ARCHIVE TIMELINECombined Timeline
The events checked in Chapters 1–7 are laid out here in a single timeline across all chapters. Side by side, you can see that the lathe and milling machine stories unfolded in the same years, and when the NC and CNC wave reached each type of machine. The tag at the left of each row shows which chapter an event comes from; ★ marks events that a chapter singles out as important. The numbers are sources and point to the same materials as the chapter timelines.
7 chapters
in one
timeline!
⌛437 events
Of the 439 events in the chapters, 2 that appear with exactly the same wording in two chapters are merged into one row each (with two tags). Events that appear in two chapters with slightly different wording are both kept as they are.
437 events shown
Late Edo & Meijito 1912
| Year | Ch. | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1856Late Edo | Lathes | Machine tools at the Nagasaki Ironworks (nameplate dated Ansei 3 = 1856, probably Dutch-made). Still in use in 1930 | — | [1, frame 59] |
| 1867Late Edo | Lathes | Yokosuka Shipyard buys French machine tools (nameplate: Mulhouse 1866) | — | [1, frame 60] |
| c. 1875Meiji 8 | Lathes | Ito Kaheiji of Yamagata builds a treadle lathe of forged iron. Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 3 (Museum Meiji-mura)The heritage record says "around 1875 (Meiji 8)"; the 1989 Nihon no gijutsu 100-nen says 1876 | — | [2][3, frame 25] |
| 1879Meiji 12 | Lathes | The Ministry of Public Works' Akabane Engineering Works builds a double-column planer (not a lathe, but one of the earliest surviving Japanese-made machine tools; Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 67, Museum Meiji-mura) | — | [4] |
| 1881Meiji 14 | Drilling/boring | The product catalog Seizo kikai-hin (Manufactured machinery), published by the Ministry of Public Works' Akabane Engineering Works, lists machine tools such as a "sanko kikai" (hole-drilling machine), the equivalent of an upright drilling machine. Drilling machines were being made in government factories | — | [3, frame 19] |
| May 1889Meiji 22 | Lathes | ★Ikegai Shotaro founds the Ikegai Works in Shiba Kanasugi, Tokyo (May), starting in a rented shop with two English-type lathes. At the end of the year he and his younger brother Kishiro build English-type 9-foot lathes for their own use. The oldest surviving Japanese-made powered lathe (Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 53, National Museum of Nature and Science) | Ikegai | [5][3, frame 45][3, frame 25][6, frame 26][7] |
| June 1895Meiji 28 | Lathes | Founded as Nippon Oil's Niigata ironworks (later Niigata Iron Works) | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering) | [8, frame 10] |
| 1897Meiji 30 | Gear cutting | Cast gear teeth are cut one tooth space at a time with a No. 2 universal milling machine from Cincinnati (US) and a form milling cutter (a cutter shaped like the tooth space). Said to be the first machine gear cutting in Japan | — | [9, frame 103][10, frame 23] |
| 1898Meiji 31 | Lathes | Okuma Eiichi founds Okuma Noodle Machine Co. in Nagoya (noodle-making machines) | Okuma | [11, frame 6] |
| 1898Meiji 31 | Lathes | Ikegai delivers two of its own lathes to the Naval Engineering College, its first such delivery. Orders for lathes and other machines from navy departments follow | Ikegai | [1, frame 65] |
| 1898Meiji 31 | Lathes | Wakayama Takisaburo opens Wakayama Iron Works, building foot-operated hand punching machines and hand-cranked 6-foot lathes. In 1904 it begins specializing in machine toolsNihon no kosaku kikai (1958) says Wakayama Iron Works took up machine tools in the Meiji 40s (1907–12), like Karatsu, Okuma and Kubota | Wakayama Iron Works (forerunner of today's Shin Nippon Koki) | [12] |
| 1898Meiji 31 | Drilling/boring | Ikegai delivers lathes of its own make to the Naval Engineering College, and from then on receives orders for lathes, planers and drilling machines from various navy departments | Ikegai | [1, frame 65] |
| 1901, 1903Meiji 34 | Gear cutting | Automatic gear cutting machines are bought from G&E (US) (1901) and Cincinnati (US) (1903), raising the efficiency and accuracy of gear cutting | — | [9, frame 104] |
| August 1903Meiji 36 | Lathes | Tokyo Higher Technical School invites the American Charles A. Francis as a practical-training instructor | — | [1, frame 64] |
| 1904Meiji 37 | Lathes | Russo-Japanese War. Okuma receives drawings from the Tokyo Army Artillery Arsenal and begins building single-purpose lathes and other machine tools for weapons production | Okuma | [11, frame 18][11, frame 20] |
| November 1904Meiji 37 | Lathes | Niigata Iron Works receives an order from the Tokyo Army Artillery Arsenal for 50 shell-turning lathes (center height 300 mm, bed length 2,120 mm, 850 yen each), the start of its machine tool businessNiigata Machine Techno's history says "1907: began manufacturing machine tools" | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering) | [8, frame 30][6, frame 40][13] |
| 1905Meiji 38 | Lathes | ★Ikegai builds an American-type lathe to Francis's specifications and begins volume production of the "Ikegai standard lathe" (until then mostly English-type). It also tried producing about 30 a month | Ikegai | [1, frame 65][7][6, frame 43][6, frame 44] |
| 1906Meiji 39 | Lathes | Kumamoto Higher Technical School installs American-made 15-foot and 10-foot lathes and other machines. The machine workshop completed in 1908 and its machine tools are Important Cultural Properties and still run (Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 2) | — | [14] |
| c. 1906Meiji 39 | Gear cutting | ★Pfauter (Germany) hobbing machines are imported by Ishikawajima and the Kure Naval Arsenal. Said to be the first hobbing machines in Japan | — | [9, frame 104][10, frame 23] |
| 1909Meiji 42 | Gear cutting | Karatsu Iron Works of the Yoshitani Coal Mine is founded in Karatsu, Saga Prefecture (becomes independent as Karatsu Iron Works Co., Ltd. in 1916) | Karatsu Iron Works | [15][9, frame 104] |
| 1910Meiji 43 | Milling/MC | A machinery department is set up at Tokyo Gas Industry's Omori works. It later became the machinery department of Tokyo Gas & Electric Industry, the root of Hitachi Seiki's milling machines | Tokyo Gas Industry (a root of Hitachi Seiki) | [16, frame 54] |
Taisho1912–1926
| Year | Ch. | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1912Taisho 1 | Drilling/boring | ★Rokuroku Sangyo builds a branch-type drilling machine in Japan with technology acquired in the US. The National Museum of Nature and Science database considers it the first introduction of foreign technology for Japanese machine tools, and says this design became the standard for drilling machines and was built until recent years | Rokuroku SangyoBranch-type drilling machine No. 1 | [17] |
| 1913Taisho 2 | Gear cutting | Kashifuji Iron Works is founded in Kyoto (today's Kashifuji) | Kashifuji Iron Works | [18] |
| 1914–18Taisho 3 | Lathes | During World War I, Ikegai exports lathes to Britain, Russia, Mexico and elsewhere; in 1915, five lathes to Britain | Ikegai | [1, frame 66][7] |
| 1914Taisho 3 | Gear cutting | A gear-cutting specialist shop in Osaka (Marusan Seisakusho in Kujo, Nishi-ku) installs a British-made hobbing machine, said to be the first foreign-made hobbing machine installed by a gear-cutting contractor. In the same year, a Pfauter (Germany) hobbing machine also goes to the Osaka Prefectural Nishinoda Vocational School | — | [19, frame 4][19, frame 60][9, frame 104] |
| 1915–16Taisho 4 | Gear cutting | Gleason (US) bevel gear cutting machines go to Kisha Seizo and Ikegai Iron Works, and bevel gears begin to be cut by the generating method | — | [9, frame 104] |
| 1915Taisho 4 | Drilling/boring | Karatsu Iron Works completes a gun barrel lathe that can both turn and bore on one machine | Karatsu Iron WorksGun barrel lathe | [15] |
| 1916Taisho 5 | Lathes | Okuma builds the Type KE engine lathe, using two lead screws bought from Brown & Sharpe of the US | OkumaType KE | [11, frame 21] |
| 1916Taisho 5 | Grinders | Centerless grinders, essential for mass-producing bearings, appear (abroad; different in form from today's) | — | [20, frame 16] |
| 1917Taisho 6 | Gear cutting | ★Sonoike Seisakusho builds a 40-inch hobbing machine. With a differential, it was well received as better than the widely used imported machines without one | Sonoike Seisakusho40-inch hobbing machine | [9, frame 105] |
| 1918Taisho 7 | Lathes | Okuma Iron Works, Ltd. is formed and puts on sale the Type OS engine lathe, an improved version of a lathe by Sebastian of the US | OkumaType OS | [11, frame 22][21][22] |
| Around World War ITaisho 7 | Lathes | As an example of the period when lathe exports grew because of the war, Wakayama Iron Works' 6-foot and 8-foot lathes for Russia are cited alongside Ikegai's lathes for Britain and Russia (the book says "after the war") | Wakayama Iron Works | [23, frame 22] |
| 1918Taisho 7 | Grinders | ★Okuma receives drawings from an army arsenal and builds the Type GA-1 tool grinder, modeled on the Norton (US) No. 1 universal tool grinder. The start of the company's grinder making | Okuma Iron WorksType GA-1 | [11, frame 19][11, frame 23] |
| 1918Taisho 7 | Gear cutting | Ikegai Iron Works builds a 24-inch hobbing machine. Around this time, the tooth forms, gear cutting machines and gear grinders of Maag (Switzerland) are introduced to Japan and win a good reputation | Ikegai Iron Works24-inch hobbing machine | [9, frame 105] |
| 1918Taisho 7 | Gear cutting | According to Kashifuji's company history, in 1918 its founder Kashifuji Tomesaburo built a prototype of the first 40-inch hobbing machine and began making repair gears for the Kyoto City trams (the company calls it "Japan's first hobbing machine")Aida's Haguruma no gijutsu-shi gives 1920 as the year Kashifuji Iron Works' 40-inch hobbing machine was completed | Kashifuji Iron Works40-inch hobbing machine | [24] |
| 1919Taisho 8 | Lathes | Okuma receives drawings of a Pratt & Whitney (US) lathe from the Nagoya Army Arsenal and builds the Type OP engine lathe (made until around 1943) | OkumaType OP | [11, frame 23] |
| 1919Taisho 8 | Lathes | Yamazaki Iron Works is founded in Nagoya (initially tatami-making machines). It begins making lathes and milling machines in September 1927, and its first commercial product, a 4-shaku lathe, follows in 1928 | Yamazaki Mazak | [25][26, frame 68] |
| 1919Taisho 8 | Grinders | Okuma builds its first internal grinders, modeled on a Heald (US) product (only three are made) | Okuma Iron Works | [11, frame 25] |
| 1920Taisho 9 | Lathes | Ikegai, Niigata and Karatsu together account for about a third of Japan's machine tool output | — | [6, frame 47] |
| Taisho eraTaisho 9 | Grinders | In the Taisho era, Ikegai Iron Works comes to build almost every kind of machine tool, including hobbing machines, grinders and automatic lathes | Ikegai Iron Works | [3, frame 45] |
| 1920Taisho 9 | Gear cutting | Kashifuji Iron Works completes a 40-inch hobbing machine, modeled on a Pfauter (Germany) machine | Kashifuji Iron Works40-inch hobbing machine | [9, frame 105] |
| Taisho eraTaisho 9 | Drilling/boring | Okuma Iron Works comes to build most of the main general-purpose machine tool types besides lathes, including drilling machines, grinders, boring machines and milling machines | Okuma Iron Works | [3, frame 45] |
| 1921Taisho 10 | Gear cutting | Karatsu Iron Works builds a hobbing machine for cutting steam turbine pinions | Karatsu Iron Works | [9, frame 105] |
| 1921Taisho 10 | Gear cutting | How the gears of lathes shown at an exhibition of Japanese-made machinery in Osaka were made: 15 cut on dedicated gear cutting machines, 6 cut on milling machines, 1 with ground tooth profiles | — | [9, frame 105] |
| October 1921Taisho 10 | Lathes | ★The Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce holds Japan's first machine tool exhibition in Osaka (126 exhibitors). First prizes for lathes include Ikegai's Type GC and Niigata's geared American-type lathe. Domestic machines cost about half to 80% of the price of imported ones | — | [3, frame 46][6, frame 49][6, frame 57] |
| c. 1922–24Taisho 11 | Drilling/boring | ★Niigata Engineering builds a 7-inch (spindle diameter) horizontal boring machine for Hitachi. Weighing 30 tons, it is listed in the company history among the noteworthy machines of the period | Niigata Engineering7-inch horizontal boring machine | [8, frame 237] |
| August 1922Taisho 11 | Lathes | Takisawa Iron Works is founded in Okayama (later a lathe specialist) | Takisawa Iron Works | [27][26, frame 61] |
| Late Taisho eraTaisho 12 | Grinders | Okuma builds the Type GA-2 universal tool grinder, modeled on the Brown & Sharpe (US) No. 13. Into the Showa era, the Type GAG and Type GM universal tool grinders remain its main products | Okuma Iron WorksType GA-2 | [11, frame 29][11, frame 35] |
| 1923–24Taisho 13 | Gear cutting | Karatsu Iron Works builds a 6-foot worm wheel hobbing machine (1923) and a 7-foot hobbing machine (1924) | Karatsu Iron Works | [9, frame 105] |
| Late TaishoTaisho 14 | Milling/MC | ★Tokyo Gas & Electric Industry's machinery department begins building milling machines modeled on a (light-type) milling machine by Cincinnati of the US. It also studies the improvements in the imported Cincinnati and Kearney & Trecker machines | Tokyo Gas & Electric Industry | [16, frame 23][16, frame 24] |
| Late TaishoTaisho 14 | Gear cutting | ★By the end of the Taisho era, domestic production of hobbing machines of various kinds is more or less complete. However, the large gear cutting machines that cut turbine gears for the main engines of warships and merchant ships were foreign-made, by William Muir (UK), Westinghouse (US) and others | — | [9, frame 105] |
| 1926Showa 1 | Lathes | Prompted by the exhibition, the Society of Mechanical Engineers sets a standard for lathes (drilling machines 1929, milling machines 1931) | — | [3, frame 46] |
| 1926Showa 1 | Grinders | Okamoto Kakusaburo founds the privately owned Okamoto Senyo Kosaku Kikai Seisakusho (incorporated as Okamoto Machine Tool Works in 1935) | Okamoto Machine Tool Works | [28] |
Prewar Showa1926–1937
| Year | Ch. | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1927Showa 2 | Drilling/boring | To mass-produce the Type G automatic loom, Toyoda Automatic Loom Works drills parts on drilling machines (made by Mitsubishi Electric) and develops a special-purpose three-spindle simultaneous boring machine that bores the three bearing holes of the loom frame at once (a replica of the special machine is on display) | Toyoda Automatic Loom Works | [29][30] |
| 1928–31Showa 3 | Gear cutting | Kashifuji Iron Works releases the general-purpose hobbing machines K0 (14-inch, 1928), K1 (24-inch, 1930) and K2 (40-inch, 1931) | Kashifuji Iron WorksK0, K1, K2 | [24] |
| 1929Showa 4 | Drilling/boring | The Society of Mechanical Engineers sets a standard for drilling machines (prompted by the 1921 Machine Tool Exhibition; lathes in 1926, milling machines in 1931) | — | [3, frame 46] |
| 1929Showa 4 | Drilling/boring | Yasuda Shinjiro founds a business in Osaka and begins boring automobile engine cylinders and making pistons (the company calls this "the first in Japan") | Forerunner of Yasda | [31] |
| PrewarShowa 5 | Lathes | In prewar Osaka, Kisha Seizo, Hirao Seisakusho, Adachi Iron Works and Wakayama Iron Works were well-known lathe makers (as of 1984, none of them was said to be still making lathes) | Wakayama Iron Works | [32, frame 25] |
| 1930Showa 5 | Grinders | ★On an order from the Kure Naval Arsenal, Okamoto completes the Type ASG-2, the first spur gear grinder made in Japan. Max. pitch diameter 500 mm, module 8. Thirteen are built by the end of the war, and Okamoto goes on to become a full-line grinder maker | Okamoto Machine Tool WorksType ASG-2 | [33][28] |
| 1930Showa 5 | Gear cutting | On an order from the Kure Naval Arsenal, Okamoto Machine Tool Works completes the Type ASG-2, the first spur gear grinder made in Japan (Chapter 3) | Okamoto Machine Tool WorksType ASG-2 | [33][9, frame 105] |
| 1931Showa 6 | Milling/MC | The Society of Mechanical Engineers sets a standard for milling machines (prompted by the 1921 Machine Tool Exhibition; lathes in 1926, drilling machines in 1929) | — | [3, frame 46] |
| 1931Showa 6 | Grinders | Nisshin Kikai Seisakusho is founded in Hamamatsu (initially making textile machinery) | Nisshin Kikai Seisakusho | [34] |
| 1933Showa 8 | Lathes | Ikegai's standard lathe D20 (5.5 kW, 2,350 kg), half the power of the postwar DA20 (1955, 11 kW) | IkegaiD20 | [35, frame 69] |
| 1934Showa 9 | Milling/MC | Osaka Kikai Kosakusho (a maker of pumps, water meters and spinning machinery) begins building machine tools. Renamed Osaka Kiko in 1938 | Osaka Kiko (OKK) | [36] |
| 1935–56Showa 10 | Lathes | Ikegai builds unitized engine lathes modeled on German VDF lathes (a 1937 machine survives at the Nippon Institute of Technology) | Ikegai | [37] |
| 1935 onwardShowa 10 | Milling/MC | Gasuden's Type M milling machine becomes the first milling machine in Japan built in lots. The machinery department makes 30 a month, the leading milling machine factory in Japan | Tokyo Gas & Electric IndustryType M | [16, frame 24] |
| 1936Showa 11 | Lathes | Kokusan Seiki is established. In December 1941 it merges with two other companies to form Hitachi Seiki | Hitachi Seiki | [26, frame 37][26, frame 39] |
| 1936Showa 11 | Grinders | The gauge maker Kuroda Kyohan Seisakusho buys a Lindner (Germany) thread grinder. It is the third in Japan and costs more than the company's monthly output | Kuroda Kyohan Seisakusho | [38, frame 72] |
| July 1936Showa 11 | Drilling/boring | Kikai Gakkai-shi (Journal of the Society of Mechanical Engineers) introduces a jig borer made by Lindner of Germany as a cutting-edge precision machine that reads positions with a microscope | — | [39, frame 30] |
Wartime1937–1945
| Year | Ch. | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937Showa 12 | Grinders | Herbert Lindner (Germany) thread grinders Types FS1 and FS2 are bought this year; they still survive in Seki, Gifu Prefecture. They were used to grind thread gauges, taps and thread-rolling dies | — | [40] |
| c. 1937Showa 12 | Drilling/boring | A jig borer by SIP of Switzerland (of a type first produced in 1931) is imported. Said to be the first machine of this type to reach Japan, it is now at the Nippon Institute of Technology Museum of Industrial Technology | — | [41] |
| May 1937Showa 12 | Milling/MC | ★Makino Tsunezo founds the "Makino Shoten Manufacturing Department", a maker specializing in No. 1 vertical milling machines (renamed Makino Vertical Milling Machine Works in March 1942) | Makino | [42] |
| 1938Showa 13 | Lathes | ★Machine Tool Manufacturing Industry Act (Act No. 40, promulgated in March). Companies meeting conditions such as 200 or more machine tools in one plant were designated licensed companies, including Ikegai, Niigata, Tokyo Gas & Electric Industry and Okuma (Okuma in July) | — | [43][44, frame 22][6, frame 71][6, frame 72][6, frame 75] |
| 1938Showa 13 | Milling/MC | Under the Machine Tool Manufacturing Industry Act, Gasuden's Omori works machinery department becomes one of the first licensed factories | Tokyo Gas & Electric Industry | [16, frame 55] |
| 1938Showa 13 | Grinders | Okuma builds the Kamiiida plant as a dedicated grinder factory (the year of the Machine Tool Manufacturing Industry Act and the National Mobilization Law) | Okuma Iron Works | [11, frame 35][11, frame 55] |
| 1938Showa 13 | Gear cutting | Gear grinding machines and gear cutting machines (including worm gear cutting machines, but excluding hobbing machines) are among the items eligible for prototype incentive grants under the Machine Tool Manufacturing Industry Act | — | [6, frame 74][6, frame 75] |
| 1938Showa 13 | Drilling/boring | Machine Tool Manufacturing Industry Act. For companies making automatic, special-purpose and high-precision machines "specified by ordinance", such as precision bench drilling machines and jig borers, the licensing requirement is lowered to 50 machine tools in their plant (200 in general). Jig borers and fine boring machines are also among the items eligible for prototype subsidies | — | [6, frame 72][6, frame 74] |
| 1938Showa 13 | Drilling/boring | ★Karatsu Iron Works completes an extra-large gun barrel boring machine for the main guns of the battleships Yamato and Musashi and delivers it to the Kure Naval Arsenal (about 64 m long, according to the company's history) | Karatsu Iron WorksGun barrel boring machines | [15] |
| 1938Showa 13 | Drilling/boring | Develops a cylinder boring machine and sleeve tools (full-scale production from 1940) | Forerunner of Yasda | [31] |
| July 1938Showa 13 | Drilling/boring | Okuma Iron Works becomes a licensed company under the Act. Its main products include boring machines and radial drilling machines, alongside lathes and shapers | Okuma Iron Works | [6, frame 75] |
| July 1938Showa 13 | Drilling/boring | ★Toyo Seiki becomes a licensed company under the Act and begins producing the jig borer (Type 4) (the company calls it "Japan's first jig borer"). Modeled on an SIP machine from Switzerland, about 220 are built by the end of the war | Toyo Seiki (today's Mitsui Seiki Kogyo)Jig borer Type 4 | [45][41] |
| December 1938Showa 13 | Drilling/boring | Shibaura Kosaku Kikai is founded with investment from Shibaura Engineering Works (today's Shibaura Machine). In 1939 it begins building powerful large machine tools at its Tsurumi plant | Shibaura Kosaku Kikai | [46][6, frame 78] |
| 1939Showa 14 | Lathes | Toyo Kikai's Kohan Type 400 lathe, considered the most widespread precision lathe in prewar Japan | Toyo KikaiKohan 400 | [47] |
| 1939Showa 14 | Grinders | Tsugami Seisakusho completes the T-UG300 hydraulic universal cylindrical grinder with an incentive grant from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. An early example of a hydraulically driven grinder | Tsugami SeisakushoT-UG300 | [48, frame 48][48, frame 99] |
| 1939, 1941Showa 14 | Drilling/boring | Shibaura Kosaku Kikai's special boring machines are delivered to the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal (machining guns and bombs), the Harima and Osaka Army Arsenals (boring gun barrels) and elsewhere | Shibaura Kosaku Kikai | [6, frame 94] |
| 1939Showa 14 | Drilling/boring | SIP's Type MP-4G jig borer from Switzerland. Considered world-class in both performance and precision, after import it was transferred on navy orders to a private machine tool maker and used to raise the level of Japanese technology (after the war it went to the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory) | SIP (Switzerland)MP-4G No.420 | [49] |
| January 1939Showa 14 | Lathes | Okuma begins designing the Type LT ultra-high-speed lathe on an order from the Naval Air Technical Arsenal (referring to Kärger, Monarch, VDF and others). Acceptance review completed in November 1943 | OkumaType LT | [11, frame 34][11, frame 58] |
| May 1939Showa 14 | Milling/MC | Gasuden's machinery department becomes independent as Hitachi Kosakuki, a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. | Hitachi Kosakuki | [16, frame 55] |
| 1940Showa 15 | Lathes | The US bans machine tool exports to Japan. Until then, over 80% of imports came from the US | — | [6, frame 78][6, frame 94] |
| 1940Showa 15 | Milling/MC | Gasuden's horizontal milling machine (built 1940), modeled on Cincinnati's Type M. Preserved at the Nippon Institute of Technology Museum of Industrial Technology | Tokyo Gas & Electric Industry | [50] |
| 1940Showa 15 | Grinders | ★Nisshin Kikai Seisakusho begins making centerless grinders and lathes | Nisshin Kikai Seisakusho | [34] |
| 1939–40Showa 15 | Grinders | NSK designs and builds its own special grinders for making bearings (centerless grinders for roller outer diameters, flange grinders, groove grinders and others) | NSK | [20, frame 437] |
| 1940Showa 15 | Gear cutting | ★The US bans machine tool exports to Japan. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry draws up a list of machine tools to be made domestically and orders companies to build prototypes, and gear cutting machines are built as straight copies of machines by leading foreign makers. The focus was on machines for cutting aircraft engine gears | — | [9, frame 105] |
| 1940Showa 15 | Gear cutting | Karatsu Iron Works develops a gear shaper on special government order (the company calls it the first made in Japan) | Karatsu Iron Works | [15] |
| 1941Showa 16 | Milling/MC | Osaka Kiko develops the MH-3V knee-type milling machine, based on Cincinnati's No. 3 milling machine, as a commissioned machine under the 1940 Research and Testing Ordinance. The prototype of the company's later knee-type machines | Osaka Kiko (OKK)MH-3V | [51] |
| 1941Showa 16 | Drilling/boring | At its founding, Toyoda Machine Works applies to produce multi-spindle special drilling machines, precision boring machines and other types (new prototypes not made by existing machine tool companies). Its Type EJ/ES precision boring machines are used to mass-produce aircraft parts during the war and automobile parts after it | Toyoda Machine WorksType EJ/ES | [6, frame 77][52] |
| January 1941Showa 16 | Drilling/boring | Under the National Mobilization Law, companies are assigned machine types and ordered to research and build them. Niigata Engineering's designated types include precision boring machines and gun barrel boring machines; the precision boring machine is the Type 9Fb, modeled on a machine by Krause of Germany | Niigata EngineeringType 9Fb | [8, frame 238] |
| April 1941Showa 16 | Lathes | Inaugural meeting of Toyoda Machine Works (the machinery plant spun off from Toyota Motor Co.). Licensed under the Act, it builds the Type HD200 semi-automatic multi-tool lathe, the Type FB12 automatic multi-tool lathe and others | Toyoda Machine Works | [44, frame 23][44, frame 24] |
| October 1941Showa 16 | Grinders | ★Okuma's Type GHU universal grinder, built under the 1939 National Mobilization research and testing order, passes its acceptance review. A hydraulic machine modeled on a Landis (US) grinder, it could do cylindrical, internal and surface grinding; 500 were built by 1945, laying the foundation for postwar grinder production | Okuma Iron WorksType GHU-300 | [3, frame 61][53] |
| December 1941Showa 16 | Milling/MC | Kokusan Seiki, Hitachi Kosakuki and Shinohara Kikai merge to form Hitachi Seiki | Hitachi Seiki | [16, frame 52][16, frame 59] |
| 1942Showa 17 | Grinders | On the instructions of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, domestic production of special bearing grinders advances, and surface grinders, internal grinders and ball-bearing groove grinders come to be made in Japan | — | [20, frame 437] |
| 1942Showa 17 | Drilling/boring | Ikegai Iron Works builds a prototype Type FBI precision boring machine. Accessories such as electrical equipment, oil pumps, clutches and gauges are made together with specialist Japanese suppliers | Ikegai Iron WorksType FBI | [6, frame 96] |
| c. 1942Showa 17 | EDM | Naval aviation intelligence brings word to Japan that "in America they drill and cut with sparks or arcs". According to Inoue Kiyoshi, who later founded Nihon Hoden Kako Kenkyusho, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Mizushima Works also experimented, but got no further than something like fusion cutting | — | [54, frame 55] |
| 1943Showa 18 | Lathes | OM Ltd. completes a wheel lathe (Type T 1500 tire boring machine) on government orders | OM Ltd.Type T 1500 | [55] |
| 1943Showa 18 | Lathes | Okuma is said to have developed the "Okuma non-circular plain bearing" while building prototype wartime lathes (Okochi Memorial Technology Prize, 1958)Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 59 says it was developed in 1954 | Okuma | [56][57] |
| 1943Showa 18 | EDM | ★Soviet physicists Boris and Natalya Lazarenko propose in a paper using the erosion of electrical contacts by discharges to remove metal, and file a patent (the accepted view is that this was the origin of today's EDM principle). They receive the Stalin Prize for this work in 1946 | — | [58][54, frame 55] |
| 1944Showa 19 | Lathes | Machine tool output kept rising until 1944. "Wartime-type" lathes and milling machines with drastically reduced materials were built | — | [6, frame 86][3, frame 66][8, frame 79] |
| 1945Showa 20 | Grinders | Nisshin Kikai Seisakusho is temporarily dissolved due to war damage (it restarts as Nisshin Shokki in 1947) | Nisshin Kikai Seisakusho | [34] |
Postwar recovery1945–1955
| Year | Ch. | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| c. 1948Showa 23 | Lathes | MITI's Measurement Division encourages the building of automatic lathes to rationalize the watch industry; Ikegai (Index type), Tsugami (Brown & Sharpe type), and Mitsui Seiki and Shimamoto Tekko (Petermann type) begin production. The start of postwar automatic lathes | — | [59, frame 18] |
| 1948Showa 23 | EDM | ★Professor Otori Seizaburo of the University of Tokyo, who learned of the Lazarenkos' research in 1947, begins research and has experimental equipment ready the following year. He names the process "hoden kako-ho" (electrical discharge machining) | University of Tokyo | [58] |
| October 1948Showa 23 | Lathes | Mori Seiki is established in Nara (initially textile machinery) | Mori Seiki | [60] |
| 1949Showa 24 | Lathes | A company split off from Wakayama Iron Works is renamed Shin Nippon Koki. "Shin Nippon Koki (formerly Wakayama Iron Works)" is cited as an example of a company that left machine tools after the war and resumed productionThe name Wakayama Iron Works also appears as a separate company in the 1963 catalog of Japanese machine tools | Shin Nippon Koki | [12][61, frame 75] |
| 1949Showa 24 | Gear cutting | From wartime controlled prices to market prices in 1949, the price of hobbing machines rises 39-fold | — | [6, frame 120] |
| 1950Showa 25 | Grinders | Nisshin Kikai Seisakusho resumes making centerless grinders (the name Nisshin Kikai Seisakusho is restored in 1952) | Nisshin Kikai Seisakusho | [34] |
| 1950Showa 25 | Grinders | Mitsui High-tec builds its first surface grinder by combining parts from used machines. The first machine the company built itself, it still survives | Mitsui High-tec | [62] |
| 1951Showa 26 | Lathes | Ikegai Tekko completes Japan's first copying lathe | Ikegai | [7] |
| 1951Showa 26 | Lathes | The Japan Machine Tool Builders' Association is founded | — | [63] |
| 1952Showa 27 | Lathes | Niigata Engineering's Type 45SD heavy-duty high-speed lathe (MITI research subsidy), considered the first new postwar lathe model. In the same year, Ikegai's Type H14 high-speed precision lathe | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering)45SD | [3, frame 66] |
| c. 1952Showa 27 | EDM | EDMs are announced as commercial products in Britain (according to the 1955 Seimitsu shiage-ho) | — | [54, frame 55] |
| July 1952Showa 27 | Lathes | Technical tie-ups with Western makers begin: Tsugami Seisakusho in July 1952 (Cri-Dan of France, thread-cutting lathes), Shoun Kosakusho in 1953 (Cazeneuve of France, copying lathes) | — | [64] |
| 1953Showa 28 | Lathes | Ikegai completes the Type A18 high-speed copying lathe with a spindle speed of 3,200 min⁻¹ | IkegaiA18 | [3, frame 66] |
| FY1953–54Showa 28 | Lathes | Under a government plan, Mitsubishi Shipbuilding builds the Type SIX-65 six-spindle automatic (FY1953) and Shimamoto Tekko the Type MLA-10 small precision automatic (FY1954) | — | [59, frame 19] |
| 1953Showa 28 | Grinders | ★Okamoto Machine Tool Works develops the Type PSG-6, Japan's first domestically made surface grinder (in the company's words) | Okamoto Machine Tool WorksType PSG-6 | [28] |
| 1953Showa 28 | Grinders | Kuroda Kyohan Seisakusho develops the horizontal-spindle surface grinder GS-201 for its own die and mold making (the spindle runs in Mackensen-type hydrodynamic bearings) | Kuroda Kyohan Seisakusho (today's Kuroda Precision Industries)GS-201 | [38, frame 75][65] |
| 1953Showa 28 | Drilling/boring | Machine tool prototype subsidies begin and are granted every year (import subsidies in the previous year, 1952). The 1950s lists include hydraulic radial drilling machines, jig borers, precision horizontal boring machines, inclined multi-spindle precision boring machines and hydraulic optical jig borers | — | [23, frame 23][23, frame 25][23, frame 26] |
| 1953Showa 28 | EDM | ★Nihon Hoden Kako Kenkyusho is founded as an affiliate of Ikegai Iron Works. Its founder, Inoue Kiyoshi, was an engineer who had researched EDM at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and set up the company after hitting it off with Okazaki Kaheita, then president of Ikegai Iron Works. Yaskawa Electric also begins EDM research around this time | Nihon Hoden Kako Kenkyusho | [58] |
| November 1953Showa 28 | Gear cutting | Automakers had installed gear shaving machines but struggled to get replacement cutters. Fujikoshi Steel Industry signs a tie-up with Michigan Tool (US) for shaving cutter manufacturing technology | Fujikoshi Steel Industry | [10, frame 71] |
| 1954Showa 29 | Lathes | The Tokyo Institute of Technology builds a prototype NC lathe with Ikegai Tekko, said not to have been fit for practical use (Japan's first attempt at an NC lathe) | Ikegai | [64] |
| 1954Showa 29 | Milling/MC | Hitachi Seiki completes the first heavy-duty knee-type horizontal milling machine Type MK (Type ML in 1955) | Hitachi SeikiType MK | [16, frame 25][16, frame 26] |
| 1954Showa 29 | Grinders | Okamoto Machine Tool Works develops the IGM series of internal grinders | Okamoto Machine Tool WorksIGM | [28] |
| 1954Showa 29 | Grinders | Okuma's Nagaoka Shinkichi develops the Okuma non-circular plain bearing (year per the Mechanical Engineering Heritage; the National Museum of Nature and Science database gives 1943). It forms wedge-shaped oil films at three points around the spindle, raising rotational accuracy and stiffness | Okuma Iron Works | [57][56] |
| FY1954Showa 29 | Grinders | With a government subsidy (FY1954), Okuma completes the Types GIR and GOR, hydraulic special grinders for grinding the grooves of ball-bearing inner and outer rings | Okuma Iron WorksTypes GIR, GOR | [11, frame 66] |
| 1954Showa 29 | Gear cutting | Kashifuji Iron Works releases the KS20 production hobbing machine (the KS14 in 1956) | Kashifuji Iron WorksKS20 | [24] |
| 1954Showa 29 | EDM | Otori Seizaburo and Kurafuji Hisao publish Hoden kako (Electrical discharge machining) (Corona Publishing), Japan's first academic book on EDM, which introduces the products of four Japanese makers: Nihon Hoden Kako Kenkyusho, Koike Sanso Kogyo, Asahi Pump Hatsudoki Seisakusho and Osawa Seisakusho | — | [58][54, frame 56][54, frame 57] |
| March 1954Showa 29 | EDM | ★Nihon Hoden Kako Kenkyusho completes Japan's first practical EDM, the "Japaxtron D3", and delivers it to the Tokyo Institute of Technology. It was an original design, unlike Western machines, and was also called a spark-discharge hole-piercing machine. Registered as Essential Historical Materials for Science and Technology (No. 373) in 2024 | Nihon Hoden Kako KenkyushoJapaxtron D3 | [66][58][67] |
| July 1954Showa 29 | Milling/MC | Niigata Engineering signs a technical tie-up with Sundstrand of the US to build production milling machines | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering) | [8, frame 247] |
| 1955Showa 30 | Grinders | Shigiya (then Oriental Shokki Kogyo) completes the prototype of the combined universal and tool grinder it began developing in 1952 | Shigiya Seiki | [68] |
| 1955Showa 30 | Grinders | ★Toyoda Machine Works signs a technical tie-up with Gendron of France for cylindrical grinders, going ahead despite internal worries about the new fluid-bearing mechanism | Toyoda Machine Works | [69][44, frame 35][44, frame 36] |
| 1955Showa 30 | EDM | Universities, research institutes and companies form the Electrical Machining Research Group (two years later the Electronic Machining Forum is set up in Kansai; together the two become the basis of the Japan Society of Electrical Machining Engineers in 1967) | — | [58] |
| March 1955Showa 30 | Milling/MC | Niigata Engineering completes its first production milling machine, the Type 33SM Rigidmil. 803 built by the end of 1965 | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering)Type 33SM | [8, frame 241][8, frame 244] |
| March 1955Showa 30 | Drilling/boring | Mitsui Seiki Kogyo begins making the No. 3 jig borer and receives the first Akashi Memorial Award of the Japan Society of Precision Engineering | Mitsui Seiki KogyoNo. 3 model | [45] |
| November 1955Showa 30 | Grinders | Okuma completes the Type GCP-150 cylindrical grinder (followed by the Type GCP-250 in July 1956) | Okuma Iron WorksGCP-150, GCP-250 | [11, frame 66][11, frame 71] |
High growth1956–1967
| Year | Ch. | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956Showa 31 | Lathes | ★Temporary Measures Act for the Promotion of the Machinery Industry. Under the basic rationalization plan, machine tool makers renewed their equipment. Output rose from 3.7 billion yen in 1955 to 15 billion yen in 1957 | — | [6, frame 110][70, frame 18] |
| 1956Showa 31 | Lathes | Fuji Tsushinki (later FANUC) becomes the first private company to develop an NC unit and servo (first used on a turret punch press). The Mechanical Engineering Laboratory of the Agency of Industrial Science and Technology also starts NC research and builds a prototype NC jig borer, JIDIC, in 1959 | FANUC | [71][72][73] |
| 1956Showa 31 | Grinders | Toyoda Machine Works exhibits its first grinder, the Toyoda-Gendron cylindrical grinder RA25-100, at a trade fair. Its hydrostatic fluid bearings attract interest, and the first order comes from an automaker. It went on to support the auto industry in jobs such as grinding crankshaft journals | Toyoda Machine WorksRA25-100 | [74][44, frame 37][44, frame 38] |
| March 1956Showa 31 | Grinders | ★Okuma's Type GPB cyclic cylindrical grinder is completed. It performs roughing, finishing and sizing in one continuous cycle and draws attention at the 2nd Osaka International Trade Fair. With the non-circular plain bearing, about 700 are built by 1969 (Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 59) | Okuma Iron WorksType GPB | [11, frame 72][11, frame 66][57] |
| March 1956Showa 31 | Grinders | Waida Seisakusho begins producing "carbide tool bit grinders" for sharpening carbide tool bits | Waida Seisakusho | [75][76, frame 385] |
| July 1956Showa 31 | Drilling/boring | Mikawa Nainenki Kogyo of Aichi Prefecture begins making bench drilling machines and tapping machines, is renamed Kira Iron Works in 1957, and releases an upright drilling machine in 1958 | Mikawa Nainenki Kogyo (today's Kira Corporation) | [77] |
| 1957Showa 32 | EDM | The Soviet ENIMUS institute builds the world's first wire EDM, the "Type A207". There was no NC yet: it optically enlarged the drawing 10–50 times and moved the table by following the lines with light | — | [58] |
| February 1957Showa 32 | Lathes | ★The Tokyo Institute of Technology's Precision Engineering Laboratory succeeds in building a prototype NC lathe, the first NC lathe in Japan: a converted hydraulic copying lathe with simultaneous two-axis control | — | [3, frame 75][78, frame 34] |
| 1958Showa 33 | Lathes | FANUC's first commercial NC unit is delivered to Makino Milling Machine (NC milling machine). Electro-hydraulic pulse motor developed in 1959 | FANUC | [71][72] |
| 1958Showa 33 | Milling/MC | Hitachi Seiki completes the Type MP production milling machine (bed type) | Hitachi SeikiType MP | [16, frame 26] |
| 1958Showa 33 | Milling/MC | ★Shin Nippon Koki completes the first RB-Ⅱ precision vertical boring and milling machine. The company regards it as the prototype of its double-column machines, and in 2005 it received a Best Technical Award as a "historically valuable machine tool". A 1960 advertisement lists Types RB-Ⅰ to Ⅳ precision vertical boring machines | Shin Nippon KokiRB-Ⅱ | [12][79, frame 22] |
| 1958Showa 33 | Drilling/boring | ★Okuma Iron Works' Type DRA-J high-speed heavy-duty radial drilling machine. Stiffened for jig-borer-level precision drilling and high-speed machining, it could be set up for the next cutting conditions while machining. More than 3,000 were sold | Okuma Iron WorksType DRA-J | [80] |
| 1958Showa 33 | EDM | ★Mitsubishi Shipbuilding (the machine) and Mitsubishi Electric (the electrical parts such as the power supply) share the work and begin producing the DM-101 EDM | Mitsubishi Shipbuilding, Mitsubishi ElectricDM-101 | [58][81] |
| 1958Showa 33 | EDM | A 1958 US survey of machine tool equipment (McGraw-Hill) counts 578 EDMs, a tiny fraction of all machine tools | — | [23, frame 50] |
| March 1958Showa 33 | Milling/MC | ★Makino develops the K series of vertical milling machines and Japan's first NC milling machine. The NC unit is Fuji Tsushinki's first commercial unit | Makino, Fujitsu | [42][71][72] |
| April 1958Showa 33 | Lathes | ★Okuma's Type LS practical high-speed lathe (design begun in 1956). Unveiled at the Osaka International Trade Fair in April and put into production at 30 a month; an assembly conveyor was completed in 1962. Over 30,000 built in totalThe company history (1968) says "born in July 1958 (Showa 33)" | OkumaType LS | [82][11, frame 65][11, frame 74][11, frame 77] |
| May 1958Showa 33 | Lathes | Mori Seiki switches from textile machinery to high-speed precision lathes. The MS-850 engine lathe drives its growth, and it begins exporting in 1960 | Mori SeikiMS-850 | [60][83] |
| September 1958Showa 33 | Grinders | Renamed Shigiya Seiki Kogyosho, the company moves entirely from looms to machine tool production and starts developing cylindrical grinders. The Type G-24 cylindrical grinder follows in 1959 | Shigiya Seiki | [68] |
| 1959Showa 34 | Lathes | Yamazaki Iron Works begins producing the LA, LB, LC and LD high-speed precision lathes | Yamazaki Mazak | [25] |
| 1959Showa 34 | Milling/MC | Enshu exhibits the Type VF vertical milling machine, incorporating industrial design, at the Tokyo International Trade Fair. Its Type HF horizontal milling machine could down-mill thanks to a backlash eliminator | EnshuTypes VF, HF | [84][85] |
| 1959Showa 34 | Drilling/boring | Mitsubishi signs a technical tie-up with Innocenti of Italy for a large machine tool (a combined milling and boring machine) designed by C.W. Berthiez of France, and begins building it at Hiroshima Seiki Seisakusho | Mitsubishi (Hiroshima Seiki Seisakusho) | [86, frame 382][86, frame 545] |
| May 1959Showa 34 | Lathes | Niigata Engineering licenses single-spindle automatic lathe technology from Sundstrand of the US (after partnering on production milling machines in 1954) | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering) | [8, frame 243][8, frame 247] |
| May 1959Showa 34 | Milling/MC | ★The Mechanical Engineering Laboratory of MITI's Agency of Industrial Science and Technology exhibits the numerically controlled jig borer JIDIC at the Tokyo International Trade Fair, demonstrating a stopping-position scatter of ±0.5 μm | Mechanical Engineering LaboratoryJIDIC | [73] |
| May 1959Showa 34 | Drilling/boring | The Mechanical Engineering Laboratory of MITI's Agency of Industrial Science and Technology exhibits the numerically controlled jig borer JIDIC at a trade fair. The research included a thorough study of the structure and performance of the 1939 SIP jig borerJIDIC is also covered in Chapter 2 | Mechanical Engineering LaboratoryJIDIC | [73][49] |
| 1960Showa 35 | Lathes | Lathe boom: 26 of JMTBA's 66 member companies make lathes | — | [64] |
| 1960Showa 35 | Milling/MC | Matsuura Machinery's Microman SB-1: an automatic vertical milling machine that switches spindle speed and feed by program control and stops within 0.02 mm in three directions (the company says production and sales began in 1961) | MatsuuraMicroman SB-1 | [87][88] |
| 1960Showa 35 | Milling/MC | Osaka Kiko completes an NC milling machine and delivers it to a heavy-industry maker | Osaka Kiko (OKK) | [36] |
| 1960Showa 35 | Milling/MC | ★A Hitachi group develops an NC universal machine tool with a two-arm ATC (8 tools): Japan's first machining center. In-house NC unit HIDAM-43, probably the first ball screws on a Japanese NC machine, and magnetic-tape NC. Exhibited at the Tokyo International Trade Fair the following year, 1961 | Hitachi, Ltd.NC universal machine tool (NC unit HIDAM-43) | [3, frame 92] |
| 1960Showa 35 | Drilling/boring | ★Sales of the "Mitsubishi Innocenti CWB combined milling and boring machine" begin. Built to machine large turbine, diesel engine and railway vehicle parts, it was called "a revolutionary among large machine tools". 122 built by October 1968 | Mitsubishi (Hiroshima Seiki Seisakusho)Mitsubishi Innocenti CWB (MIB machine) | [86, frame 383][86, frame 546][89] |
| 1960Showa 35 | EDM | Nihon Hoden Kako Kenkyusho changes its name to Japax. The same year the 1st International Symposium on Electromachining (ISEM) is held in Prague | Japax | [66][58] |
| 1961Showa 36 | Lathes | Osaka Kiko licenses general-purpose lathe technology from Ramo of France and commercializes the OKK-RAMO lathe T-37 and others | Osaka Kiko (OKK)T-37 | [90] |
| 1961Showa 36 | Gear cutting | ★Mitsubishi Heavy Industries signs a technical tie-up with Lorenz of West Germany for gear cutting machines and begins producing the "Mitsubishi Lorenz" vertical hobbing machine at its Kyoto WorksNidec Machine Tool's "Product history" gives 1962 | Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesMitsubishi Lorenz | [86, frame 383][86, frame 542] |
| 1961Showa 36 | Gear cutting | Nachi-Fujikoshi develops a production hobbing machine to make the most of its own gear cutting tools and begins selling it in 1962. It was later redesigned for high feed rates with multi-start hobs | Fujikoshi Steel Industry | [10, frame 145][10, frame 93] |
| Early 1960sShowa 36 | Drilling/boring | In JMTBA's figures for its members by machine type, only three types had one company making 70% or more: Hitachi Seiki's turret lathes, Shin Nippon Koki's precision boring machines and Toshiba Machine's roll grinders. Toshiba Machine and Ikegai compete in horizontal boring machines. Only vertical drilling machines have a high share of small non-member makers | — | [6, frame 123][6, frame 129] |
| April 1961Showa 36 | Milling/MC | Hitachi Seiki exhibits the Type 2MC three-dimensional numerically controlled milling machine at the Tokyo International Trade Fair | Hitachi SeikiType 2MC | [16, frame 167] |
| August 1961Showa 36 | Grinders | Toyoda Machine Works completes a conveyor assembly line for grinders and starts producing LG grinders (starting at 40 a month; the company calls it a "world first"). Toyoda-Gendron orders reach 350 within three years of launch | Toyoda Machine WorksLG grinder | [91, frame 18][91, frame 20] |
| September 1961Showa 36 | Milling/MC | Niigata Engineering builds its first NC milling machine (a bed-type production milling machine with all three axes controlled by magnetic tape)Elsewhere the same company history also gives September 1962, and a prototype in 1963 | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering)Type 2DIM (Type 822S MEVN) | [8, frame 248][8, frame 434] |
| 1962Showa 37 | Lathes | ★At the 1st Japan International Machine Tool Fair, OM Ltd. exhibits an NC vertical lathe: a vertical turret lathe carrying the first unit of Fuji Tsushinki's (now Fujitsu) NC unit 207A, with electro-hydraulic pulse motors turning ball screws. It is described as "Japan's first NC vertical lathe"The model is VT5-14 in the National Museum of Nature and Science records and VT2-14 in Fujitsu's 1963 technical journal | OM Ltd.VT5-14 | [92][63][93, frame 4][93, frame 16] |
| 1962Showa 37 | Milling/MC | Shin Nippon Koki completes the RB-Ⅲ NC precision vertical boring and milling machine. The company's history calls it "Japan's first large NC double-column machine"We have not yet found an article in National Diet Library materials confirming NC in 1962 | Shin Nippon KokiRB-Ⅲ NC | [12] |
| 1962Showa 37 | Drilling/boring | Kuroda Precision Industries makes its universal boring heads into a series (it had begun making them in Japan around 1958, on MITI's advice, in place of expensive imports). They allow boring and facing on ordinary milling and drilling machines | Kuroda Precision IndustriesUFB-3 | [94] |
| June 1962Showa 37 | Lathes | Yamazaki Iron Works signs a deal to export 200 Type LE lathes to the US. Launches the "MAZAK" brand in May 1963 | Yamazaki MazakType LE | [25] |
| October 1962Showa 37 | EDM | Seibu Denki Kogyo (today's Seibu Electric & Machinery) develops a die-sinking EDM with the help of Yaskawa Electric and exhibits the Type E-304 and a bench-top model at the International Machine Tool Fair. Hitachi Zosen also exhibits a hydraulic-servo prototype, but it never became a business | Seibu Denki KogyoType E-304 | [58][95] |
| 1963Showa 38 | Lathes | Okuma completes its own NC unit, the OSP, which reads position in absolute values (prototype OSP Type I in 1961). An example of a machine tool maker building even its own NC units | Okuma | [11, frame 84][21][96] |
| 1963Showa 38 | Milling/MC | Hitachi develops a machining center (illustrated in Nihon no gijutsu 100-nen) | Hitachi, Ltd. | [3, frame 92] |
| 1963Showa 38 | Grinders | The Kokusan kosaku kikai sogo katarogu (Comprehensive catalog of Japanese machine tools) lists cylindrical (Okuma, Toyoda Machine Works and others), centerless (Nisshin Kikai, Nippei Sangyo, Nippon Kenmaki), surface and profile (Okamoto), and tool (Waida Seisakusho, Howa Sangyo) grinders | — | [76, frame 65][76, frame 69][76, frame 71][76, frame 350] |
| 1963Showa 38 | Grinders | Kuroda's GS-201 goes on general sale in response to outside demand | Kuroda Precision IndustriesGS-201 | [65][38, frame 75] |
| 1963Showa 38 | Grinders | The first development unit of Mitsui High-tec's MSG-1 manual profile surface grinder. It could grind cemented carbide and doubled the front-to-back feed width | Mitsui High-tecMSG-1 | [97] |
| 1963Showa 38 | Gear cutting | The hobbing machine section of the Kokusan kosaku kikai sogo katarogu (Comprehensive catalog of Japanese machine tools) lists Karatsu Iron Works, Kashifuji Iron Works, Okamoto Machine Tool Works, Shin Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Mitsubishi Lorenz), Toshiba Machine, Hamai Sangyo, Howa Sangyo, Iwasa Tekko, Seiwa Tekko and others. There are also sections for gear shapers, bevel gear cutting machines, gear grinders and gear finishing machines | — | [76, frame 73][76, frame 74][76, frame 75][76, frame 91] |
| 1963Showa 38 | Drilling/boring | The horizontal boring machine section of the Kokusan kosaku kikai sogo katarogu (Comprehensive catalog of Japanese machine tools) lists Shin Nippon Koki, Toshiba Machine, Ikegai Tekko, Wakayama Iron Works, Karatsu Iron Works and others. Mitsui Seiki's optical jig borers, Types No.3 and No.5, claim "25 years of rich experience in building jig borers". Radial drilling machines include Okuma's Type DRA-J and Osaka Kiko's Type DRB-17 | — | [76, frame 53][76, frame 207][76, frame 209][76, frame 266] |
| 1963Showa 38 | EDM | Mitsubishi's small DM-50B die-sinking EDM. Its power supply with a high-frequency superimposed circuit keeps discharges from concentrating in one spot and stabilizes machining. The same year's catalog lists four Ikegai Tekko models, including the Type D104H automatic precision EDM die-sinker, and the Mitsubishi Diax EDMs, Types DM-50 and DM-102 | Mitsubishi Shipbuilding, Mitsubishi ElectricDM-50B | [81][76, frame 83][76, frame 447][76, frame 448] |
| 1963Showa 38 | EDM | ★Kanagata kosaku gijutsu lists ten EDM makers, including Ikegai/Japax, Mitsubishi Shipbuilding/Electric, Koike Sanso, Seibu Denki, Hitachi Zosen and Makino Furaisu, and says well over a thousand EDMs are in operation. The representative machine is Japax's Type D-104H | — | [98, frame 146][98, frame 162] |
| April 1963Showa 38 | Milling/MC | Fujitsu's technical journal reports Okuma Iron Works' Type JV precision vertical boring machine fitted with Fuji Tsushinki's Type P automatic positioning unit | Okuma, FujitsuType JV | [93, frame 2][93, frame 11] |
| 1964Showa 39 | Lathes | Ikegai Tekko launches the Type A20 lathe (JSME Award, 1965). The Type A25, with a larger swing, later becomes the basis of the Type A25 NC lathe | IkegaiA20 | [7][64] |
| 1964Showa 39 | Milling/MC | Niigata Engineering develops the turret-type NC milling machine 2DIMT (three-dimensional control with a built-in computer, automatic tool changing), the basis of its later turret-type MCs 3DIMT and 3MNTThe company history gives both November and March 1964 | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering)Type 2DIMT | [8, frame 249][8, frame 434] |
| 1964Showa 39 | Milling/MC | Osaka Kiko develops the bed-type milling machine MH-2 1/2V, the prototype of its mass-produced general-purpose milling machines | Osaka Kiko (OKK)MH-2 1/2V | [99] |
| 1964Showa 39 | Milling/MC | Yasda develops the horizontal precision boring and milling machine "Jig Master". In the same year, Matsuura Machinery begins producing and selling numerically controlled automatic milling machines | YasdaJig Master | [31][88] |
| 1964Showa 39 | Grinders | Toyoda Machine Works' GCN15 numerically controlled cam grinder (followed in 1967 by the GUN15 multipurpose numerically controlled grinder) | Toyoda Machine WorksGCN15 | [91, frame 21][100, frame 48] |
| 1964Showa 39 | Gear cutting | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries develops a spline hobbing machine | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | [86, frame 540] |
| 1964Showa 39 | Drilling/boring | Yasda develops the horizontal precision boring and milling machine "Jig Master" (and in 1966 the MC "Precision Center")See also the MC section of Chapter 2 | YasdaJig Master | [31] |
| 1964Showa 39 | EDM | Ends the division of work with Mitsubishi Shipbuilding, consolidates the business into Mitsubishi Electric and begins producing EDMs at the Nagoya Works | Mitsubishi Electric | [58] |
| October 1964Showa 39 | Grinders | ★At the 2nd Japan International Machine Tool Fair, Okuma exhibits the Type GCS-N numerically controlled cylindrical grinder with its own NC unit, the OSP200. It draws attention as an NC unit developed by the machine maker itself | Okuma Iron WorksType GCS-N | [11, frame 81][11, frame 84][11, frame 86] |
| 1965Showa 40 | Lathes | Fujitsu releases the low-cost NC "FANUC 260". Of the 129 NC machine tools built by JMTBA members in 1965–66, 105 used Fujitsu NC | FANUCFANUC 260 | [64] |
| 1965Showa 40 | Grinders | The technical tie-up between Toyoda Machine Works and Gendron ends, and Toyoda announces its own "TOYODA grinders" | Toyoda Machine Works | [44, frame 133][91, frame 21] |
| 1965Showa 40 | Drilling/boring | ★Rokuroku Sangyo, together with Fujitsu (whose NC division later became FANUC), builds the tape-controlled numerically controlled automatic drilling machine 501-HANC and delivers it to the University of Yamanashi. It is the company's first NC machine, and the National Museum of Nature and Science database speculates that it "may have been Japan's first NC drilling machine". The next year it leads to the SS-55 printed circuit board drilling machine | Rokuroku Sangyo501-HANC | [101] |
| 1965Showa 40 | EDM | The world's first wire EDM with an NC unit is built in the Soviet Union | — | [58] |
| June 1965Showa 40 | Grinders | Kuroda Kyohan Seisakusho is renamed Kuroda Precision Industries. In the same year, through a tie-up with Diaform of the UK, it releases a surface grinder with a built-in wheel-shaping device | Kuroda Precision Industries | [38, frame 59][38, frame 76][38, frame 90] |
| 1966Showa 41 | Lathes | Okuma exhibits the Type LA-N numerically controlled fully automatic lathe with an autoloader at the 3rd Japan International Machine Tool Fair, and completes the Type LA-N with the OSP1022 in July 1967 | OkumaType LA-N | [21][11, frame 85][11, frame 86] |
| 1966Showa 41 | Milling/MC | ★Ikegai Tekko, Hitachi Seiki, Makino Milling Machine, Yasda and others exhibit machining centers at the Japan International Machine Tool Fair. Strictly speaking, some had no ATC, but it marked the start of the MC era | — | [3, frame 92] |
| 1966Showa 41 | Milling/MC | Ikegai Tekko announces three NC machine tools including a machining center. Yasda also develops the machining center "Precision Center" | Ikegai, Yasda | [7][31] |
| 1966Showa 41 | Milling/MC | Osaka Kiko's Turret Miller TM-3NC: an NC milling machine that changes tools automatically with a six-spindle turret headThe company's history says it developed and launched the "numerically controlled multi-function machine tool (machining center) Turret Miller" in 1967 | Osaka Kiko (OKK)TM-3NC | [102][36] |
| 1966Showa 41 | Grinders | Toyoda Machine Works builds its own Type GCA fully automatic cam grinder. In a field monopolized by foreign makers, its own high-rigidity fluid bearings deliver equal or better accuracy, and many go to automakers | Toyoda Machine WorksType GCA | [103] |
| 1966Showa 41 | Gear cutting | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries begins producing the Type NZA gear grinder with technology from Reishauer of Switzerland, and succeeds in making it domestically in March 1968 | Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesType NZA | [86, frame 540][86, frame 384][89] |
| 1966Showa 41 | Gear cutting | Nachi-Fujikoshi begins selling a high-speed gear shaper | Nachi-Fujikoshi | [10, frame 93] |
| 1966Showa 41 | EDM | Japan takes part for the first time in the 2nd ISEM, in Brno (Czechoslovakia) | — | [58] |
| 1966Showa 41 | Multitasking/5-axis | Froriep announces the KE8 Universal, a vertical-lathe-type turning center. The 1981 Senban manyuaru calls it the first machine tool to combine turning with rotating-cutter work | FroriepKE8 Universal | [104, frame 72] |
| October 1966Showa 41 | Milling/MC | Makino Milling Machine develops a machining center (the company calls it "Japan's first") | Makino | [42] |
| 1967Showa 42 | Lathes | ★NC lathe production: 8 units in 1967 → 66 in 1968 → 282 in 1969 → 589 in 1970 → 1,459 in 1973 (JMTBA statistics) | — | [64] |
| 1967Showa 42 | Milling/MC | Statistics on NC machine tools begin. That year 52 NC milling machines were produced, more than NC lathes (8) | — | [64] |
| 1967Showa 42 | Gear cutting | With large orders from automakers, Mitsubishi builds nearly twice as many hobbing machines as around FY1963, yet still has a backlog of orders with delivery times of more than a year | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | [86, frame 540] |
| 1967Showa 42 | EDM | Mitsubishi Electric releases the Type DM-250. Its spindle (Z axis) is driven by a hydraulic servo and can carry large electrodes of 50 kg, for sinking blind cavities in forging dies; the power supply could be chosen from high-frequency superimposed, thyristor and transistor types. It became a best seller | Mitsubishi ElectricDM-250-DE-90T | [58] |
| 1967Showa 42 | EDM | The Japan Society of Electrical Machining Engineers is founded, based on the Electrical Machining Research Group and the Electronic Machining Forum | — | [58] |
| November 1967Showa 42 | Drilling/boring | ★Mitsubishi Heavy Industries completes the first MAF machine, the in-house "Mitsubishi combined milling and boring machine" developed as the successor to the MIB machine. Built to meet the growing size of shipbuilding and nuclear equipment, it is called by the company "Japan's first NC boring and milling machine". For turbine casings; total weight 320 tons | Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesMAF | [86, frame 383][86, frame 546][89][105] |
NC adoption1968–1979
| Year | Ch. | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968Showa 43 | Lathes | JMTBA's NC catalog lists NC lathes from Ikegai, Okuma, Yamazaki, Hitachi Seiki, Shoun, Takisawa, Toshiba Machine, OM, Dainichi Kinzoku and others. The main NC units are Fujitsu's FANUC and Okuma's OSP | — | [100, frame 5][100, frame 6][100, frame 7] |
| 1968Showa 43 | Lathes | Sliding-headstock (Swiss-type) automatic lathes are built in Japan by Shimamoto, Nomura, Citizen, Tsugami, Star and others | — | [59, frame 15] |
| 1968Showa 43 | Lathes | Eguro Iron Works announces the gang-tool NC lathe ENC101 (the company calls it "Japan's first gang-tool type") | EguroENC101 | [106] |
| 1968Showa 43 | Milling/MC | Okuma Iron Works begins building the Type MCD double-column machining center | OkumaType MCD | [21] |
| 1968Showa 43 | Milling/MC | ★The machining center section of JMTBA's NC machine tool catalog lists the Enshu MB, Makino MCP-70, 78 and 100, Hitachi Seiki BD, Hitachi HTN-10P, Niigata Engineering 50DIU, Shin Nippon Koki TM-2H-NC-ATC and others | — | [100, frame 16][100, frame 17] |
| 1968Showa 43 | Milling/MC | JMTBA's NC machine tool catalog lists Shin Nippon Koki's RB-1N and RB-2N NC precision vertical boring and milling machines (closed double-column structure, milling and boring in succession in one setup) and the TM-2H-NC-ATC double-column machining center with a six-spindle turret head | Shin Nippon KokiRB-1N, TM-2H-NC-ATC | [100, frame 12][100, frame 39][100, frame 52] |
| 1968Showa 43 | Milling/MC | A numerically controlled wing spar milling machine by Shin Nippon Koki, Kawasaki Aircraft Industries and Fujitsu receives the 3rd (FY1968) Japan Society for the Promotion of Machine Industry Award. It controls six axes simultaneously to cut the three-dimensional curves of aircraft wing spars | Shin Nippon Koki | [107, frame 129][12] |
| 1968Showa 43 | Grinders | JMTBA's NC machine tool catalog lists Nippei Sangyo's CGK-NC numerically controlled cylindrical grinder (NC by Fujitsu's FANUC), and Toyoda Machine Works' GCN15-100 numerically controlled cam grinder, GUN20-100 multipurpose numerically controlled grinder (simultaneous 3-axis control) and GCN400V numerically controlled cam profile grinder | — | [100, frame 16][100, frame 47][100, frame 48][100, frame 49] |
| 1968Showa 43 | Grinders | Okamoto Machine Tool Works develops the Type NFG-5 CNC surface and profile grinder (the company calls it a "world first") | Okamoto Machine Tool WorksType NFG-5 | [28] |
| 1968Showa 43 | Gear cutting | ★A survey by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Machine Industry concludes that, of domestic machine tool demand, the area most dependent on foreign machines is gear cutting machines and gear finishing machines. Few spiral bevel gear cutting machines were sold domestically | — | [108, frame 64][108, frame 24] |
| 1968Showa 43 | Drilling/boring | JMTBA's NC machine tool catalog has a section for numerically controlled drilling machines (Ikegai Tekko, Rokuroku Sangyo RND-1003 and others) and one for numerically controlled boring machines (Ikegai Tekko's ANC horizontal milling and boring machine, Toshiba Machine's Type BFT table-type horizontal boring and milling machine, Nomura Seisakusho's NB-100, and Mitsui Seiki's optical jig borers with numerical control, the 4BN, 6BN and 7AN) | — | [100, frame 8][100, frame 10][100, frame 31] |
| 1968Showa 43 | Drilling/boring | Rokuroku Sangyo's mass-production NC drilling machine RND-1003. Its box-shaped bed, column and spindle head became the basic form of later vertical machining centers. Up-and-down (Z-axis) motion was controlled by limit switches instead of expensive NC | Rokuroku SangyoRND-1003 | [109] |
| 1968Showa 43 | Drilling/boring | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries completes the Diamatic MPA series (the company regards it as a pioneer of Japanese machining centers) | Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesDiamatic MPA | [89] |
| January 1968Showa 43 | Lathes | Ikegai Tekko announces it will make the Type A25 NC lathe its main product, aiming for lot production of 10 a month, with a dedicated assembly line at its Mizonokuchi plant | IkegaiType A25 | [64] |
| April 1968Showa 43 | Lathes | Mori Seiki begins making and selling NC lathesThe museum's records call the 1974 NCPL-300 "the first NC lathe developed by the company" | Mori Seiki | [60] |
| August 1968Showa 43 | Lathes | Takisawa Iron Works begins NC lathe production | Takisawa Iron Works | [27] |
| August 1968Showa 43 | Multitasking/5-axis | Machinery carries an explanation of a tape format for simultaneous 5-axis control (OKIPATH25). 5-axis NC programs adding rotary A and B axes to the three X, Y and Z axes were already being discussed | — | [110, frame 24] |
| September 1968Showa 43 | Lathes | ★Yamazaki Iron Works completes its first NC lathe, the "Mazak Turning Center (MTC)". Launched at 7.3 million yen per unit, with a simple NC based on the FANUC 260 | Yamazaki MazakMTC | [25][64] |
| September 1968Showa 43 | Milling/MC | Niigata Engineering develops the MC 50DIU. The spindle head swivels to two positions, vertical and horizontal, and the table indexes every 90 degrees. Exhibited at the autumn Tokyo International Machine Tool Fair | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering)50DIU | [8, frame 433][8, frame 437][100, frame 51] |
| September 1968Showa 43 | Grinders | Waida Seisakusho begins producing profile grinders | Waida Seisakusho | [75] |
| 1969Showa 44 | Grinders | Okamoto Machine Tool Works develops the OGM series of cylindrical grinders, followed in 1974 by the PRG series of rotary surface grinders | Okamoto Machine Tool WorksOGM | [28] |
| 1969Showa 44 | EDM | In the late 1960s Japax and Mitsubishi Electric were called the "big two" of EDM. Japax's D100M, descended from the D3, gains a transistor power supply (QC power supply) in 1969. Semiconductor power supplies greatly reduce electrode wear, and EDMs begin to spread to three-dimensional blind cavities in dies | JapaxD100M | [58] |
| 1969Showa 44 | EDM | Agie of Switzerland completes the NC wire EDM "DEM-15" and exhibits it at a show in Paris | — | [58] |
| November 1969Showa 44 | Gear cutting | The trade magazine Machinery features the P630WS gear skiving machine by Pfauter of West Germany | — | [111, frame 90] |
| 1970Showa 45 | Lathes | ★Yamazaki Iron Works' NC lathe MTC-2500R (serial no. 200; FANUC 240, paper tape, electro-hydraulic pulse motors), the first Japanese NC lathe exported to the United States. Brought back to Japan in 2008 and designated Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 126 in 2024 | Yamazaki MazakMTC-2500R | [112][25] |
| 1966–70Showa 45 | Milling/MC | General-purpose milling machines grow too. Niigata Engineering's Type 2UM output rises from 194 in 1966 to 725 in 1969, and tops 1,000 in 1970 | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering)Type 2UM | [8, frame 437] |
| 1970Showa 45 | Grinders | ★Nisshin Kikai Seisakusho begins producing the Type HI-GRIND 2, a high-speed centerless grinder with hydrostatic bearings and hydrostatic guideways, and exhibits it at the 5th Japan International Machine Tool Fair. In 1973, full production of fully automatic centerless grinders with measuring gauges begins | Nisshin Kikai SeisakushoType HI-GRIND 2 | [34] |
| 1970Showa 45 | Multitasking/5-axis | Kearney & Trecker of the US, the company that gave birth to the machining center, shows the TURN-12 multitasking machine at IMTS (Chicago). It drew attention as a 100-million-yen machine tool, but only three were made and it never became a product. In Japan, too, Ikegai Tekko and Okuma Iron Works exhibited at trade fairs, but interference between tool and workpiece and price problems kept them from commercialization | Kearney & TreckerTURN-12 | [113] |
| March 1970Showa 45 | Lathes | Citizen Watch develops the NC automatic lathe "Cincom D16" | CitizenCincom D16 | [114][115] |
| April 1970Showa 45 | Milling/MC | Yamazaki Iron Works completes its first machining center, the BTC No.5 | Yamazaki MazakBTC No.5 | [25] |
| September 1970Showa 45 | Milling/MC | ★The Technical Research Institute of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Machine Industry completes a 7-axis machining center with simultaneous 5-axis control and an ATC, built as a prototype at Shin Nippon Koki. Its spindle head carries a high-speed spindle for drilling and a spindle for milling, and it can machine five faces of workpieces up to 500 mm square in succession. The company calls it the FM-720, "Japan's first simultaneous 5-axis multitasking machine tool" | Shin Nippon KokiFM-720 | [107, frame 31][107, frame 47][116, frame 64][12] |
| October 1970Showa 45 | Drilling/boring | Mitsui Seiki Kogyo begins producing its first machining centers, the Jidic H5B and H6B. A jig borer company moves into MCs | Mitsui Seiki KogyoJidic H5B, H6B | [45] |
| 1971Showa 46 | Milling/MC | Osaka Kiko develops the MH-5TCV, Japan's first electronic copy milling machine. Meeting demand for plastic molds, copy milling remained the mainstream of mold making until the era of cutting directly from data | Osaka Kiko (OKK)MH-5TCV | [117] |
| 1971Showa 46 | Grinders | Through a technical tie-up with Berthiez of France, OM Ltd. introduces the VGM-125 vertical grinder with NC and acquires the skills to achieve submicron accuracy | OM Ltd.VGM-125 | [118] |
| By 1971Showa 46 | Grinders | Tsugami Seisakusho's PG350 precision high-speed cylindrical grinder. It brings "high-speed grinding", raising the wheel peripheral speed from 1,800 m/min (30 m/s) to 3,600 m/min (60 m/s), to automobile parts and the like | Tsugami SeisakushoPG350 | [48, frame 51][48, frame 52] |
| 1971Showa 46 | Gear cutting | Nachi-Fujikoshi signs a technical tie-up with a West German hobbing machine specialist for internal gear skiving machines and production hobbing machines (Types SH-180, SH-900 and SH-1250), with sales from the following year | Nachi-FujikoshiSH-180 | [119, frame 101][10, frame 102][10, frame 149] |
| 1971Showa 46 | Gear cutting | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries ends its tie-up with Lorenz and switches to its own technology, releasing the GH series of high-performance hobbing machines (GH200, GH300) in 1972, followed by the SH series of high-speed gear shapers and the Type SV gear shaving machine | Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesGH series | [86, frame 383][86, frame 541] |
| 1971Showa 46 | Drilling/boring | The MAF machine is designated the first domestically developed machine under the heavy machinery development program, and receives the Japan Society for the Promotion of Machine Industry Award in 1972 | Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesMAF | [105][89] |
| September 1971Showa 46 | Lathes | Yamazaki Iron Works completes the MTC-1500R-AC, Japan's first adaptive-control lathe | Yamazaki MazakMTC-1500R-AC | [25] |
| December 1971Showa 46 | Lathes | Niigata Engineering completes "AUTOLAT", automatic programming for its NC lathe 40CDN | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering)40CDN | [8, frame 431][8, frame 433] |
| 1972Showa 47 | Lathes | ★The era of CNC with built-in computers begins. Fujitsu's NC division becomes independent as Fujitsu FANUC and announces a CNC, and Okuma releases its own CNC (OSP2000). From this year on, Japan's machine tool exports consistently exceed imports | — | [71][72][21][120][121] |
| 1972Showa 47 | Milling/MC | Niigata Engineering develops the vertical MC 3MN-ATC with an ATC for up to 20 tools | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering)3MN-ATC | [8, frame 433] |
| c. 1972Showa 47 | Grinders | While researching diamond wheels under the guidance of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Toyoda Machine Works obtains CBN grains and begins research on CBN wheels for grinding hardened steel | Toyoda Machine Works | [44, frame 78] |
| 1972Showa 47 | EDM | Mitsubishi Electric releases the DAC-10 and DAC-20 numerical control units for EDMs. Reading paper tape, they moved the X, Y and Z axes, could machine many holes in sequence and switched machining conditions automatically | Mitsubishi ElectricDAC-10, DAC-20 | [58] |
| 1972Showa 47 | EDM | ★Mitsubishi Electric releases Japan's first wire EDM, the DWC-50 (Type DWC50S-LT1). Instead of expensive NC, it followed the lines of a drawing with an optical drawing tracer developed in the US. Registered as Essential Historical Materials for Science and Technology (No. 374) in 2024 | Mitsubishi ElectricDWC-50 | [122][58][123] |
| August 1972Showa 47 | Milling/MC | Makino Milling Machine develops a transfer line (FMS) using adaptive-control machining centers | Makino | [42] |
| October 1972Showa 47 | EDM | ★Seibu Denki Kogyo builds the Type EW-20 wire EDM, run by a minicomputer-based NC, and exhibits it at the 6th Japan International Machine Tool Fair. It is Japan's first NC wire EDM, and the company calls it the world's first CNC wire EDM. Registered as Essential Historical Materials for Science and Technology (No. 395) in 2025 | Seibu Denki KogyoType EW-20 | [124][58][95][125] |
| December 1972Showa 47 | Multitasking/5-axis | ★Ikegai Tekko's FT500NA turning center appears in the new-product column of Kikai Shinko. The 1981 Senban manyuaru writes that "in Japan, Ikegai Tekko announced a turning center in 1973 and completed a series" | Ikegai TekkoFT500NA | [126, frame 47][104, frame 73] |
| 1973Showa 48 | Lathes | NC machines exceed 15% of total machine tool output by value. Typical prices then: 2 million yen for an engine lathe, 15 million yen for an NC lathe | — | [127, frame 46][127, frame 47] |
| 1974Showa 49 | Lathes | Turning centers arrive: Ikegai Tekko's FT500NA wins an Automation Machine Development Award, Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry shows its first NC lathe, the ATM-4N (October trade fair), and Mori Seiki releases the NCPL-300 | — | [7][128][129] |
| 1974Showa 49 | Lathes | OM Ltd. begins developing multitasking machines that add rotating-tool machining to vertical lathes (TDC-12N in 1984) | OM Ltd. | [130][131] |
| 1974Showa 49 | Milling/MC | ★Matsuura Machinery releases the vertical machining center MC-750V. At a time when horizontal machines dominated, it lowered prices with a vertical design. Exports to the US begin in 1975 | MatsuuraMC-750V | [132][88] |
| 1974Showa 49 | Milling/MC | Osaka Kiko develops the horizontal machining center MCH-500 (tool change without an arm) | Osaka Kiko (OKK)MCH-500 | [133] |
| 1974Showa 49 | Gear cutting | Nachi-Fujikoshi shows, with a hobbing machine whose direct-driven hob spindle suppresses vibration, that hobbing with carbide hobs is practical | Nachi-FujikoshiBased on Type HB-220H | [10, frame 145][10, frame 149] |
| 1974Showa 49 | EDM | ★At the 7th Japan International Machine Tool Fair in Osaka, Seibu Denki Kogyo's Type EW-30 (microcomputer NC), Mitsubishi Electric's DWC-50M-H (minicomputer NC) and Japax's L250A (minicomputer NC) appear side by side. With NC wire EDMs from all three leading makers on show, the year marks the start of widespread adoption | — | [58] |
| 1974Showa 49 | EDM | The UF105C power supply for die-sinking EDMs. Using transistors as switches, it cut electrode wear to 1% or less and was called a "no-wear electrode power supply". The National Museum of Nature and Science database says its development was led by Furukawa Toshihiko, who later founded Sodick | —UF105C | [134] |
| 1974Showa 49 | EDM | Seibu Denki Kogyo's E-202H die-sinking EDM. Its spindle is driven by a hydraulic servo, the mainstream of the time, and it carries a superimposed-voltage circuit (DP circuit) for fast roughing and clean finishing. It is still used in production at a company in Fukuoka Prefecture | Seibu Denki KogyoE-202H | [135] |
| August 1974Showa 49 | Grinders | Waida Seisakusho begins producing periphery grinders for indexable (throwaway) inserts (CNC versions from February 1982) | Waida Seisakusho | [75] |
| 1975Showa 50 | Lathes | Okuma launches the LS-N, an NC lathe based on the Type LS for small and medium-sized companies, priced at a little over 9 million yen | OkumaLS-N | [64] |
| 1975Showa 50 | Milling/MC | Osaka Kiko's NC milling machine "Auto Miller" MHA-400: it has both handwheels for manual operation and NC automatic operation, and was a big hit | Osaka Kiko (OKK)MHA-400 | [136] |
| 1975Showa 50 | Gear cutting | Karatsu Iron Works builds an extra-large hobbing machine able to cut gears 13,000 mm in diameter (the company calls it one of the largest in the world) | Karatsu Iron Works | [15] |
| c. 1975Showa 50 | Drilling/boring | Takeda Kikai of Fukui's four-spindle fully automatic turret drilling machine. It automatically performs center drilling, pilot drilling, chamfering and tapping in sequence, pioneering the replacement of the special-purpose machines used for drilling on automotive and home-appliance parts lines with inexpensive general-purpose machines | Takeda KikaiTK4s-600FA-T | [137] |
| 1975Showa 50 | EDM | Makino Milling Machine forms a technical tie-up with Agie of Switzerland and in 1976 begins building the DEM-15 wire EDM in Japan. In the same year, 1976, it also teams up with Sodick to build die-sinking EDMs incorporating Sodick's NC and power supply. It later ends both tie-ups and decides to build EDMs with its own technology from 1980 | Makino Milling Machine | [58] |
| 1975Showa 50 | Multitasking/5-axis | Okuma Iron Works releases its first multitasking machine, the LM70-AT, which does turning, drilling and milling on one machine (according to a 2025 announcement by its European subsidiary) | Okuma Iron WorksLM70-AT | [138] |
| July 1975Showa 50 | EDM | ★Fujitsu FANUC (today's FANUC) launches three NC wire EDMs, including the TAPECUT MODEL A, aiming to win share with low prices (a newspaper headline of the time: "Selling at less than half the price of competitors") | FANUCTAPECUT MODEL A | [58][71] |
| 1976Showa 51 | Gear cutting | Kashifuji Iron Works completes the KS300HD, a practical machine for carbide hobbing | Kashifuji Iron WorksKS300HD | [24] |
| 1976Showa 51 | EDM | Sodick and Makino Milling Machine build Japan's first die-sinking EDM with microcomputer NC (machine by Makino, power supply and NC by Sodick) | Sodick, Makino Milling Machine | [139][58] |
| 1976Showa 51 | EDM | FANUC's TAPECUT SERIES D. It can tilt the wire under CNC to cut draft (taper), and the database calls it a world first. From the following year Japax, Mitsubishi Electric and Seibu Denki Kogyo also release taper-cutting units. The same year Japax releases the L200, a small precision machine claimed to be accurate to 5 μm or better (said to mark the start of high-precision machines) | FANUCTAPECUT SERIES D | [140][58] |
| August 1976Showa 51 | EDM | ★Sodick splits off from Japax and is founded in Yokohama. The same year it releases SIX-LORAN, Japan's first orbiting device (it moves the electrode in X and Y as well, to finish the side walls) | Sodick | [58][141] |
| September 1976Showa 51 | Milling/MC | Makino Milling Machine develops the FNC-A series of vertical machining centers | MakinoFNC-A | [42] |
| October 1976Showa 51 | Lathes | Star Micronics releases a CNC automatic lathe, and Takamatsu Machinery the TCC-8 conversational CNC lathe with a CRT | — | [142][143] |
| 1977Showa 52 | Lathes | Ikegai Tekko develops a small NC lathe with an autoloader for "limited unmanned operation" | Ikegai | [7] |
| 1977Showa 52 | Milling/MC | Osaka Kiko releases the low-priced vertical machining center MCV-500, exported in large numbers to the US and Europe | Osaka Kiko (OKK)MCV-500 | [144] |
| 1977Showa 52 | Multitasking/5-axis | At Yamazaki Iron Works (today's Yamazaki Mazak), full-scale development of a multitasking machine begins, led by Momoi Shoji. It was prompted by the wish to cut the processes and man-hours for machining the spindles of the company's own machine tools, and proceeded with a "turret mill" approach that combined a turret lathe with milling tools | Yamazaki Iron Works | [113] |
| October 1977Showa 52 | Grinders | ★Toyoda Machine Works' CBN production cam grinder receives the 12th Japan Society for the Promotion of Machine Industry Award | Toyoda Machine Works | [44, frame 78] |
| 1978Showa 53 | Lathes | ★Mori Seiki's NC lathe SL-2. An integrated design with the NC unit built into the machine, it sold about 2,500 units in nine years and became the basis of the SL series | Mori SeikiSL-2 | [145] |
| June 1978Showa 53 | Lathes | Tsugami launches the CNC multi-function automatic lathe "Mercury" | Tsugami Corp. | [146] |
| October 1978Showa 53 | Grinders | Waida Seisakusho begins producing CNC profile grinders (CNC jig grinders from October 1982) | Waida Seisakusho | [75] |
| 1979Showa 54 | Lathes | FANUC builds ROBOT-MODEL0, an electric robot that loads and unloads workpieces on NC lathes | FANUCROBOT-MODEL0 | [147] |
| 1979Showa 54 | Gear cutting | Kashifuji Iron Works converts a hobbing machine to CNC (the company says it was "the first in the industry"). The KB200 CNC hobbing machine follows in 1982 | Kashifuji Iron Works | [24] |
| 1979Showa 54 | EDM | ★FANUC, using technology brought in from Siemens of Germany, releases Japan's first automatic wire threader (the machine rethreads the wire by itself if it breaks). By the mid-1980s the leading makers all had their own. The same year Mitsubishi Electric releases the DWC-90P, accurate to 3–5 μm | FANUC | [58] |
| 1979Showa 54 | Multitasking/5-axis | Yamazaki Iron Works shows the "SLANT TURN 30 Mill Center", a slant-bed machine with a hydraulic motor for the mill drive, at EMO (Milan) (developed in 1978; also shown at JIMTOF in 1980) | Yamazaki Iron WorksSLANT TURN 30 Mill Center | [113] |
| 1979Showa 54 | Multitasking/5-axis | ★Hitachi Seiki develops the 5LC, a full-fledged turning center with rotating tools for process integration. With 4-axis control of X, Y, Z and C and a 20-tool ATC, it was built into many kinds of systems as a mid-size multitasking machine | Hitachi Seiki5LC | [148, frame 17] |
1980s–1980–1999
| Year | Ch. | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980Showa 55 | Milling/MC | Okuma Iron Works begins building the Type MC-H horizontal machining center | OkumaMC-H | [21] |
| 1980Showa 55 | Grinders | Shigiya Seiki Seisakusho's first CNC cylindrical grinder, the GN-27 | Shigiya SeikiGN-27 | [68] |
| 1980Showa 55 | Grinders | Toyoda Machine Works begins producing CNC/CBN cylindrical grinders. From around 1984, its grinders move fully to CNC and CBN | Toyoda Machine Works | [69][91, frame 21] |
| 1980Showa 55 | Gear cutting | ★Mitsubishi Heavy Industries develops the GH400NC NC hobbing machine (said to be Japan's first NC hobbing machine): up to module 12, stepless hob spindle speeds of 60–350 rpm, five axes under NC control | Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesGH400NC | [149][89] |
| 1980Showa 55 | Gear cutting | Karatsu Iron Works builds a 250 mm high-speed gear shaper for automobiles and motorcycles | Karatsu Iron Works | [15] |
| 1980Showa 55 | Drilling/boring | Okuma Iron Works begins building the horizontal machining center MC-H | Okuma Iron WorksMC-H | [21] |
| 1980Showa 55 | EDM | Makino Milling Machine builds the EDNC64, a die-sinking EDM using its own technology. It was the first in Japan to adopt a work tank whose three sides drop down, making loading, unloading and setup easier. This design later became the industry standard | Makino Milling MachineEDNC64 | [150][58] |
| 1980Showa 55 | EDM | Sodick's 22-NC die-sinking EDM. It can simultaneously control X, Y, Z and a C axis that rotates the electrode, and is suited to complex dies. It is the oldest surviving die-sinking EDM with microcomputer NC on public display. Registered as Essential Historical Materials for Science and Technology (No. 375) in 2024 | Sodick22-NC | [139][151] |
| February 1980Showa 55 | Grinders | Kobayashi Kikai Seisakusho develops the TAG-15, a periphery grinder for throwaway inserts that grinds by NC without cams (the company calls it a world first). Until then, insert peripheries were copy-ground with a cam made for each insert shape | Kobayashi Kikai SeisakushoTAG-15 | [152] |
| 1981Showa 56 | Lathes | ★NC machines exceed 50% of machine tool output by value. For lathes the NC ratio exceeds 70%, and NC lathe output peaks at 161.3 billion yen | — | [70, frame 21][70, frame 46] |
| 1981Showa 56 | Milling/MC | Mori Seiki announces a vertical machining center | Mori Seiki | [153] |
| 1981Showa 56 | EDM | ★Japan's EDM output reaches 44.6 billion yen, about 50% of world output (an estimated 90 billion yen) | — | [58] |
| 1981Showa 56 | Multitasking/5-axis | Yamazaki Iron Works develops the "SLANT TURN 40N Mill Center", whose mill drive uses a more powerful DC motor, making 4-inch face milling possible. The same year it develops the "MAZATROL T-1" conversational NC unit jointly with Mitsubishi Electric (hardware by Mitsubishi Electric, software in-house) | Yamazaki Iron WorksSLANT TURN 40N Mill Center | [113] |
| May 1981Showa 56 | Drilling/boring | Kira Iron Works, a drilling machine maker, begins making and selling machining centers | Kira Iron Works | [77] |
| June 1981Showa 56 | Lathes | Yamazaki Iron Works completes the conversational CNC "MAZATROL T1" and the CNC lathe QUICK TURN 10 (the company calls it "the world's first conversational CNC") | Yamazaki MazakMAZATROL T1 | [25] |
| 1982Showa 57 | Lathes | ★Japan's machine tool output overtakes that of the United States to rank first in the world, a position it held for 27 years until 2008 | — | [70, frame 9][70, frame 22][121][154] |
| 1982Showa 57 | Lathes | Okuma begins producing the CNC lathe LB15, and Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry announces the large CNC multitasking machine TMC-5LAM | — | [21][128] |
| 1982Showa 57 | Milling/MC | Enshu completes the horizontal MC HMC500. In 1983 it releases the HMC-S line-type MC for mass-production lines, the prototype of line-type MCs | EnshuHMC500, HMC-S | [155] |
| 1982 onwardShowa 57 | Milling/MC | JMTBA standards (MAS) specify the shape and dimensions of the MC spindle nose and the BT50 and BT40 MC tooling systems, among others (established and revised) | — | [70, frame 39] |
| 1982Showa 57 | EDM | Mitsubishi Electric releases the F series of wire EDMs, the first in the world to carry a MOSFET power supply, roughly doubling the maximum cutting rate to 110 mm²/min. The same year Sodick releases the 330W, Japan's first wire EDM able to use oil as the dielectric, to prevent corrosion of cemented carbide | Mitsubishi ElectricF series | [156][157] |
| 1982Showa 57 | Multitasking/5-axis | Hitachi Seiki develops its own robots, the RP-10 (pneumatic) and RE-20 (electric), making it easier to build automated cells with turning centers | Hitachi SeikiRP-10, RE-20 | [148, frame 17] |
| May 1982Showa 57 | Milling/MC | US machine tool makers petition the US government to exclude Japanese MCs and NC punching machines from the investment tax credit | — | [70, frame 28] |
| 1983Showa 58 | Milling/MC | Yasda licenses the manufacturing technology for its machining center YPC30 to a British machine tool maker (and the YPC45H in 1986) | YasdaYPC30 | [31] |
| 1983Showa 58 | Drilling/boring | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries releases the MAF machine RS series, CNC horizontal boring and milling machines with an ATC, automatic attachment changing and a large pallet changer | Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesMAF RS | [86, frame 383][86, frame 548] |
| 1983Showa 58 | Multitasking/5-axis | Builds a 30-tool ATC in-house and shows the "SLANT TURN 40N ATC Mill Center" at EMO (Paris). Suzuki 2010 calls it the world's first multitasking machine to be fully commercialized. Inquiries came from the US aircraft and oil industriesThe completion date (April 1983) is also in the Chapter 1 timeline | Yamazaki Iron WorksSLANT TURN 40N ATC Mill Center | [113][25] |
| 1983Showa 58 | Multitasking/5-axis | To build FMS with multitasking machines, co-develops the AJC, which changes chuck jaws automatically, with a chuck maker, and also builds a dedicated robot for loading and unloading workpieces | Yamazaki Iron Works | [113] |
| April 1983Showa 58 | Lathes | ★Yamazaki Iron Works completes the multitasking machine "SLANT TURN 40N ATC Mill Center" | Yamazaki MazakSLANT TURN 40N ATC Mill Center | [25] |
| December 1983Showa 58 | Milling/MC | Yamazaki Iron Works completes "MAZATROL FMS", a system for long hours of unmanned operation | Yamazaki Mazak | [25] |
| 1984Showa 59 | Milling/MC | ★Mori Seiki's small vertical MC MV junior. It sold 4,700 units in eight years and made the small, affordable vertical MC the industry standard | Mori SeikiMV junior | [153] |
| 1984Showa 59 | EDM | ★Japan's EDM output reaches 79.6 billion yen (5,600 units), 55% of the world total. The earliest statistics counting wire EDMs alone are for this year: 3,481 units | — | [58] |
| 1984Showa 59 | EDM | Mitsubishi Electric's DWC-90G achieves the industry's highest rate of 200 mm²/min and carries an early pipe-guided automatic wire threader. Seibu Denki Kogyo releases the EWP-300A, its first high-precision machine, which uses a double-column structure and linear scales to suppress thermal distortion | Mitsubishi Electric, Seibu Denki KogyoDWC-90G, EWP-300A | [156][158] |
| 1984Showa 59 | Multitasking/5-axis | Because the 40ATC cost more than 2.5 times as much as an NC lathe, develops the "SLANT TURN 25ATC Mill Center" with a 16-tool chain-type ATC, holding the price to about 1.5 times that of an NC lathe. With the MAZATROL T-3 conversational NC, operators on the shop floor could write programs, and many were delivered to Japanese users | Yamazaki Iron WorksSLANT TURN 25ATC Mill Center | [113] |
| August 1984Showa 59 | Multitasking/5-axis | The product list in Toyoda Koki giho includes a "simultaneous 5-axis control machining center" | Toyoda Machine Works | [159, frame 23] |
| 1985Showa 60 | Milling/MC | Osaka Kiko's high-speed vertical MC PCV-40: the first Japanese production machine with a cam-type ATC, which became the standard thereafter | Osaka Kiko (OKK)PCV-40 | [160] |
| 1985Showa 60 | Grinders | OM Ltd.'s double-column surface grinder PGD-1308. The table is fed by ball screws rather than hydraulics, and a fully automatic grinding cycle runs once values are entered | OM Ltd.PGD-1308 | [161] |
| 1985Showa 60 | Grinders | Nisshin Kikai Seisakusho develops the Type UG-1000, a production-ready ultra-precision centerless grinder (preceded by an ultra-precision grinder for ceramics in 1983, and followed by the nanometer-class "Nanotron" in 1987) | Nisshin Kikai SeisakushoType UG-1000 | [34] |
| 1985Showa 60 | Gear cutting | Mitsubishi Juko giho introduces the GA series of NC hobbing machines (NC unit: FANUC 6MB) | Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesGA series | [162, frame 2][162, frame 60] |
| 1975–85Showa 60 | EDM | Wire EDM production rises about tenfold in ten years. Shipments of dies and molds, their main market, also grow about fivefold, from 272.1 billion yen in 1975 to 1.3067 trillion yen in 1985 | — | [58] |
| September 1985Showa 60 | Multitasking/5-axis | Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry announces the "Shitamachi FA series" for automation and labor saving that even small factories can easily adopt | Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry | [128] |
| November 1985Showa 60 | Grinders | Toyoda Machine Works begins developing a CNC/CBN production masterless cam grinder (one that needs no master cams). It receives the 24th Japan Society for the Promotion of Machine Industry Award in November 1989 | Toyoda Machine Works | [44, frame 90] |
| 1986Showa 61 | Lathes | Mori Seiki launches the vertical NC lathe partner L-100V (gang-tool type) | Mori Seikipartner L-100V | [163] |
| 1986Showa 61 | Milling/MC | ★The machining center export ratio (exports as a share of production value) peaks at 52%. With the strong yen, it falls to the 30% range from 1989 on | — | [70, frame 47] |
| 1986Showa 61 | Drilling/boring | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries completes the "Super Miller", an extra-large NC combined milling machine with a 13 m width between columns and a total weight of 1,300 tons (the company calls it one of the largest in the world) | Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesSuper Miller | [105][89] |
| 1986Showa 61 | Multitasking/5-axis | A Japan Machinery Federation report on production technology for the aircraft and space industries says simultaneous 5-axis NC machines are absolutely necessary to finish parts with complex airframe contours and angled faces, and plans the FMS's NC machines in two groups: 3-axis (roughing and semi-finishing) and 5-axis (finishing) | — | [164, frame 21][164, frame 22] |
| November 1986Showa 61 | Gear cutting | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' production of gear cutting machines reaches a cumulative 3,000 units since 1961 | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | [86, frame 542] |
| 1987Showa 62 | Lathes | Kitagawa Iron Works' B-200 series high-speed hollow power chuck, used as a standard NC lathe chuck for more than 30 years | Kitagawa Iron WorksB-200 | [165] |
| January 1987Showa 62 | Milling/MC | A voluntary restraint agreement (VRA) on exports of NC lathes, machining centers and other machines to the US begins, agreed for five years (settled by the Japanese and US governments in December 1986) | — | [70, frame 14][70, frame 58] |
| 1988Showa 63 | Milling/MC | Matsuura Machinery's FX-5: a spindle with a built-in motor reaching 20,000 rpm (30,000 and 40,000 rpm as options). A forerunner of ultra-high-speed machines | MatsuuraFX-5 | [166] |
| 1988Showa 63 | Multitasking/5-axis | ★Yamazaki Mazak shows the "INTEGREX 40ATC Mill Center" at IMTS (Chicago). Adding the Y axis that users had asked for made it a 4-axis machine that could also cut the sides of the workpiece. The range of work multitasking machines could cut expanded far into machining center territory | Yamazaki MazakINTEGREX 40ATC Mill Center | [113] |
| April 1988Showa 63 | Multitasking/5-axis | ★Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry announces the TW-20, a two-spindle, two-turret machine with its spindles and turrets facing each other. It achieved simultaneous machining and complete machining to the finished part on one machine, and became the prototype of the later WT series and Super NT series | Nakamura-Tome Precision IndustryTW-20 | [128] |
| 1989Heisei 1 | Gear cutting | Karatsu Iron Works begins selling form gear grinders | Karatsu Iron Works | [15] |
| July 1989Heisei 1 | Milling/MC | Makino Milling Machine develops the horizontal machining center A55 | MakinoA55 | [42] |
| 1990Heisei 2 | Lathes | Output of 1.3034 trillion yen, still the all-time record. The NC ratio peaks at 75.7% (output first exceeded 1 trillion yen in 1985) | — | [121][70, frame 45][70, frame 15] |
| 1990Heisei 2 | Lathes | Ikegai develops the Machining Turn TM25YS | IkegaiTM25YS | [7] |
| 1990Heisei 2 | Grinders | Toyoda Machine Works' CNC general-purpose cylindrical grinder GL4. It has a learning function that sets grinding conditions automatically once drawing data are entered (the company calls it a world first for grinders) | Toyoda Machine WorksGL4 | [91, frame 18][91, frame 21] |
| c. 1990Heisei 2 | EDM | Domestic EDM production in units peaks (die and mold output peaks in 1991). With the strong yen, makers begin building plants overseas (Sodick in Thailand in 1988, Suzhou, China in 1994 and Xiamen in 2006) | — | [58][141] |
| October 1990Heisei 2 | Grinders | Taiyo Koki, founded in Nagaoka in 1986, begins selling vertical grinders, which later become its main products | Taiyo Koki | [167] |
| 1991Heisei 3 | Milling/MC | ★Matsuura Machinery releases a 5-axis machining center for unmanned operation (72 hours of continuous unmanned running) | Matsuura | [88] |
| 1991Heisei 3 | EDM | Fuzzy control, which captures the intuition of skilled operators, comes to EDMs: Mitsubishi Electric's V series in 1991, and Sodick's neuro-fuzzy NF series in 1993 | Mitsubishi Electric, Sodick | [58] |
| April 1991Heisei 3 | EDM | ★Japax, Japan's top maker until around 1980, struggling since the oil shocks, comes under Sodick when Sodick takes an equity stake. A spin-off taking over its former parent was big news at the time. In October 1992 Sodick takes over part of the sales operations of Japax's EDM division | Sodick, Japax | [58][141] |
| April 1991Heisei 3 | Multitasking/5-axis | In Jidoka gijutsu, Yamazaki Mazak introduces a lathe FMS line of three INTEGREX 40 multitasking lathes side by side. With an ATC and Mill Center, each machine does drilling and other work besides turning | Yamazaki MazakINTEGREX 40 | [168, frame 64] |
| 1992Heisei 4 | Grinders | Osaka Kiko's HPV400-GC grinding center. A multitasking machine that brings the versatility of the machining center to grinding, handling everything from ceramics and glass to carbide and hardened steel | Osaka Kiko (OKK)HPV400-GC | [169] |
| 1993Heisei 5 | EDM | ★Makino Milling Machine releases the UPH-1, a wire EDM for dies for fine parts such as semiconductor lead frames. With its horizontal wire-travel design, it was the first in the industry to automatically thread a φ0.03 mm wire (the same year Sodick achieved automatic threading of φ0.05 mm). Registered as Essential Historical Materials for Science and Technology (No. 376) in 2024 | Makino Milling MachineUPH-1 | [170][58][171] |
| 1993Heisei 5 | Multitasking/5-axis | OM Ltd., which had been developing multitasking machines that add rotating tools to vertical lathes since 1974, completes the TMM-35/45N vertical turning center (3.5 m table diameter), which finishes even machining work by moving a swiveling, indexing table back and forth, and makes the TMM type a series | OM Ltd.TMM-35/40N | [130] |
| 1994Heisei 6 | Grinders | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries commercializes the ZG400, a CNC form gear grinder using electroplated CBN wheels. JIS grade 0 on helical gears up to 400 mm outside diameter | Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesZG400 | [172, frame 18][172, frame 19] |
| 1994Heisei 6 | Gear cutting | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries releases the ZG400, a CNC form gear grinder using electroplated CBN wheels (Chapter 3) | Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesZG400 | [172, frame 17] |
| 1994Heisei 6 | Multitasking/5-axis | Yamazaki Mazak develops the "INTEGREX 50/70". With large-taper tools and a standard 30-tool ATC (60 or 80 optional), it became a full-fledged multitasking machine with the functions and cutting power of a machining center, also covering workpieces that need more milling time than turning time | Yamazaki MazakINTEGREX 50/70 | [113] |
| March 1994Heisei 6 | Drilling/boring | Kira Iron Works and two other companies merge to form Kira Corporation | Kira Corporation | [77] |
| March 1994Heisei 6 | Multitasking/5-axis | ★Kitamura Machinery's horizontal machining center "H-400 Super Cell" receives the 24th Automation Machinery Development Award for Small and Medium Enterprises. With added A and B axes, it cuts the five faces other than the mounting face on 5 axes in one setup, and combines automatic pallet changing, automatic workpiece identification and a handling robot. The company says the machine's launch raised the industry's interest in 5-axis MCs and moved other makers to start development | Kitamura MachineryH-400 Super Cell | [173, frame 18][173, frame 19][173, frame 5] |
| August 1995Heisei 7 | EDM | Seibu Electric & Machinery's AWF-3 automatic wire threader cuts threading time to 10 seconds (from about 90 seconds before). "10-second threading" became the target for other makers | Seibu Electric & MachineryAWF-3 | [58][95] |
| 1996Heisei 8 | Grinders | Shigiya Seiki Seisakusho's GCM-30 CNC masterless cam grinder | Shigiya SeikiGCM-30 | [68] |
| 1996Heisei 8 | Multitasking/5-axis | OM Ltd. develops the VC series, small NC vertical lathes with upgraded ATC and APC automation. By combining turret and table indexing devices, they can be configured as turret (T), ram (R) or turning center (M) types | OM Ltd.VC-6NM | [174] |
| October 1996Heisei 8 | Milling/MC | Yamazaki Mazak completes the FF-510, an ultra-high-speed horizontal MC with rapid traverse acceleration over 1 G | Yamazaki MazakFF-510 | [25] |
| 1997Heisei 9 | Gear cutting | ★Mitsubishi Heavy Industries completes a dry cutting system for gears that uses no cutting oil (the company calls it a world first). The GE series of dry-cut hobbing machines follows in 2002 | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | [89] |
| 1997Heisei 9 | Multitasking/5-axis | ★Yamazaki Mazak develops the "INTEGREX 200SY", adding a B axis (swiveling tool spindle) to the X, Y, Z and C axes. With 5-axis control it can cut complex 3D shapes such as turbine blades, and by handing the workpiece over to the second spindle it can keep cutting through to the back sideThe completion of the INTEGREX 200Y with a Y axis (September 1997) is in the Chapter 1 timeline | Yamazaki MazakINTEGREX 200SY | [113] |
| March 1997Heisei 9 | Grinders | Waida Seisakusho begins producing CNC fully automatic universal tool grinders | Waida Seisakusho | [75] |
| September 1997Heisei 9 | Lathes | Yamazaki Mazak completes the INTEGREX 200Y, a multitasking machine with a Y axis | Yamazaki MazakINTEGREX 200Y | [25] |
| 1998Heisei 10 | EDM | ★Sodick releases the AM series of die-sinking EDMs with the spindle (Z axis) driven by a linear motor (a world first). Z-axis speed rose from a few m/min to 36 m/min, and moving the electrode up and down quickly to flush out debris made machining faster | SodickAM series | [175][58] |
| 1998Heisei 10 | EDM | Mitsubishi Electric launches EDM surface treatment (EDC), which builds up electrode material on a surface by discharge to form a coating | Mitsubishi Electric | [58] |
| 1999Heisei 11 | Multitasking/5-axis | Matsuura Machinery's MAM72-3VS 5-axis vertical machining center wins the Machine Industry Design Award | Matsuura MachineryMAM72-3VS | [176] |
| October 1999Heisei 11 | Milling/MC | Yamazaki Mazak completes the VARIAXIS 200 multi-face, 5-axis machine | Yamazaki MazakVARIAXIS 200 | [25] |
2000s–
| Year | Ch. | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2000Heisei 12 | Multitasking/5-axis | Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry announces the STW-40 "super multitasking machine", with a dedicated tool spindle and ATC, which does both turning and machining-center work on one machine | Nakamura-Tome Precision IndustrySTW-40 | [128] |
| 2001Heisei 13 | Grinders | OM Ltd.'s SFG ultra-precision vertical-spindle surface grinder. It grinds HDD glass substrates, silicon wafers, sapphire and more while keeping the grinding force constant | OM Ltd.SFG | [177] |
| September 2001Heisei 13 | Multitasking/5-axis | Yamazaki Mazak releases the "INTEGREX e series". Its new NC unit, the MAZATROL FUSION M640MT, lets the multitasking machine run machining center programs as they are | Yamazaki MazakINTEGREX e series | [25][113] |
| 2002Heisei 14 | Multitasking/5-axis | OM Ltd. builds the OMega 60YB vertical turning center. Its 5-axis control, adding an indexable tool spindle (B) and table indexing (C) to the linear X, Y and Z axes, integrates the processes for complex medium-to-large parts | OM Ltd.OMega 60YB | [178] |
| 2002Heisei 14 | Multitasking/5-axis | ★Matsuura Machinery develops a metal laser sintering hybrid milling machine that combines metal laser sintering, which solidifies metal powder with a laser, with machining center cutting in one machine. It began production and sales in 2003, and in 2004 the M-PHOTON25C won the Japan Industrial Technology Grand Prize and the LUMEX 25C was announced | Matsuura MachineryMetal laser sintering hybrid milling machine | [88] |
| September 2002Heisei 14 | LathesMilling/MC | Mori Seiki takes over part of Hitachi Seiki's business | Mori Seiki | [60] |
| 2003Heisei 15 | Multitasking/5-axis | Kitamura Machinery's Mytrunnion 5-axis vertical machining center (a trunnion type that tilts the table) wins the Machine Industry Design Award. Okuma's MU-400VA 5-axis vertical follows in 2004 | Kitamura MachineryMytrunnion | [176] |
| 2005Heisei 17 | Lathes | Mori Seiki develops the NT series of multitasking machines (NTX in 2010) | Mori Seiki | [60] |
| 2006Heisei 18 | Multitasking/5-axis | ★Four of the five models winning the Machine Industry Design Award are 5-axis MCs or multitasking machines (including Mitsui Seiki Kogyo's Vertex550-5X 5-axis vertical and Matsuura Machinery's CUBLEX-25 5-axis multitasking machine). The same year, Mori Seiki develops the 5-axis NMV5000 DCG | Mitsui Seiki Kogyo, Mori Seiki, Matsuura MachineryVertex550-5X, NMV5000 DCG, CUBLEX-25 | [176][45][88][60] |
| January 2006Heisei 18 | Lathes | Koyo Seiko and Toyoda Machine Works merge to form JTEKT. In the same year, Okuma merges with Okuma Howa Machinery and others | — | [179][21] |
| 2007Heisei 19 | Grinders | Okamoto Machine Tool Works completes the UDG10035NC, an ultra-precision double-column surface grinder with hydrostatic guideways and one of the largest in the world (in the company's words) | Okamoto Machine Tool WorksUDG10035NC | [28] |
| 2007Heisei 19 | Drilling/boring | Yasda's Jig Master YBM50J-S receives the Best Technical Award under the Nippon Institute of Technology Museum of Industrial Technology's "Recognition of Machine Tools of Historical Value" | YasdaYBM50J-S | [31] |
| September 2007Heisei 19 | Multitasking/5-axis | Yamazaki Mazak completes the compact INTEGREX i-150 multitasking machine (Machine Industry Design Award in 2008) | Yamazaki MazakINTEGREX i-150 | [25][176] |
| 2008Heisei 20 | EDM | Mitsubishi Electric's EA8PV ADVANCE die-sinking EDM. It measures machine temperature, calculates thermal distortion and corrects position, and guaranteed a machining accuracy of ±3 μm | Mitsubishi ElectricEA8PV ADVANCE | [58] |
| 2009Heisei 21 | Lathes | China becomes the world's top producer of machine tools by value. Japan's output falls from 1.3032 trillion yen in 2007 to 486.3 billion yen in 2009 | — | [121] |
| 2009Heisei 21 | Gear cutting | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries releases the ZI20A internal gear grinder for mass production (the company calls it a world first) | Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesZI20A | [89] |
| 2009Heisei 21 | EDM | In wire EDM, controls that automatically change the electrical conditions to avoid steps (streaks) where plate thickness changes spread across makers (Mitsubishi Electric's SL control in 2001, Makino Milling Machine's TG Control in 2005, FANUC's AI Pulse Control 2 in 2009) | FANUC | [58] |
| 2009Heisei 21 | Multitasking/5-axis | Yamazaki Mazak's HYPER VARIAXIS 630 5-axis vertical wins the Machine Industry Design Award. An industrial designer was involved from the start of its design | Yamazaki MazakHYPER VARIAXIS 630 | [176] |
| 2010Heisei 22 | Lathes | Shin Nippon Koki develops the SVT series of vertical lathes and vertical turning centers | Shin Nippon KokiSVT series | [12] |
| 2010Heisei 22 | Grinders | Shigiya Seiki Seisakusho develops the GAV-10 and GAV-15 vertical CNC angular cylindrical grinders (the company calls them Japan's first vertical grinders that support the work between two centers) | Shigiya SeikiGAV-10, GAV-15 | [68] |
| 2010Heisei 22 | Multitasking/5-axis | Mori Seiki develops the X-class machines (NLX, NVX, NHX, NTX). Its multitasking machines move from the NT to the NTX | Mori SeikiNTX | [60] |
| 2013Heisei 25 | Grinders | The Okuma non-circular plain bearing and the Type GPB cylindrical grinder become Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 59 | — | [57] |
| 2013Heisei 25 | EDM | Mitsubishi Electric announces a multi-wire EDM slicing machine that cuts a block of hard SiC (silicon carbide) into wafers all at once with many wires. The same year Seibu Electric & Machinery and Mitsubishi Electric release wire EDMs using oil dielectric, and the leading makers come to offer both water and oil types | Mitsubishi Electric | [58] |
| 2013Heisei 25 | Multitasking/5-axis | Okuma builds DS1 (Dream Site 1) at its head office, a factory that makes multitasking machines and NC lathes in one integrated flow | Okuma | [21] |
| October 2013Heisei 25 | Lathes | Mori Seiki changes its name to DMG MORI (after partnering with Germany's DMG in 2009) | DMG MORI | [60] |
| 2014Heisei 26 | Grinders | Multitasking grinding: Okamoto Machine Tool Works' UGM360NC CNC precision multitasking cylindrical grinder and Taiyo Koki's CVG series of vertical multitasking grinders | Okamoto Machine Tool Works, Taiyo Koki | [28][167] |
| 2014Heisei 26 | Gear cutting | ★Skiving machines and tools come from Japanese companies: Kashifuji's KPS20 gear skiving machine, Karatsu Iron Works' GSV-25N gear skiving machine and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Super Skiving Cutter | Kashifuji, Karatsu Iron Works, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | [24][15][89] |
| October 2014Heisei 26 | Multitasking/5-axis | Yamazaki Mazak announces two hybrid multitasking machines (metal additive manufacturing and cutting). It completed the VARIAXIS j-600 AM in November 2016 | Yamazaki Mazak | [25] |
| 2016Heisei 28 | Gear cutting | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Machine Tool releases the MSS300 Super Skiving Machine, which receives the JSME Medal for New Technology in 2017 | MHI Machine ToolMSS300 | [89] |
| 2016Heisei 28 | EDM | The 18th ISEM is held in Tokyo (the 9th, in 1989, was in Nagoya) | — | [58] |
| October 2016Heisei 28 | Multitasking/5-axis | Okuma announces the MU-6300V LASER EX and MULTUS U3000 LASER EX laser multitasking machines, bringing the LASER EX series to five models. Besides milling, turning and grinding, they do hardening and metal additive manufacturing on one machine | OkumaMULTUS U3000 LASER EX and others | [180] |
| 2018Heisei 30 | Multitasking/5-axis | Okuma develops ARMROID, a robot system built into the machine | OkumaARMROID | [21] |
| September 2018Heisei 30 | Multitasking/5-axis | ★Yamazaki Mazak completes the INTEGREX AG series, fusing a multitasking machine with a dedicated gear-cutting machine | Yamazaki MazakINTEGREX AG series | [25] |
| November 2019Reiwa 1 | Lathes | The Yamazaki Mazak Museum of Machine Tools opens (Minokamo, Gifu Prefecture) | Yamazaki Mazak | [25] |
| November 2019Reiwa 1 | Multitasking/5-axis | The Yamazaki Mazak Museum of Machine Tools (Minokamo, Gifu Prefecture) opens. About 80 machines, from a replica bow lathe to the latest MCs, CNC lathes and multitasking machines, are displayed in working order | Yamazaki Mazak | [181] |
| 2020Reiwa 2 | Milling/MC | Five-face machining becomes standard on double-column machines too. Okuma releases the five-face double-column MC MCR-BⅤ, and Yamazaki Mazak the FJW-100/160 | Okuma, Yamazaki MazakMCR-BⅤ, FJW-100/160 | [21][25] |
| April 2020Reiwa 2 | Drilling/boring | Toshiba Machine changes its name to Shibaura Machine (it had left the Toshiba group in 2017) | Shibaura Machine | [46] |
| August 2020Reiwa 2 | Multitasking/5-axis | DMG MORI releases the LASERTEC 6600 DED hybrid, combining metal additive manufacturing by deposition (DED) with cutting | DMG MORILASERTEC 6600 DED hybrid | [60] |
| 2021Reiwa 3 | Grinders | Okamoto's Type ASG-2 spur gear grinder becomes Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 106. It is considered the oldest surviving Japanese-made spur gear grinder | — | [33][28] |
| 2021Reiwa 3 | Gear cuttingDrilling/boring | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Machine Tool comes under Nidec through a business transfer (today's Nidec Machine Tool) | Nidec Machine Tool | [182] |
| January 2021Reiwa 3 | Milling/MC | Makino Milling Machine develops the a800Z, a 5-axis horizontal machining center | Makinoa800Z | [42] |
| June 2021Reiwa 3 | Multitasking/5-axis | Yamazaki Mazak completes Ez LOADER 10, an automation cell with a collaborative robot (Ez LOADER 30 in 2023) | Yamazaki MazakEz LOADER 10 | [25] |
| 2023Reiwa 5 | EDM | The National Museum of Nature and Science compiles its "Survey on the Systematization of EDM Technology". The mid-range to high-end world market is shared by GF Machining Solutions of Switzerland (the former Agie and the former Charmilles), ONA of Spain, EXERON of Germany and five Japanese makers (Seibu Electric & Machinery, Sodick, FANUC, Makino Milling Machine and Mitsubishi Electric), and more than half of Japanese makers' production is now in overseas plants | — | [58] |
| June 2023Reiwa 5 | Multitasking/5-axis | Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry starts its own "Multitasking Machine Certification" for people who use multitasking machines | Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry | [128] |
| 2024Reiwa 6 | Gear cutting | Karatsu Precision completes the Type GS-4N, one of the largest gear shapers in Japan | Karatsu PrecisionGS-4N | [15] |
| September 2024Reiwa 6 | EDM | ★Four machines, the Japaxtron D3, DWC-50, 22-NC and UPH-1, are registered as the National Museum of Nature and Science's Essential Historical Materials for Science and Technology (Nos. 373–376). Seibu Electric & Machinery's EW-20 follows in 2025 (No. 395) | — | [67][123][151][171][125] |
| 2025Reiwa 7 | Multitasking/5-axis | Okuma's European subsidiary celebrates "50 years of multitasking machines" and presents the MULTUS series, descended from the LM70-AT of 1975 | Okuma | [138] |
| September 2025Reiwa 7 | Multitasking/5-axis | Yamazaki Mazak completes the INTEGREX i NEO series, and DMG MORI releases the third-generation NTX | Yamazaki Mazak, DMG MORIINTEGREX i NEO, 3rd-generation NTX | [25][60] |
| October 2025Reiwa 7 | Multitasking/5-axis | DMG MORI releases Robo2Go Open. In September it also released MATRIS WPH, which flexibly transports workpieces and pallets for high-mix, variable-volume production | DMG MORIRobo2Go Open | [60] |
No events match this combination.
Chapters and other cross-cutting pages
Chapter 1: The Lineage of Japanese LathesThis chapter's timeline and textChapter 2: The Lineage of Milling Machines and Machining CentersThis chapter's timeline and textChapter 3: The Lineage of Grinding MachinesThis chapter's timeline and textChapter 4: The Lineage of Gear Cutting MachinesThis chapter's timeline and textChapter 5: The Lineage of Drilling and Boring MachinesThis chapter's timeline and textChapter 6: The Lineage of EDM MachinesThis chapter's timeline and textChapter 7: The Lineage of Multitasking and 5-Axis MachinesThis chapter's timeline and textMaker historiesName changes and events for each company in the family treesJapanese Machine Tool ArchiveChapter list and how to find primary sources
Sources
Numbers run in sequence on this page (they differ from the numbers in each chapter). National Diet Library materials were checked in October 2026 using full-text search and page images via the Digitized Material Transmission Service for individuals, and the frames used are listed. Years in company histories and corporate timelines can differ by about a year for the same machine depending on the source (start, completion, announcement or launch).
- Japan Federation of Engineering Societies, Meiji kogyo-shi: Kikai, chigaku-hen (Industrial history of the Meiji era: machinery and geology) (1930)Frames 59, 60, 64, 65, 66
- JSME Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 3: Treadle lathe
- Nihon no gijutsu 100-nen, bijuaru-ban, dai 7-kan (100 years of Japanese technology, visual edition, vol. 7), Chikuma Shobo (1989)Frames 19, 25, 45, 46, 61, 66, 75, 92
- JSME Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 67: Japanese-made double-column planer
- JSME Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 53: Ikegai Works' No. 1 Lathe
- Chokki Toshiaki, Nihon no kosaku kikai kogyo no hatten katei no bunseki (An analysis of the development of Japan's machine tool industry) (1963)Frames 26, 40, 43, 44, 47, 49, 57, 71, 72, 74, 75, 77, 78, 86, 94, 96, 110, 120, 123, 129
- Ikegai: Company information (history)
- Niigata Tekkosho hachijunen-shi (An 80-year history of Niigata Engineering) (1977)Frames 10, 30, 79, 237, 238, 241, 243, 244, 247, 248, 249, 431, 433, 434, 437
- Aida Toshio, Haguruma no gijutsu-shi (A technical history of gears), Kaihatsusha (1970)Frames 103, 104, 105
- Fujikoshi gojunen-shi (Fifty-year history of Nachi-Fujikoshi), Nachi-Fujikoshi (1978)Frames 23, 71, 93, 102, 145, 149
- Okuma Iron Works, Seihin enkaku shashinshu: Sogyo 70-shunen kinen (Product history photo book: 70th anniversary) (1968)Frames 6, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 29, 34, 35, 55, 58, 65, 66, 71, 72, 74, 77, 81, 84, 85, 86
- Shin Nippon Koki: History (in its company profile)
- Niigata Machine Techno: History
- JSME Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 2: Kumamoto University's former machine laboratory workshop and its cultural-property machine tools
- Karatsu Precision: History
- Hitachi Seiki nijugonen no ayumi (25 years of Hitachi Seiki), Hitachi Seiki (1963)Frames 23, 24, 25, 26, 52, 54, 55, 59, 167
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Rokuroku drilling machine No. 1 (branch-type drilling machine)
- Kashifuji: Company profile
- Haguruma gojunen-shi (Fifty years of gears), Kansai Gear Industry Cooperative (1963)Frames 4, 60
- Nippon Seiko gojunen-shi: Bearing, sono hattatsu to gijutsu (Fifty-year history of NSK: Bearings, their development and technology), NSK (1967)Frames 16, 437
- Okuma: History
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Engine lathe Type OS
- Kosaku Kikai Kenkyukai (ed.), Sekai no kosaku kikai kogyo (The world's machine tool industry), Fuji Koho-sha (1963)Frames 22, 23, 25, 26, 50
- Kashifuji: History
- Yamazaki Mazak: History
- Kosaku kikai gyokai (The machine tool industry), Kyoikusha (1978)Frames 37, 39, 61, 68
- TAKISAWA: Company profile and history
- Okamoto Machine Tool Works: Company history
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Drilling machine (Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology)
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Special-purpose three-spindle simultaneous boring machine for loom frames
- Yasda: The history of YASDA
- Miyazaki Masakichi, Kosaku kikai no rekishi sono 1 (senban) (A history of machine tools, part 1: lathes) (1984)Frames 25
- JSME Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 106: Type ASG-2 spur gear grinder
- Nisshin Kikai Seisakusho: Company profile and history
- Nihon no kosaku kikai (Japan's machine tools), Poplar-sha (1961)Frames 69
- Nidec OKK (formerly Osaka Kiko): History
- National Museum of Nature and Science, HITNET Industrial Technology History Common Database: Engine lathe (collection of the Nippon Institute of Technology Museum of Industrial Technology)
- Kuroda Seiko: Shoryokuka ni idomu seimitsu kiki meka (Kuroda Precision Industries: A precision equipment maker taking on labor saving) (1970)Frames 59, 72, 75, 76, 90
- Kikai Gakkai-shi (Journal of the Society of Mechanical Engineers) 39(231) (July 1936)Frames 30
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Thread grinder, Herbert Lindner (Germany), Types FS1 and FS2
- National Museum of Nature and Science, HITNET Common Database of Industrial Technology History Materials: Jig borer (2 items held by the Nippon Institute of Technology Museum of Industrial Technology)
- Makino Milling Machine: History
- National Archives of Japan Digital Archive: Machine Tool Manufacturing Industry Act, signed original, 1938 (Showa 13), Act No. 40
- Toyoda Machine Works, Waza ni yume o motomete: Toyoda Koki 50-nen-shi (Seeking dreams in craftsmanship: a 50-year history of Toyoda Machine Works) (1991)Frames 22, 23, 24, 35, 36, 37, 38, 78, 90, 133
- Mitsui Seiki Kogyo: History
- Shibaura Machine: History section of its annual securities report (EDINET DB)
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Lathe, Kohan Type 400
- Precision Tsugami, Tsugami Seisakusho (1971)Frames 48, 51, 52, 99
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Jig borer SIP Type MP-4G No.420
- National Museum of Nature and Science, HITNET Industrial Technology History Common Database: Horizontal milling machine (collection of the Nippon Institute of Technology Museum of Industrial Technology)
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type MH knee-type milling machine MH-3V
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Precision boring machine Type EJ/ES
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Hydraulic universal grinder Type GHU-300
- Seimitsu shiage-ho (Precision finishing methods), Komine Kogyo Shuppan (1955)Frames 55, 56, 57
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Wheel lathe, Type T 1500 tire boring machine
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Okuma non-circular plain bearing
- JSME Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 59: Okuma non-circular plain bearing and GPB cylindrical grinder
- Iwasaki Takeshi, "Survey on the Systematization of EDM Technology", National Museum of Nature and Science, Survey Reports on the Systematization of Technologies Vol. 32 (2023)
- Jitsuyo jidoban handobukku (Practical automatic lathe handbook), Kogyo Chosakai (1968)Frames 15, 18, 19
- DMG MORI: History
- Nihon no kosaku kikai (Japan's machine tools), Nihon Hyoron Shinsha (1958)Frames 75
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Surface grinder No. 1 (Mitsui High-tec)
- JMTBA: History of the association
- Hidaka Chikage, "NC kosaku kikai ni kansuru kosatsu (2): 1950-nendai, 1960-nendai no Nihon" (A study of NC machine tools (2): Japan in the 1950s and 1960s), Mita Shogaku Kenkyu (Mita Business Review) 62(6), pp. 73–94 (2020)
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Horizontal-spindle surface grinder GS-201
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Die-sinking EDM Japaxtron D3
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Essential Historical Materials for Science and Technology No. 00373: registration sheet for "Die-sinking EDM Japaxtron D3"
- Shigiya Seiki Seisakusho: History and development record
- JTEKT: History (Toyoda Machine Works)
- JMTBA, Seicho, henkaku: 10-nen no kiroku 1982–91 (Growth and change: a 10-year record, 1982–91) (1992)Frames 9, 14, 15, 18, 21, 22, 28, 39, 45, 46, 47, 58
- FANUC: History of FANUC
- IEEJ Milestones (Denki no Ishizue): NC unit (numerical control unit) (recognized 2013)
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Numerically controlled jig borer JIDIC
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Toyoda-Gendron cylindrical grinder RA25-100
- Waida Seisakusho: "History" in its annual securities report (EDINET DB)
- Kokusan kosaku kikai sogo katarogu (Comprehensive catalog of Japanese machine tools), 1963 editionFrames 53, 65, 69, 71, 73, 74, 75, 83, 91, 207, 209, 266, 350, 385, 447, 448
- Kira Corporation: History (in its company profile)
- Kosaku kikai no suchi seigyo (Numerical control of machine tools), Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun (1960)Frames 34
- Kogyo no shinpo (Industrial progress), January 1960 issue (supervised by the Osaka Prefectural Industrial Research Institute)Frames 22
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: High-speed heavy-duty radial drilling machine Type DRA-J
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Die-sinking EDM DM-50B
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Practical high-speed lathe LS540×800
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Engine lathe MS-850
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type VF vertical milling machine
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: 1S (Type HF) horizontal milling machine
- Umi ni riku ni soshite uchu e: Zoku Mitsubishi Jukogyo shashi 1964-1989 (On sea, on land and into space: A further history of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, 1964-1989), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (1990)Frames 382, 383, 384, 540, 541, 542, 545, 546, 548
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Automatic sizing, program-controlled multi-cycle automatic vertical milling machine Microman Type SB-1
- Matsuura Machinery: About our history
- Nidec Machine Tool: Product history
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: OKK-RAMO lathe T-37
- Toyoda Koki giho (Toyoda Machine Works technical journal) 39(1) (1998)Frames 18, 20, 21
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Vertical lathe VT5-14 with NC
- Fujitsu (technical journal) 13(6) (April 1963)Frames 2, 4, 11, 16
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Boring head UFB-3
- Seibu Electric & Machinery: History section of its annual securities report (EDINET DB)
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Numerical control unit OSP Type III
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Manual profile surface grinder MSG-1, first development unit
- Kanagata kosaku gijutsu (Die and mold making technology), Asakura Shoten (1963)Frames 146, 162
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type MH bed-type milling machine MH-2 1/2V
- JMTBA Secretariat, Suchi seigyo kosaku kikai katarogu 1968-nen-ban (Catalog of numerically controlled machine tools, 1968 edition) (1968)Frames 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 16, 17, 31, 39, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Numerically controlled tape-control automatic drilling machine 501-HANC
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type TM NC milling machine (Turret Miller) TM-3NC
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type GCA cam grinder
- Senban manyuaru: Kozo, seido-hen (Lathe manual: Structure and accuracy), Taiga Shuppan (1981)Frames 72, 73
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Horizontal boring combination machine MAF
- Eguro: Company profile and history
- Kikai Shinko Kyokai junen-shi (Ten-year history of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Machine Industry), Japan Society for the Promotion of Machine Industry (1976)Frames 31, 47, 129
- Kikai kogyo keizai kenkyu hokokusho (Machine industry economic research report) 42-5, Economic Research Institute, Japan Society for the Promotion of Machine Industry (1968)Frames 24, 64
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: General-purpose numerically controlled drilling machine RND-1003
- Machinery 31(470), Machinery Kankokai (August 1968)Frames 24
- Machinery 32(485) (November 1969)Frames 90
- JSME Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 126: MTC-2500R, the NC lathe exported to the United States
- Suzuki Nobutaka, "Acquiring integrity in a modular industry: The case of the Japanese machine tool industry", Akamon Management Review 9(9), pp.635-662 (2010)
- Citizen Watch: History
- Citizen Machinery: History
- JSME, Kikai kogaku nenkan Showa 46-nen (Mechanical engineering yearbook, 1971) (1971)Frames 64
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type MH-TC electronic copy milling machine MH-5TCV
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Vertical grinder VGM-125 (NC vertical grinder)
- Machinery Automation 34(506) (August 1971)Frames 101
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Numerical control unit OSP2000 series
- JMTBA: The history of Japan's machine tool industry
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Wire EDM DWC-50
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Essential Historical Materials for Science and Technology No. 00374: registration sheet for "Wire EDM DWC-50"
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Wire-cut EDM Type EW-20 and others
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Essential Historical Materials for Science and Technology No. 00395: registration sheet for "Wire EDM EW-20"
- Kikai Shinko 5(12) (whole no. 55), Japan Society for the Promotion of Machine Industry (December 1972): "New product series"Frames 47
- NC kosaku kikai handobukku (NC machine tool handbook), Taiga Shuppan (1973)Frames 46, 47
- Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry: History
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: NC lathe NCPL-300
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Vertical turning center TMM-35/40N
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Vertical turning center TDC-12N
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Numerically controlled vertical machining center MC-750V
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type MCH horizontal machining center MCH-500
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Power supply for die-sinking EDMs UF105C
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Die-sinking EDM E-202H
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type MHA NC milling machine (Auto Miller) MHA-400
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Four-spindle fully automatic turret drilling machine TK4s (6s)-600FA-T
- Okuma Europe press release: "Increased flexibility and efficiency at lower cost" (2025, 50 years of multitasking machines)
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Die-sinking EDM 22-NC
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Wire EDM FANUC TAPECUT-SERIES D
- Sodick: History section of its annual securities report (EDINET DB)
- Star Micronics: History
- Takamatsu Machinery: History
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type MCV vertical machining center MCV-500
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: NC lathe SL-2
- Tsugami: History
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Electric handling robot FANUC ROBOT-MODEL0
- Hitachi Seiki, Hito ni yasashii senshin gijutsu: Chie to soi no 55-nen (Advanced technology that is kind to people: 55 years of wisdom and ingenuity) (1991)Frames 17
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: NC hobbing machine GH400NC
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Die-sinking EDM EDNC64
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Essential Historical Materials for Science and Technology No. 00375: registration sheet for "Die-sinking EDM 22-NC 8000"
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Camless throwaway-insert periphery grinder TAG-15
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Vertical machining center MV junior
- Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation: 100 Innovations in Postwar Japan, NC machine tools
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Line-type machining center HMC-S
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Wire EDM DWC-90G
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Wire EDM 330W
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Wire EDM EWP-300A
- Toyoda Koki giho (Toyoda Machine Works technical journal) 25(1) (whole no. 90), Toyoda Machine Works (August 1984)Frames 23
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type PCV high-speed vertical machining center PCV-40
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Surface grinder PGD-1308
- Mitsubishi Juko giho (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review) 22(4) (1985)Frames 2, 60
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Vertical NC lathe partner L-100V
- Japan Machinery Federation, Seisan gijutsu kodoka ni kansuru chosa kenkyu hokokusho: Kokuki, uchu sangyo-yo seisan gijutsu, Showa 60 nendo (Research report on advancing production technology: Production technology for the aircraft and space industries, FY1985) (1986)Frames 21, 22
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: High-speed hollow power chuck B-200 series
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Numerically controlled vertical machining center FX-5
- Taiyo Koki: History
- Jidoka gijutsu (Automation technology) 23(4), Kogyo Chosakai (April 1991)Frames 64
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Grinding center HPV400-GC
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Wire EDM UPH-1
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Essential Historical Materials for Science and Technology No. 00376: registration sheet for "Wire EDM UPH-1"
- Mitsubishi Juko giho (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review) 31(2) (1994)Frames 17, 18, 19
- Kikai Shinko 27(3) (whole no. 310), Japan Society for the Promotion of Machine Industry (March 1994): "The 24th Automation Machinery Development Award for Small and Medium Enterprises"Frames 5, 18, 19
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Vertical turning center VC-6NM
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Die-sinking EDM AM35L
- Umemoto Ryosaku and Ishimura Shinichi, "Changes in the design of NC machine tools in Japan: Focusing on machining centers (2)", Gijutsu to bunmei (Technology and civilization) 19(2), pp.43-58 (2015)
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Ultra-precision vertical-spindle surface grinder SFG
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Vertical turning center OMega 60YB
- JTEKT: History
- MONOist: "Okuma, two laser multitasking machines" (November 14, 2016)
- Newswitch (Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun): "Yamazaki Mazak Museum of Machine Tools" (December 24, 2019)
- Nidec Machine Tool: History