Kobe Steel, Ltd. (株式会社神戸製鋼所, ''Kabushiki gaisha Kōbe Seikō-sho'') is a major

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 ...

steel manufacturer headquartered in Chūō-ku,

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

. Kobelco is the unified brand name of the Kobe Steel Group. Kobe Steel has the lowest proportion of steel operations of any major steelmaker in Japan and is characterised as a conglomerate comprising the three pillars of the Materials Division, the Machinery Division and the Power Division. The materials division has a high market share in wire rods and aluminium materials for transport equipment, while the machinery division has a high market share in screw compressors. In addition, the power sector has one of the largest wholesale power supply operations in the country. Kobe Steel is a member of the

Mizuho Mizuho () literally means "abundant rice" in Japanese and "harvest" in the figurative sense. It was also an Names of Japan#Other names, ancient name of Japan. It might refer to: Places * Mizuho, Gifu, a city in Gifu * Mizuho, Tokyo, a town in To ...

keiretsu A is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings that dominated the Japanese economy in the second half of the 20th century. In the legal sense, it is a type of business group that is in a loosely organized al ...

. It was formerly part of the

DKB Group The or the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Group was the largest Japanese keiretsu in the late 1990s. The group emerged after World War II and coalesced around the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank. Two of DKB's largest clients, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Furukawa Ele ...

Sanwa Group The was a leading Japanese keiretsu, based in Osaka, between World War II and the Japanese asset price bubble in the early 1990s. It remains in existence as a jointly held company called . Sanwa Bank was a major financier for the textile industr ...

keiretsu, which later were subsumed into Mizuho. The company is listed on the

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Nagoya Stock Exchange Nagoya Stock Exchange (名古屋証券取引所 ''Nagoya Shōken Torihikijo'', NSE) is a stock trading market in Nagoya, Japan. It is Japan's second largest exchange, behind the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It is operated by Nagoya Stock Exchange, Inc. ...

, where its stock is a component of the

Nikkei 225 The Nikkei 225, or , more commonly called the ''Nikkei'' or the ''Nikkei index'' (), is a stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). It is a price-weighted index, operating in the Japanese yen, Japanese Yen (JP¥), and its compone ...

. As of March 31, 2022, Kobe Steel has 201 subsidiaries and 50 affiliated companies across

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and the US. Its main production facilities are

Kakogawa Steel Works Kakogawa Steel Works () is Kobe Steel, Ltd.'s ironworks in Kakogawa, Hyogo, Japan, established in 1969. It is responsible for about 80 percent of the company's iron and steel production. In general Kakogawa Steel Works started in 1969 in the ...

and Takasago Works. Kobe Steel is also famous as the owner of the rugby team

Kobelco Steelers The Kobelco Kobe Steelers are a Japanese rugby union team owned by Kobe Steel, and based in Kobe. They were the first ever Top League champions when the League started in the 2003-2004 season. The team rebranded as Kobelco Kobe Steelers ahead of ...

History

In 1905, the general partnership trading company Suzuki Shoten acquired a steel business in Wakinohama, Kobe, called Kobayashi Seikosho, operated by Seiichiro Kobayashi, and changed its name to Kobe Seikosho. Then, in 1911, Suzuki Shoten spun off the company to establish Kobe Steel Works, Ltd. at Wakinohamacho, Kobe. After the Russo-Japanese War, as the Imperial Japanese Navy adopted a policy of fostering private factories, Kobe Steel received technical guidance and orders from the Kure Naval Arsenal and other arsenals in Maizuru and Yokosuka, and expanded its scale. Around 1914, the company started making machinery for naval vessels and began its journey as a machine manufacturer. Its business performance expanded, partly due to the shipbuilding boom during World War I. In 1918, it acquired the rights to manufacture diesel engines from Sulzer of Switzerland, helping to speed up the Japanese naval, marine, locomotive and automobile transport sectors. Today, the KOBELCO Group operates a broad range of business fields that cover Steel & Aluminum, Advanced Materials, Welding, Machinery, Engineering, Construction Machinery, and Electric Power. In the Great Hanshin Earthquake of January 1995, the Kobe head office building and company housing collapsed, and the No. 3 Blast Furnace at the Kobe Steel Works was also damaged, resulting in an emergency shutdown, causing approximately JPY 100 billion in damage, the largest for a private company. The Third Blast Furnace, which restarted only two and a half months after the earthquake, had become a 'symbol of recovery', but was suspended in October 2017 in order to strengthen competitiveness. In recent years, the company has been focusing on fields other than steel, such as aluminium, machinery, and electric power, and is clearly aiming to change from being a 'steelmaker' to a 'manufacturer that also handles steel'. Former prime minister

Shinzō Abe Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party ( LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was the longest-serving pri ...

worked at Kobe Steel before entering politics. In August 2024, China’s Baoshan Iron and Steel (Baosteel) and Baowu Aluminum partnered with Kobe Steel to establish a joint venture for producing aluminum sheets for the automotive industry.

Main locations

Source:

Domestic Locations

* Kobe Head Office * Tokyo Head Office * Takasago Works * Kobe Corporate Research Laboratories * Kakogawa Works * Research & Development Laboratory * Kobe Wire Rod & Bar Plant * Fujisawa Office * Ibaraki Plant * Saijo Plant * Fukuchiyama Plant * Moka Works * Chofu Works * Daian Works

Overseas Regional Headquarters and Offices

* Kobe Steel USA Inc. (U.S. headquarters): 19575 Victor Parkway, Suite 200 Livonia, MI, 48152, USA * Kobelco (China) Holding Co., Ltd. (China headquarters, investment company): Room 3701, Hong Kong New World Tower, No.300 Middle Huai Hai Zhong Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai, 200021, People's Republic of China * Kobelco (China) Holding Co., Ltd. (Guangzhou Branch): Room 1203, #285 East Linhe Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China * Kobelco South East Asia Ltd. (Regional headquarters for Southeast Asia and South Asia): 17th Floor, Sathorn Thani Tower ll, 92/49 North Sathorn Road, Khwaeng Silom, Khet Bangrak, Bangkok, 10500, Kingdom of Thailand * Kobelco Europe GmbH (Regional Headquarters for Europe and the Middle East): Luitpoldstrasse 3, 80335 Munich, Germany

Business Units & Main Products

Source:

Steel & Aluminum

* Steel Sheets * Wire Rods and Bars * Aluminum Plate * Steel Plates

Welding

* Robots and Electric Power Sources * Welding Materials

Advanced Materials

* Steel Castings and Forgings * Titanium * Copper Sheet and Strip * Steel Powder

Machinery

* Standard Compressors * Rotating Machinery * Tire and Rubber Machinery * Plastic Processing Machinery * Advanced Technology Equipment * Rolling Mill・Press Machine * Ultra High Pressure Equipment * Energy & Chemical Field

Engineering

* Iron Unit Field * Advanced Urban Transit System

Electric Power

* Wholesale Power Supply

Scandal

In October 2017, Kobe Steel admitted to falsifying data on the strength and durability of its aluminium, copper and steel products. The scandal deepened when the company said it found falsified data on its iron ore powder, which caused its shares to fall 18%. By 11 October, shares had fallen by a third. After testing the parts of their bullet trains, the

Central Japan Railway Company is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu (Nagoya) region of central Japan. It is officially abbreviated in English as JR Central and occasionally as JR Tokai (). The term ''Tōkai'' refers to the southern portion of Central Japan, ...

announced that 310 components were discovered to contain sub-standard parts supplied by Kobe Steel. Following further news in October 2017 that car makers

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

, and

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

, and train manufacturer

Hitachi () is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1910 and headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company is active in various industries, including digital systems, power and renewable ener ...

, were among 200 companies affected by the Kobe Steel's mislabelling, which had potential safety implications for their vehicles, the CEO of Kobe Steel conceded that his company now had "zero credibility". Other affected companies include

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

and

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the prede ...

. CEO Kawasaki promised to lead an internal investigation. On 13 October 2017, Kobe Steel admitted that the number of companies misled was over 500. Despite the costs of dealing with the scandal, Kobe Steel issued a revised profit forecast in February 2018 announcing that it expects to generate a net profit of ¥45 billion ($421 million) for the full 2017 fiscal year, marking its first net profit in three years.

Gallery

神戸製鋼所寄贈戦艦「陸奥」スクリュー.png, Screw of IJN Battleship Mutsu, donated by Kobe Steel (Yamato Museum) Yukikaze ikari 01.jpg, Main anchor of IJN destroyer Yukikaze with the engraving 'KOBE STEEL WORKS LTD' (JMSDF the First Service School) Kobeseiko Te-Gō.jpg, IJA Kobeseiko Te-Gō

References

External links

*
Kobe Steel Group of Companies

Kobelco Construction Machinery Europe
{{Authority control Steel companies of Japan Crane manufacturers Construction equipment manufacturers of Japan Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Nagoya Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Osaka Exchange Companies in the Nikkei 225 Manufacturing companies based in Kobe Manufacturing companies established in 1905 Japanese companies established in 1905 Defense companies of Japan Japanese brands Midori-kai Industrial machine manufacturers