Komatsu was established in 1921 by Meitaro Takeuchi businessman as a small construction repair workshop on the western coast of Japan in the Komatsu town. This was prefaced by the establishment of Komatsu Iron works Division in 1917 for coal and mining equipment manufacturing. For this purpose Komatsu engineers studied in Europe and the USA, Komatsu foundation date is the 13th of May, 1921 when Komatsu Iron Works separated from Takeuchi Mining Co. to become Komatsu Ltd. The history of Komatsu in Russia began in the Soviet times. At the end of the sixties bulldozers, pipelayers, poule traller and other most essential machinery that was not manufactured in the USSR began to arrive. Some machinery from “the first delivery” is still operated. |
|  | | - 1931 Produced Japan's first crawler-type farm tractor
| | | - 1941 Began production of large hydraulic presses
- 1943 Produced the Komatsu Model 1 Ground Leveling Machine
|  | | - 1947 Introduced the D50 bulldozer
| | | - 1948 Began diesel engine production
- 1952 Began production of motor graders
|  | | - 1953 Began production of forklift trucks, dump trucks and special purpose vehicles.
| | | - 1954 Started production of shell-mold precision castings.
- 1956 – Began production of shovel loaders.
- 1959 – Began production of armored personnel carriers and self-moving recoilless rifles.
- 1965 – Began production of wheel loaders
|  | | - 1968 – Began production of hydraulic excavators
| | | - 1969 – Developed bulldozer-amphibia
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“History of globalization” |
- 1955 Exported motor graders to Argentina (Komatsu's first export of construction equipment).
- 1967 - 71 Established sales branches in Europe, the USA and Asia (Belgium, America and Singapore).
- 1968 Opened Russian office of Komatsu
- 1975 Komatsu Brazil produced the D50A bulldozer, marking Komatsu's first abroad production of construction equipment.
- 1982 Established Komatsu Indonesia
- 1985 Established Komatsu UK Ltd. In Great Britain
- 1986 Established Komatsu Industries Europe GmbH. In Germany.
- 1988 Komatsu Dresser, 50-50 joint venture with Dresser company
- 1989 Cooperation with Hanomag AG, Germany.
- 1994 Komatsu Dresser, 100% affiliated company of Komatsu
- 1995 Established Komatsu Saigon Co., Ltd. in Vietnam.
- 1995 Hanomag renamed into Komatsu Hanomag AG
- 1995 Established FKI Fai Komatsu Industries S.p.A. (renamed Komatsu Utility Europe S.p.A. in June 2000) in Italy.
- 1995 Established Bangkok Komatsu Co., Ltd. in Thailand.
- 1995-96 Three joint ventures in China (Komatsu Shantui Construction Machinery Co., Ltd., Komatsu Changlin Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. (renamed Komatsu (Changzhou) Construction Machinery Corporation in November, 2000 and Komatsu (Shanghai) Ltd.).
- 1996 Komatsu Dresser Company renamed Komatsu America International Company.
- 1996 Established Demag Komatsu GmbH (renamed Komatsu Mining Germany GmbH in February, 1999) in Germany.
- 1998 Established Komatsu Brasil International Ltda. in Brazil.
- 1998 Established Industrial Power Alliance Ltd. in Japan as a joint venture with Cummins Engine of the United States for engine development.
- 1998 Established Kraneks International Company Limited in Russia.
- 1999 Demag Komatsu, 100 % affiliated company
- 2001 Announced the new brand "GALEO"; Komatsu's new-generation construction equipment
- 2003 Took 10 billion yen orders for crude oil and natural gas development projects in Russia.
- 2004 Established Komatsu Forklift (Shanghai) Co.,Ltd. in China as a sales company for forklifts.
- January 2004 Established Komatsu Forest AB acquiring Partek Forest AB, a manufacturer and distributer of forestry equipment in Sweden.
- January 2004 Established Komatsu Industries (Shanghai) Ltd. in China as a sales company for industrial machineries.
- January 2004 Established Komatsu TriLink Ltd., consolidating net production of Komatsu Ltd. and Komatsu Semiconductor Ltd.
- April 2004 Established Hensley Lingfeng Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of teeth for construction equipment.
- June 2004 Established Komatsu Zenoah (Shandong) Machine Co .,Ltd (renamed Komatsu Utility Machine Co., Ltd. in 2007) in China, a manufacturer of mini excavators and hydraulic equipment.
- June 2004 Established Komatsu Power Generation Systems (Shanghai) Ltd in China, a manufacturer of power generators.
- August 2004 Established Komatsu Forklift Manufacturing (China) Co., Ltd in China, a manufacturer of forklift trucks.
- August 2004 Ayumi Tanimoto, a member of the Komatsu Women's Judo Club, won a gold medal in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
- September 2004 Established PT.Pandu Dayatama Patria in Indonesia, a manufacturer of hydraulic equipment.
- December 2004 Began production of PC3000, super large-sized excavator, in Rokko Plant.
- February 2005 Signed a letter of intent to sell the silicone polycristal production (ASiMI) to a Norwegian company Renewable Energy Corporation AS.
- May 2005 Completed construction of one of the world's largest acoustic testing laboratories.
- October 2005 Developed the frontier engine technology "ecot3" compliant to Tier III emission standards.
- November 2005 Began production of dump trucks in China.
- Aug, 2006 Changed the number of shares constituting one unit(tangen) of shares from 1,000 to 100.
- Oct, 2006 Sold out 51% of Komatsu Electronic Metal's stock to SUMCO CORPORATION
- Nov, 2006 Marked 50th anniversary of participation in the China's market
- Nov, 2006 Established LLC «Komatsu CIS»
- Jan, 2007 Completed the construction of three new plants, i.e. Ibaraki Plant, Kanazawa Plant (both in Japan) and Chennai Plant (in India).
- Jan, 2007 Integrated Komatsu Forklift Co., Ltd. and Komatsu Zenoah into new Komatsu Utility Co., Ltd
- Nov, 2006 Marked 50th anniversary of participation in the China's market.
- Jan, 2007 Completed the construction of three new plants, i.e. Ibaraki Plant, Kanazawa Plant (both in Japan) and Chennai Plant (in India).
- Apr, 2007 Integrated Komatsu Forklift Co., Ltd. and Komatsu Zenoah into new Komatsu Utility Co., Ltd.
- Oct, 2007 Established Komatsu Undercarriage China Corp. in China.
- Feb, 2008 Established Komatsu Manufacturing Rus, LLC in Russia. (Scheduled to launch production in June 2010)
- Mar, 2008 Made NIPPEI TOYAMA (renamed Komatsu NTC Ltd. in October 2008) Corporation a wholly owned subsidiary.
- Jun, 2008 Introduced the world's first hybrid hydraulic excavator.
- Dec, 2008 Began operation of the autonomous haulage systems at the mine of Rio Tinto in Australia.
- Mar, 2009 Completed joint project with Japan Mine Action Service for community reconstruction in Cambodia.
- Apr, 2009 Reorganized Japanese sales and service structure for construction equipment and established Komatsu Construction Equipment Sales and Service Japan Ltd.
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