is a steel manufacturer founded in

Muroran is a city and port located in Iburi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Iburi Subprefecture. As of February 29, 2012, the city has an estimated population of 93,716, with 47,868 households and a population density of . The ...

Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in 1907.

History

Japan Steel Works was set up with investment from

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

firms

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

Armstrong Whitworth Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth built armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles and ...

and

Mitsui is one of the largest '' keiretsu'' in Japan and one of the largest corporate groups in the world. The major companies of the group include Mitsui & Co. ( general trading company), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Nippon Paper Industri ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, they manufactured what was then the world's largest

gun barrel A gun barrel is a crucial part of gun-type weapons such as small firearms, artillery pieces, and air guns. It is the straight shooting tube, usually made of rigid high-strength metal, through which a contained rapid expansion of high-pressu ...

to be fitted on the battleship ''Yamato''. 200 workers in their main plant in Muroran were killed in a 1945 attack by Allied Forces.

Products

Japan Steel Works' industrial processes which are used to purify steel are held to high standards. These include the use of

argon Argon is a chemical element with the symbol Ar and atomic number 18. It is in group 18 of the periodic table and is a noble gas. Argon is the third-most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere, at 0.934% (9340 ppmv). It is more than twice as ...

gas to eliminate impurities, and the addition of

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...

, chromium and

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow ...

to make the steel harder. Japan Steel Works' services are in great demand owing to its role as one of only five manufacturers worldwide of the largest single-piece components of

Reactor pressure vessel A reactor pressure vessel (RPV) in a nuclear power plant is the pressure vessel containing the nuclear reactor coolant, core shroud, and the reactor core. Classification of nuclear power reactors Russian Soviet era RBMK reactors have each fuel ...

s for

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat fr ...

s at the company's factory, which is located on the island of

. The other manufacturers as of 2010 are two companies in China, one in Russia (

Atomenergomash Atomenergomash (AEM) (russian: Атомэнергомаш) is a power engineering Russian company. Аtomenergomash JSC (AEM Holding company, AEM, Group) is a Russian power engineering company, a supplier of products for nuclear and thermal power ...

) and one in France (

Framatome Framatome () is a French nuclear reactor business. It is owned by Électricité de France (EDF) (75.5%), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (19.5%), and Assystem (5%). The company first formed in 1958 to license Westinghouse's pressurized water react ...

). However, Japan Steel Works is the only one that can make cores in a single piece without welds, which reduces risk from radiation leakage. The company has boosted production to 6 units per year from 4 previously of the steel pressure vessel forgings, which contain the nuclear reactor core. It is scheduled to take capacity to 11 by 2013. Due to the production bottleneck, utilities across the world are submitting orders years in advance of any actual need, along with deposits worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Other manufacturers are examining various options, including finding ways to make a similar item using alternate methods, or making the component themselves with welds. However, welds are weak points which can result in reactor leakage. Other items manufactured by Japan Steel Works include machines for processed plastics. They also continue to make a limited number of traditional

Japanese sword A is one of several types of traditionally made swords from Japan. Bronze swords were made as early as the Yayoi period (1000 BC – 300 AD), though most people generally refer to the curved blades made from the Heian period (794 – 1185) to ...

s. They are also involved in the development of the

Type 10 The is a fourth generation main battle tank of JSDF produced by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force, entering service in 2012. Compared with other currently-serving main battle tanks in the JGSDF, the Type ...

battle tank,

Type 99 155 mm self-propelled howitzer The is a self-propelled howitzer of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force, which was developed as successor of the Type 75 155 mm Self-propelled howitzer. History The development of Type 99 self-propelled howitzer began in 1985 in order to re ...

and Naval artillery.

Financial information

fiscal year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...

2001, Japan Steel Works posted a net loss of ¥1.81 billion on sales of ¥119.70 billion. Their performance improved in 2002, with

net profit In business and accounting, net income (also total comprehensive income, net earnings, net profit, bottom line, sales profit, or credit sales) is an entity's income minus cost of goods sold, expenses, depreciation and amortization, interest, ...

of ¥100 million on sales of ¥129 billion; however, this was far short of their earlier estimate of ¥600 million net profit on sales of ¥134 billion. Japan Steel Works Ltd. increased net profit to ¥12.6 billion for the nine months to December 31, 2007. Revenue was up to ¥159.2 billion. Operating profit increased to ¥21.9 billion and ordinary profit rose to ¥21.2 billion. Full-year revenue forecast is unchanged at ¥ 218 billion to March 31, 2008. The company maintained a full-year net profit forecast of ¥15 billion.

Gallery

References

External links