The Hanshin region plants and offices suffered damage
in the Great Hanshin Earthquake
A great deal of damage was suffered by the company’s employees, their families and their houses in the Great Hanshin Earthquake, which struck before dawn on January 17th. There was also a lot of damage to buildings and equipment at many plants and offices. The company worked with the Kubota Labor Union to confirm the extent of the damage and implement relief activities.
The company’s training facilities and recreational facilities and the gymnasium of the headquarters building were opened up to reconstruction workers, etc., and 10 mini back-hoes and 10 load carriers were donated to the Hyogo Prefecture disaster management HQ. The relief supplies which arrived from plants and offices around the country were distributed not only to the affected employees, but also to various emergency evacuation centers.
The special characteristics of the compact construction machinery were put to use in the cramped working spaces and the machines made a great contribution to the recovery work.
Started the production of cast steel products for
the petrochemical market in China
In order to respond to the various requirements for low cost, high quality and quick delivery products, the company took one step further from its previous procurement of products overseas and established the Jiangsu Biaoxin Kubota Industrial Co., Ltd., the first joint venture for the company in China since the Second World War.
As the internationalization of the market continued, the company aimed to expand exports to Japan and South East Asia in addition to the shipments within China, and started the production and sales of reaction tubes for the petrochemical industry and tubes and rolls for heat treat furnaces for steel casting.
The front gate of the Jiangsu Biaoxin Kubota Industrial Co., Ltd.
decorated with colorful flags
Extended the combine harvester business to China
A joint venture, the “Kubota Agricultural Machinery (Suzhou) Co., Ltd.” was established in the Suzhou Industrial Park, Jiangsu Province, China, and started the production, sales and servicing of head-feed combine harvesters. In addition to production, which was of 1,200 units per year in the first stage, work also proceeded to expand the procurement of parts from within China and to develop a new model suitable for the Chinese market.
The company is also proceeding with the supply of Chinese-made parts to Japan, for cost reductions. In addition, a flood said to be the worst since 1954 caused extensive damage in China in this year, so Kubota donated flood disaster relief funds through Suzhou City.
The underwater dioxin decomposition unit wins a prize
The underwater dioxin decomposition unit developed by the company won a “1998 Nikkei Outstanding Product/Service Prize.” The equipment decomposes and detoxifies harmful substances such as dioxins and fertilizers which are found in leachate from waste disposal plants, etc. The first machine had been put into operation in Japan in 1998, and the dioxin level in the water had fallen to below the detectable level.
The prize is awarded to products and services chosen from those discussed in the Nikkei Newspaper, etc., with the final prizes being decided by recommendations from the reporters responsible and also by a final judgment by prominent figures. In this year, 56 winners were chosen from approximately 15,000 candidates.
Actively expanded the overseas business for submerged membranes
Kubota has actively expanded overseas sales of the “submerged membranes,” which process sewage and wastewater, for example with the establishment of “Kubota Membrane Europe Ltd.” (KME) in London in 2001. The market early on was mainly in Europe and the United States, but it has spread to the Middle East and Asia as economies develop, and demand is growing dramatically.
However, as the market grows, the number of competitor manufacturers also increases. Kubota is beating the competition because of favorable evaluations of the company’s plentiful results and superior engineering strength, which come from more than twenty years of experience in the business, and the company’s business is being rapidly extended in many countries around the world.
Achieved ISO14001 accreditation for all plants and offices in Japan
The Tsukuba plant in Ibaraki Prefecture was the first Kubota base to achieve accreditation for ISO14001 (an international standard for environmental management systems), in November 1997, and was followed by other bases around the country. When the Kashima plant in Ibaraki Prefecture and the Ohama plant in Osaka Prefecture received accreditation in March 2001, this marked the completion for all the plants and offices in Japan.
Efforts continue at overseas manufacturing bases, etc., to achieve the accreditation, in addition to various environmental protection activities being developed by the whole Kubota group, including reductions in energy consumption and CO2 emissions, and the recycling of industrial waste.
Kashima Plant Manager, Mr. Takemura (left) and Ohama Plant Manager,
Mr. Iida (right) accepting their certificates
