德赢ac米兰vwinInnovation history

since 1884

The Furukawa Group's founder, Ichibei Furukawa, worked to build a new Japan 德赢ac米兰vwin aim of "making Japan brighter."

Having inherited Ichibei's idea, 德赢ac米兰vwin a great sense of mission to "make the world brighter."

Going forward, the 德赢ac米兰vwin Group will, as pledged in our corporate philosophy,
"contribute to the realization of a sustainable society" through continuous technological innovation.

  1. 1884
  2. 1900
  3. 1960
  4. 2000
  5. 2016
  1. Foundation & Dawning of a New Era
  2. Helping to Establish Japan's Social Infrastructure
  3. Expanding Overseas
  4. 德赢ac米兰vwin
  5. Strengthen the 德赢ac米兰vwin new technologies and services to solve social issues

1884~Foundation & Dawning of a New Era

The origins of our company can be traced back to 1884, when Ichibei Furukawa first smelted copper in Honjo, Tokyo and Yamada Cable Works began manufacturing electrical cables in Takashima-cho, Yokohama.

The Furukawa Group's founder, Ichibei Furukawa, was born in Kyoto 德赢ac米兰vwin832 and, showing a natural flair for business, became an executive of the Ono-gumi, a wealthy merchant house at that time. 德赢ac米兰vwin877, he took over the operation of the Ashio Copper Mine. After overcoming a number of crises, he developed it into Japan's largest copper mine.

Our corporate logo, the Yamaichi mark, was established that year to represent the idea of specializing exclusively in mining.

He later installed some of the latest Western technologies, such as Japan's first full-scale hydroelectric power plant 德赢ac米兰vwin890, and expanded operations on his way to building the foundations of the Furukawa Group.

Opened Honjo Copper Smeltery and Yamada Cable Works

Started Japan's first electrodeposit copper trial operations

Started manufacturing electric copper wires

Opened Honjo Copper Smeltery and Yamada Cable Works

Ichibei Furukawa overcame various difficulties at the Ashio Copper Mine before achieving success, and 德赢ac米兰vwin884 decided to set up a copper smeltery at Fukagawa, Honjo to improve the uneven quality of crude copper. Around the same time, inventor Yoshichi Yamada, who had developed a method of manufacturing rubber-covered wires, established a wire manufacturing plant at Takashima-cho, Yokohama.

This is the founding year of our company, which grew from these two business origins.

Started manufacturing electric copper wires

During this period, there were a series of plans for laying long distance communications cables 德赢ac米兰vwin the Meiji government's telephone expansion program, resulting in growing demand for not only electric lighting and power lines but also communications cables.

The company started to manufacture electric copper wire early on at its Honjo Copper Smeltery, setting up what was then a state-of-the-art copper wire manufacturing facility. Production at this copper wire plant grew smoothly 德赢ac米兰vwin its high quality, contributing greatly to the upgrade of Japan's social infrastructure at the dawn of the Meiji era.

1900~Helping to Establish Japan's Social Infrastructure

Catering to demand for electricity and communications in the then undeveloped Japan, 德赢ac米兰vwin expanded production to include various rubber and cotton-covered wires, and in 1915 manufactured the nation's first submarine electric cable. The company continued to support the establishment of Japan's social infrastructure with its global quality technical capacity, such as by installing an antenna on Tokyo Tower, the country's largest radio tower at the time.

On the other hand, the company has diversified its business since early on, launching its R&D of lead-acid batteries 德赢ac米兰vwin911 and establishing the Yokohama Rubber Company 德赢ac米兰vwin917, Fuji Electric Manufacturing (now Fuji Electric) 德赢ac米兰vwin923 and Furukawa Aluminium (now UACJ Corporation) 德赢ac米兰vwin959.

Manufactured Japan's first submarine electric cable

Laid the 德赢ac米兰vwin non-loaded carrier submarine cable in the Tsushima Strait

德赢ac米兰vwinn antenna and feed line on Tokyo Tower

Manufactured Japan's first submarine electric cable

A major goal of the engineers at that time was to produce submarine cables, which require an extreme level of durability. The only companies that could manufacture submarine cables in those days were European electrical wire manufacturers, but import goods became scarce 德赢ac米兰vwin a series of wars and so domestic production became necessary.

德赢ac米兰vwin succeeded, through trial and error, in producing Japan's first submarine communications cables, and laid eight nautical miles of it in the Bisan Strait. It went on to build up a strong track record both in Japan and abroad, including manufacturing and installing submarine communications cables to China.

德赢ac米兰vwinn antenna and feed line on Tokyo Tower

The construction of Tokyo Tower marked the start of the era of full-scale television broadcasting. For Japan, still undergoing post-war reconstruction, it was a time of successful development 德赢ac米兰vwin the rapid economic growth of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The Tokyo Olympics in 1964 accelerated modernization, as people buzzed with news from the television and their lives became richer than ever before. Tokyo Tower's antenna still towers majestically over its surroundings today, a significant mark on the cityscape left by 德赢ac米兰vwin's broadcasting-related project.

Years later, our technologies were also utilized in the Tokyo Skytree antenna.

1960~Expanding Overseas

From this period, 德赢ac米兰vwin launched its full-scale efforts to enter the global market with the hope of spreading its technical strength around the world. While building up a track record in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere, it established manufacturing plants from Southeast Asia all the way to Brazil, laying the foundations for today's globalization.

德赢ac米兰vwin987, it built a new research laboratory in Yokohama, which has created all sorts of world-leading technologies and products.

德赢ac米兰vwin fully automatic high-precision six-high rolling mill

德赢ac米兰vwin, Thailand

德赢ac米兰vwin optical fiber cable

Established company in Brazil manufacturing and selling aluminum power cables

德赢ac米兰vwin practical application of optical fiber composite oil-filled cables

德赢ac米兰vwin fully automatic high-precision six-high rolling mill

In those days, the covering material for the submarine telephone line and coaxial cable spanning the Pacific Ocean was mostly brass produced by 德赢ac米兰vwin. This brass required a high level of thickness accuracy and was, for the day, an incredibly long product. In order to ensure a supply system of this covering material, 德赢ac米兰vwin designed and made its own ultrahigh precision rolling mills, fulfilling its responsibilities without incident.

Later, 德赢ac米兰vwin964, the company built a revolutionary new rolling machine called a fully automatic high-precision six-high rolling mill. In spite of its simple construction, it performed as well as a 20-high rolling mill, while also making fully automatic operation a reality. The superiority of this rolling machine was recognized in academic circles too, and it received the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers prize 德赢ac米兰vwin965.

This fully automatic high-precision six-high rolling mill is still in operation today, and its copper strip products are used for vital precision parts, 德赢ac米兰vwin in the inner workings of luxury watches.

德赢ac米兰vwin, Thailand

At the time, the top priority social infrastructure program in Thailand was telecommunications network expansion in the metropolitan region of Bangkok. In 1968, a plan was set out by Telephone Organization of Thailand operator to upgrade the telephone network in the metropolitan region of Bangkok. 德赢ac米兰vwin won the order for the project despite competition from leading companies around the world.

The project involved installing 21 telephone exchanges and 122,500 terminals throughout the city of Bangkok and was the largest project in the history of telecommunications cable exports. 德赢ac米兰vwin completed this major project in 27 months, as per schedule, proving that our technical strength was valid worldwide.

Due to this success, we also accumulated know-how in relation to overseas projects, which has since led to further 德赢ac米兰vwin our global business.

德赢ac米兰vwin optical fiber cable

This is a system of converting electrical signals into strong and weak light, which is then conveyed along thin glass fibers. Back in the pioneer days of optical fiber, 德赢ac米兰vwin carried out the world's first successful field trial of an optical fiber cable.

Since then, 德赢ac米兰vwin has supported high-speed large-capacity communications with its advanced technologies, having developed a series of technologies in addition to optical fiber cables, such as excitation lasers, vital for long distance communications, and ITLA for optical digital coherence, necessary for expanding communication capacity.

2000~德赢ac米兰vwin

德赢ac米兰vwin continued to support people and society with a variety of unique technologies in response to environmental changes such as technological sophistication and climate change, based on our four core technologies of "metals", "polymers", "photonics" and "high frequency" which 德赢ac米兰vwin been strong in so far.

Bought out the optical fiber division of Lucent Technologies in the US

德赢ac米兰vwin

德赢ac米兰vwin

德赢ac米兰vwin high-sensitivity immunochromatographic test kit using fluorescent silica nanoparticles

德赢ac米兰vwin

德赢ac米兰vwin Persistent Current Technology Using Rare Earth Superconducting Wire Materials

Bought out the optical fiber division of Lucent Technologies in the US

OFS was the optical fiber solution division of the former Lucent Technologies in the US, itself originally evolved from Bell Laboratories. It has world-beating technologies and an abundance of patents related to different kinds of optical fibers, optical connectors, etc.

德赢ac米兰vwin acquired OFS in 2001 to join the world's leading group of optical fiber corporations.

OFS is an important site in our optical fiber global strategy, and 德赢ac米兰vwin high hopes for its continued growth in the future.

德赢ac米兰vwin

This was the year when the superconductivity technologies developed over many years by 德赢ac米兰vwin truly blossomed.

Our superconducting materials were supplied to CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) for use in the very heart of its Large Hadron Collider (LHC). 德赢ac米兰vwin was permitted to start mass producing molded niobium-titanium twisted wire, which has the most uniform electrical and mechanical characteristics in the world, and in 2003 received the Golden Hadron Award from CERN.

德赢ac米兰vwin's superconductor technologies have made a huge contribution to modern physics, such as CERN's research results later leading to the discovery of the Higgs boson.

德赢ac米兰vwin

The Great East Japan Earthquake struck 德赢ac米兰vwin011. The aftermath brought about fresh calls for stronger preparations against the threat of nature and a better response to the energy problem. Launched as part of the post-disaster reconstruction efforts, the Floating Offshore Wind Farm Demonstration Project in Fukushima is a colossal experimental research program to install multiple floating wind turbines in the sea and substations on land.

德赢ac米兰vwin participated in this experiment in 2012, and was in charge of constructing the transmission system sending electrical power and control signals from the floating wind turbines to the shore. Floating wind turbines are constantly buffeted by waves and tides, and their submarine power cables also need to be able to withstand this harsh environment.

德赢ac米兰vwin’s answer was to develop special high-voltage riser cables that float in the sea, and in 2013, for the first time in the world, we succeeded in connecting floating wind turbines to land substations.

德赢ac米兰vwin high-sensitivity immunochromatographic test kit using fluorescent silica nanoparticles

Fluorescent silica nanoparticles successfully developed by 德赢ac米兰vwin consist of a fluorescent dye stably fixed inside nano-sized silica particles, and functional groups with connectivity with protein, etc. placed on the particles' surface. Their forte is their broad usage in the life sciences.

By applying this to fluorescent immunochromatographic technology for extracorporeal diagnosis, 德赢ac米兰vwin developed the world's first simple and quick test enabling the high-sensitivity detection of Acanthamoeba, a form of bacteria that contributes to eye infection.

德赢ac米兰vwin015, we also applied fluorescent silica nanoparticles in a new test agent for Campylobacter, a bacteria that causes food poisoning, greatly reducing testing times and increasing test sensitivity.

德赢ac米兰vwin

Carbon nanotubes have excellent properties – one-fifth the weight of copper, 20 times the strength of steel, and 1,000 times the current density of copper. In 2015, 德赢ac米兰vwin, in collaboration with Shinshu University, succeeded in developing a carbon nanotube conductor with the highest electroconductivity in the world.

Going forward, 德赢ac米兰vwin will utilize carbon nanotubes' high strength, ultra-light weight, and environmental resistance to work on making electric wires lighter and lower-loss, thereby contributing to the realization of an energy-saving society.

德赢ac米兰vwin Persistent Current Technology Using Rare Earth Superconducting Wire Materials

We achieved a 10-12 Ω connection with rare earth superconducting wire materials and realized a previously impossible superconducting connection of HTS wire materials. 德赢ac米兰vwin produced a persistent current maintaining a constant magnetic field for a long time (more than one year) with no external current supply. By obtaining a stable high magnetic field with low running power, producing a persistent current is expected the broader use of MRI in medical practice.

2016~Strengthen the 德赢ac米兰vwin new technologies and services to solve social issues

"In order to build a sustainable world and make people’s life safe, peaceful and rewarding, we will create solutions for the new generation of global infrastructure combining information, energy and mobility.” under the "德赢ac米兰vwin Group Vision 2030", we are working on research and development while strengthening co-creation with partners to solve social issues.

德赢ac米兰vwin to Newly Construct an Open Lab in Yokohama

德赢ac米兰vwin Narrow Linewidth & High Output Power Micro ITLA for beyond-100Gbps optical digital coherent transmission

Developed Thin Extra-high Count Multi-core Optical Fiber Cable 德赢ac米兰vwin World’s Highest Core Density

Award of contract for 德赢ac米兰vwin high voltage dynamic export submarine cable for floating offshore wind power plants

Practical application of "德赢ac米兰vwin", the likely winner in renewable energy utilization, offering a solution at 1/2 the total cost of lithium-ion batteries

Launching Sales of the “BRACE™” Blue-IR Hybrid Laser