Company History


November 2014 marked our 70th anniversary of service. On this page we share with you our history and achievements.

Establishment Under Wartime Regime 1936~
Reconstruction During Post-War Turmoil 1945~
Rapid Growth in Technological Innovation 1955~
Development of Proprietary Know-Hows and Exploration of New Fields 1966~
The Flight in Times of Economic Downturn 1976~
System Planning for the 21st Century 1986~
The Leap into the New Millennium 1994~
70th Anniversary 2008~


Establishment Under Wartime Regime
1936 Started manufacture of mainly high pressure valves by establishing Shimizu Seisakusho in Kujo, Nishi-ku (West District), Osaka as a private enterprise of Ichinosuke Shimizu, who later became the first president of Kyoei Valve Ind. Co., Ltd.
1943 In November 1943, Kyoei Valve Ind. Co., Ltd was established with a capital of 430,000 yen through a merger with Asano Gokin (alloy) Seisakusho and several other enterprises in accordance with the Government Ordinance for Readjustment of Enterprises established during the war. [Photo]
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Reconstruction During Post-War Turmoil
1945 Built foundations steadily as manufacturer of valve cocks for use mainly in chemical fiber and chemical industries as well as electric, petroleum, shipbuilding and machinery industries after the end of World War II.
1951 Approved as qualified factory for usage of the JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards) logo on bronze valves. (Currently no longer in production) [Photo]
1953 Osaka sales office moved to Nishitani Building in Minami Horie, West Osaka. [Photo]
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Rapid Growth in Technological Innovation
1958 Supplied valves to factories in the chemical fibre industry following its development. Started developing bronze bellows sealed valves for transformers for power companies. [Photo]
1962 Liquefied nitrogen and oxygen were put to practical use as the result of advancement in gas liquefaction technology in America. Kyoei Valve started developing bronze cryogenic valves (SW and flanged Extended Bonnet Globe Valves) for cold evaporators (CE) and tank trucks. These became the very foundation of the current cryogenic valves. [Photo]
1963 Started development and manufacture of the more durable stainless steel valves in addition to bronze valves. This brought further improvement in the chemical fibre and high pressure gas industries. [Photo 1] [Photo 2]
1964 Shinichi Nishida, previously Senior Managing Director, assumed the position of Company President following the death of President Shimizu.
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Development of Proprietary Know-Hows and Exploration of New Fields
1966 Received the Science & Technology Agency's Director General's Award for the invention of a high speed counter-boring machine. (Patent No. 485069 granted in November 1956) [Photo]
1971 Received permit as a high pressure gas equipment manufacturing facility from the Governor of Osaka.
1972 Certified as 'Factory for Testing and Manufacturing of High Pressure Gas Equipment' by the Minister of International Trade and Industry (19 Valves). This resulted in a rise in inquiries from major industrial gas manufacturers.
1974 Delivered valves to Tanegashima Space Centre for the ground fuel equipment piping system in connection with the N-1 rocket's launch preparation. This was the Kyoei Valve's first involvement in the space development sector. In line with this, a simple clean booth and cryogenic test apparatus were developed. [Photo]
1975 As the result of our supplying valves to the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) (presently JAXA: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), our cryogenic valves were recognized and adopted by major industrial gas manufacturers for use at their local and overseas plants. More inquiries and orders were received Korea, Taiwan and India. [Photo]
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The Flight in Times of Economic Downturn
1976 Supplied a large quantity of vacuum jacketed valves for the H-I and H-II rockets' liquid hydrogen equipment. [Photo]
1976 In accordance with the newly revised High Pressure Gas Control Act, liquefied oxygen storage tanks with the capacity of 5000l and more are now required to be equipped with emergency shut-off valves. In response to this new requirement, Kyoei Valve successfully developed and commercialized its first Emergency Shut-Off Globe Valve. [Photo]
1977 Additionally certified as 'Factory for Testing and Manufacturing of High Pressure Gas Equipment' by the Minister of International Trade and Industry (16 Valves).
1978 Received visitors from the Chinese Society of Astronautics as the result of our supplying valves for the first domestically produced liquefied hydrogen tank truck. [Photo]
1980 Developed the Pressure Regulating and Pressure Releasing (Economizer) valves for cold evaporators (CE). The commercialization of these pressure regulators contributed to a bigger market coverage. In addition, with the successful commercialization of the Pressure Reducing Valve in the same year, our products are now applicable not just to cryogenic storage tanks but also plant piping systems. [Photo 1] [Photo 2]
1981 Business range was further expanded by acquiring certification for higher pressure valves. This made it possible for our valves to be used for high pressure semiconductor plant pipelines and the H-II rocket's ground testing equipment.
1982 Showcased our valves at the Cryogenic Equipment Expo at the Kobe International Exhibition Hall. [Photo]
1982 Successfully developed the vacuum jacketed Butterfly Valve for liquefied hydrogen. By subjecting the valve to severe endurance tests, we were able to achieve zero leak at operating temperature. The valves were adopted for various ground equipment of the H-II rocket. [Photo 1] [Photo 2]
1983 Reio Hamaguchi assumed the company presidency as former president Nishida was assigned to the post of Board Chairman.
1985 Reconstructed and expanded factories to double equipment and production lines.
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System Planning for the 21st Century
1986 Commercialized the precision polished valves for high purity gas supply pipelines at semiconductor plants.
With an inner surface roughness of Rmax 0.7µ, these precision polished valves became the foundation for our advancement toward the semiconductor industry. [Photo]
1989 Supplied valves to Osaka Gas for their LNG satellite base in Hikone. This started our full involvement in the LNG market. [Photo 1] [Photo 2]
1990 Received an award from the High Pressure Gas Safety Association of Osaka for excellent safety record and accident prevention approaches.
1992 Organized a company trip to Hawaii in conjunction with our 50th anniversary. [Photo]
1992 Received and award from The National Aerospace Development Agency (presently Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) for our contribution in the development and successful launch of the H-1 rocket. [Photo]
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The Leap into the New Millennium
1994 Established Kyoei Engineering Service (KES) Co., Ltd. as an independant maintenance company.
1995 Capital was increased to 60,000,000 yen.
1998 Obtained the ISO 9001-1994/JIS Z 9001-1994 certification.
(Scope of products/services: Design and manufacture of valves for high pressure gas equipment, general valves and strainers for industrial use and related parts.)
2000 Delivered valves to the first LNG satellite base in China located in Zibo City, Shandong. Since then, our valves have been adopted by LNG bases built through out China. [Photo]
2001 Became an exhibitor at the 2001 China International Exhibition on Gases Technology, Equipment, and Application held in Beijing. Our participation in the event strengthened our reputation in the county's cryogenic industry. [Photo 1] [Photo 2]
2003 Obtained the ISO9001-2000/JIS Z 9001-2000 certification.
2004 Seigo Higuchi assumed the company presidency as former president Hamaguchi was assigned to the post of Board Chairman.
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70th Anniversary
2008 A new headquarters was built as a project to commemorate our 65th anniversary. Divisions involved in clerical work were relocated here. Also expanded factory assembly facilities and unified the Osaka Sales Office with the sales department located at the headquarters. [Photo]
2008 Received the Manufacturer Excellence award from the Director of High Pressure Gas Nuclear Power Safety. [Photo]
2009 Obtained the ISO9001-2008/JIS Z 9001-2008 certification.
2010 Introduced a company-wide computerized sales and production system to improve sales management.
2012 A sales representative was dispatched to Beijing, China to accelerate the sales and marketing activities in the country.
2013 November 2013 marked Kyoei Valve's 70th Anniversary.
2014 Obtained type approvals from Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK) and China Classification Society (CCS).
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