About

History of Powdertech

1952 Establishment of Hokuriku Kako Co., Ltd., in Toyama for production and R/D of iron powder and activated carbon.
1956 Completion of Kashiwa Plant in Chiba.
1957 Successful development of steel powder by nitriding pulverization.
1958 Production and marketing of sponge iron made from iron ore by direct rotary kiln reduction process.
1960 Company was renamed Nippon Special Iron Powder Co., Ltd.
Commenced trial production of spherical iron powder.
1961 Development of oxidization process for surface-treating iron powder. Marketing of toner carriers for electrophotography using the technology with the spherical iron powder developed in the previous year.
1963 Launched marketing of iron powder for powder metallurgy.
1966 Establishment of Nippon Iron Powder Co., Ltd., with capital of ¥100 million jointly by Mitsui Mining Smelting and Nanyu Shosha to succeed the businesses of Nippon Special Iron Powder.
1968 Marketing of spherical iron powder improved for facsimile machine. Volume production of iron powder, TC-24, for powder metallurgy.
1970 Full-scale production and marketing of iron powder for electrophotography.
1974 Acquisition of adjacent land (10,000m²) owned by the national government
1975 Develops technology to shape irregular type carrier into flat shaped carrier or spherical carrier.
1977 Full-scale production and marketing of iron powder for powder metallurgy with improved compressibility.
1979 Develops resin coated carrier and magnetized powder for electrophotography.
1981 Enhanced production capabilities for iron powder carrier.
1982 Perfected ferrite carrier for practical application.
1984 Completed ferrite carrier plant.
Full-scale production and marketing of ferrite carrier for electrophotography.
1985 Added a plant site in Takahagi city, Ibaraki.
1986 Trial production of oxygen absorber (WonderKeep®) commenced.
1988 Established Powdertech Corporation, a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary after Nippon Iron Powder acquired the Titan Advanced Materials Division of Titan Corporation.
1989 Company was renamed Powdertech Co., Ltd., with the capital increased to ¥585 million.
1990 Company made public offering on the OTC(Over the Counter) stock market operated by Japan OTC Securities which was owned by Japan Securities Dealers Association.
Capital increased to ¥1,557 million.
1991 Completed Takahagi Plant (for WonderKeep®).
Established PTS, a wholly owned subsidiary.
1995 The carrier business was certified ISO9001.
Enhanced the production capabilities for ferrite carrier.
1996 Perfected environmentally friendly (EF) ferrite carrier for electrophotographic application.
1997 Completed a plant exclusively for the EF ferrite carrier.
2002 Sold Powdertech Corporation, locating the carrier production in the U.S. to Kashiwa Pl6ant of the parent company.
Established Powdertech International Corporation, a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary for international sales and marketing.
Company wholly owned Musashi Sangyo Co., a trading house for the domestic Market.
All the business units were ISO9001 certified.
2003 All the business units were ISO14001 certified.
Spun off the oxygen absorber business into a newly created Wonderkeep Takahagi Co., a wholly owned manufacturer of WonderKeep®.
2004 Company was listed on JASDAQ, a securities exchange, operated by JASDAQ Securities Exchange Inc, which originated with Japan OTC Securities.
Launched a company-wide Total Productive Maintenance (TPM).
2005 Enhanced the EF ferrite carrier production capability to 400 tons monthly.
2006 All the business units were OHSAS 18001 certified.
2007 Company was awarded Excellence TPM Award to finish the movement.
Selected by The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) as one of the “300 Strongest Small-Medium Sized Enterprises”.
2010 As a result of acquisition of JASDAQ Securities Exchange Inc., by Osaka Security Exchange Co., Company was listed on JASDAQ market operated by Osaka Security Exchange.
As a result of smaller stock markets integration by Osaka Security Exchange, Company was listed on its Standard Section on JASDAQ market.
Acquired an adjacent plant site (9,000m²).
2013 Due to creation of Japan Exchange Group (JPX) from the merger of the Tokyo Stock Exchange group and Osaka Securities Exchange Co., Company was listed on JASDAQ Standard Section operated by Tokyo Stock Exchange Inc., owned by JPX.
2014 Company absorbed by merger Musashi Sangyo Co., a wholly owned domestic sales arm.
2015 Completed a new plant to further enhance production capabilities for EF carrier on the adjacent site acquired in 2010.
2016 Marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of Powdertech.
2017 Exceeds sales of 10 billion yen. (FY2017)
Changes the number of shares per share unit from 1,000 to 100, and consolidates its common shares on basis of one for every five shares.
Selected by METI as one of the “Companies Driving Regional Growth”.
2020 Selected by METI as one of the “Global Niche Top Companies Selection 100 in FY2020”.
2022 PTS,non-consolidated wholly-owned subsidiary, is dissolved and Powdertech takes over all operations.
Transferred to the Standard Market on the Tokyo Stock Exchange following a market segments restructuring by Tokyo Exchange Market, Inc.
Withdrawal from iron powder sales business.