large molding machines with a clamping force of 1,000 metric tons per year.
Their business activities, characterized by quick response and high quality, have won the trust of many customers, and have solidified the presence of our molding machine business in North America.

The Air Floating Conveyor (hereinafter: AFC) is a belt conveyor in which the belt is levitated by air for conveyance, and can operate with less noise and power than conventional roller type conveyors.
The completely sealed structure prevents odors from escaping and generates no dust, making it environmentally friendly.
Since the first unit was delivered to the Okinoyama Call Center in 1997, it has been delivered mainly to power plants and other large plants, and has become a representative product that demonstrates our technological capabilities.
To date, more than 130 AFC units have been sold domestically and overseas.

As the 21st century approached, the "century of the environment," there was a growing need for electric injection molding machines that could replace conventional hydraulic machines and reduce environmental impact by enabling high-precision, high-cycle molding as well as being low-noise, clean, and energy-efficient.
In 1998, we jointly developed with Niigata Engineering (now Niigata Machinery Co., Ltd.) a toggle-type all-electric injection molding machine with a mold clamping force of 850 metric tons, the world's largest class of all-electric machines at the time. In response to the demands of the times, we continued to lead the world in the development of larger electric injection molding machines with clamping forces of 1,000 metric tons, 1,400 metric tons, and 1,800 metric tons.
In 2005, we developed the MD3000HW, the world's largest all-electric injection molding machine with a clamping force of 3000 metric tons, which enables high-cycle and energy-saving molding of large molded parts such as automobile bumpers.