Kawakita Denki Kigyosha (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

for "Kawakita Electric Company"; commonly known as KDK), is the brand name used by Matsushita Ecology Systems Co. to manufacture the group's ventilating products. Before becoming part of Matsushita Electric, KDK was a separate company not affiliated with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. KDK was registered as a trademark in 1912 but originated in 1909 as Nippon Electric Industry Co. Ltd. KDK manufactures electric fans, ceiling fans, ventilating fans, range hoods,

air door An air door or air curtain is a device used to prevent air, contaminants, or flying insects from moving from one open space to another. The most common implementation is a downward-facing Centrifugal fan, blower fan mounted over an entrance to a ...

s (air curtains),

hand dryer A "hand dryer" is an electric machine which might make use of a heating element and an air blower to dry both the hands after hand washing. Since 1922, it is commonly used in public toilets around the world as a cost-effective alternative to p ...

dehumidifier A dehumidifier is an air conditioning device which reduces and maintains the level of humidity in the air. This is done usually for health or thermal comfort reasons or to eliminate musty odor and to prevent the growth of mildew by extracting wate ...

s, and subterranean air blowers, under the Panasonic brand.

History

KDK became part of the Matsushita Conglomerate in 1956. Matsushita Seiko as it was known is no longer headquartered in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

, Japan; manufacturing for KDK and Panasonic Ventilating products was transferred from

Selangor Selangor ( ; ), also known by the Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the e ...

, Malaysia to

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

in 2001. All manufacturing is done at the Shenzhen Panasonic Air Works Co., Ltd. factory in

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

, China and the international sales offices has also re-located to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

under the Matsushita Seiko Hong Kong International Manufacturing Company, Ltd. known as "HIMCO" since 2001. The oldest KDK distributor is Abdulaziz & Sulaiman Saleh Al-Hakbany Sons Trading Co. from Saudi Arabia which dates back to 1936.

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

is the second oldest KDK distributor dating back to 1940. The newest distributors for KDK are La Innovaccion from the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

(2002) and O.C.S. from Jamaica (2004); the latter also distributes National Branded Fans which will now be known as Panasonic as in 2008. KDK International Philippines Corp. (KIPCO) was founded in November 1979 as a joint venture company between Avenue Electrical Supply and Matsushita Seiko Co. Ltd, for the purpose of importing, distributing and selling all KDK products in the Philippine market such as electric fans, ventilating fans and other air moving equipment. KDK has made two attempts to distribute their products in

contiguous United States The contiguous United States, also known as the U.S. mainland, officially referred to as the conterminous United States, consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia of the United States in central North America. The te ...

. The first attempt was in 1983 when U.S.-based Patton Industries imported the electric oscillating fans, relabeled them "KDK by Patton", and the ceiling fans were then relabeled "RoyalAire" by

Sumitomo The is a Japanese corporate group and '' keiretsu'' that traces its roots to the ''zaibatsu'' groups that were dissolved after World War II. Unlike the ''zaibatsu'' of the pre-war period, there is no controlling company with regulatory power. I ...

America, one of Matsushita's banks,

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...

s and insurance providers. This was a failure as the products never caught on with consumers. The second attempt was in 1998.

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

-based importer Caribbean Export Appliances, Inc. tried to sell KDK products but, due to their high resale prices and poor selection of models and colors, sales were minimal. The inventory was exported to

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

and other Caribbean nations until the Puerto Rico distributor reported it to Matsushita Seiko, which in return revoked Caribbeans Exports' distribution license. In 2003, Matsushita Seiko Co. Ltd was renamed as Matsushita Ecology Systems Co., Ltd and further changed to KDK Company, Division of PES (Panasonic Ecology Systems Co., Ltd.) 5 years later. After corporate restructuring and dissolution of the partnership between Matsushita and Seiko. The company opened a wholly owned sales branch in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

in April 2002. In

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, the company established on 1 December 2001 and early KDK products manufactured by PT. National Gobel Indonesia. In

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, the company appointed Capital Distributors Pte Ltd in August 1996 as the sole distributor for KDK fans in Singapore. On 1 August 2005, the KDK International Philippines Co., Ltd. has been re-organized as Kipcol International Corp. Since then, the company not only sell KDK brand exclusively but, also began selling other brand of products to complement its KDK line. In 2004 KDK was adjudged as the Top Electric Fan Brand for Product Quality and Excellence by the National Consumers Affairs Foundation. And in 2013 KDK was awarded by the Gold Brand Council of the Philippines as a “Gold Brand” one of the most trusted and admired brands. KDK products also made in Thailand by Panasonic Ecology Systems (Thailand) Co. Ltd and in China by Panasonic Ecology Systems Guangdong Co., Ltd.

Products

KDK currently mainly manufactures ventilating fan,

range hood A kitchen hood, exhaust hood, hood fan, extractor hood, or range hood is a device containing a mechanical fan that hangs above the stove or cooktop in the kitchen. It removes airborne grease, combustion products, fumes, smoke, heat, and steam fr ...

, air curtain,

ceiling fan A ceiling fan is a mechanical fan, fan mounted on the ceiling of a room or space, usually electric power, electrically powered, that uses hub-mounted rotation, rotating blades to wikt:circulation, circulate air. They cool people effectively by ...

and air moving equipment are also provided. However, electric fans have been primarily their most profitable product, on which they remain the world's leading manufacturer of electronically operated fans in different varieties, such as orbit fan, wall fan, desk fan, pedestal fan, living fan, and stand fan. KDK also manufactures all electric fans sold under the

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

(now a defunct manufacturer of non-audiovisual products of Panasonic) and

Panasonic is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...

brands.

References

External links

KDK MalaysiaKDK IndonesiaKDK PhilippinesKDK SingaporeKDK JapanKDK Hong Kong
{{Home appliance brands Manufacturing companies of Japan Manufacturing companies established in 1909 Panasonic Japanese brands Japanese companies established in 1909 1956 mergers and acquisitions