is a Japanese

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

KK company, manufacturing precision instruments, measuring instruments and medical equipment, based in

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

, Japan. It was established in 1875. The American arm of the company, Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, was founded in 1975.

History

Founding and early years

The company was established by in 1875. During the 1890s and 1900s, Shimadzu experienced rapid growth that occurred at the same time as higher education grew in Japan.

X-ray An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...

devices, the spectrum camera, the

electron microscope An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of electrons as a source of illumination. It uses electron optics that are analogous to the glass lenses of an optical light microscope to control the electron beam, for instance focusing it ...

, and the gas chromatograph were developed and commercialized in advance of other Japanese companies. Shimadzu became a corporation in 1917. The American arm of the company, Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, was founded in 1975.

Developments

The company also developed, in 2001, an ultra-high speed video camera, HyperVision HPV-1, which is capable of recording at 1,000,000 FPS, while in 2016 it released the HyperVision HPV-X2, a camera that achieves ultra-high-speed continuous recording at 10 million frames per second at Full Pixel Resolution. Other products developed by Shimadzu include

head-mounted display A head-mounted display (HMD) is a display device, worn on the head or as part of a helmet (see helmet-mounted display for aviation applications), that has a small display optic in front of one (monocular HMD) or each eye (binocular vision, bi ...

s. The company had revenue of ¥264.048 billion yen ( $2.8 billion USD) in FY 2012, with 10,395 employees as of March 31, 2013.

Acquisition history

In 2019, Shimadzu's Medical subsidiary in USA acquired CORE Medical Imaging, Inc. to strengthen healthcare business in North America. In 2018, Shimadzu acquired Infraserv Vakuumservice GmbH of Germany in order to strengthen their

turbomolecular pump A turbomolecular pump is a type of vacuum pump, superficially similar to a turbopump, used to obtain and maintain high vacuum. These pumps work on the principle that gas molecules can be given momentum in a desired direction by repeated collis ...

sales and service capabilities in Europe. In 2017, Shimadzu acquired AlsaChim, a specialist for high-quality analytical isotope labeled standards. In 1989, Shimadzu Corporation acquired Kratos Group Plc. in U.K. to expand in surface analysis and MALDI-TOF segments.

Gallery

Products

Buildings

References

External links

Official global website

Official Japanese website

Official Asia Pacific online webstore
{{Authority control Electronics companies of Japan Defense companies of Japan Instrument-making corporations Laboratory equipment manufacturers Medical technology companies of Japan X-ray equipment manufacturers Research support companies Manufacturing companies based in Kyoto Manufacturing companies established in 1875 Japanese companies established in 1875 Japanese brands Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Osaka Exchange