Nippon Steel
Encyclopedia
also referred to as , was formed in 1970. Nippon Steel Corporation is the world's 4th largest steel producer by volume.
aversion to layoffs, opting instead to offer standard early retirement enticements but also less conventional schemes such as a mushroom
cultivation venture that used the surplus heat created by steel furnaces to temperature control a fecund fungi complex.
, with only a fraction of labor costs, won over business. The company announced a loss in 1986, prompting a determined effort to diversify away from the moribund "smokestack" industrial sector and to provide new work for thousands of employees that would be transferred from closing furnaces.
In 2006 Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) jointly created a high tensile strength steel. The first application this steel was used for was the hulls of container ships. This steel allows the ships to be just as strong without the thick steel that it was requiring for them to grow in size. The smaller thickness allows the ships to attain a greater fuel-efficiency cutting down on the environmental load of the ships.
Nippon Steel announced a pilot project to process waste food into ethanol in 2006. They have tasked Kitakyushu City with collecting and sorting the food waste and Nishihara Co., a waste management company, with developing new technologies to implement the sorted collecting system. To minimize costs they will use waste heat from an existing incineration facility that had not been effectively utilized, and the residue left after ethanol recovery will be burned in this incinerator.
, a theme park called Space World
, software, and even human resources
products. The company bucked seven struggling but profitable years when it returned to loss in 1993. Again, thousands of employees would be transferred to new operations. Due to cost-cutting, the company returned to health in 1995. However, Nippon Steel reported earnings in 1999 suffered from an overwhelming charge needed to cover pension costs, a problem not uncommon for shrinking industrial giants. 2002 and 2003 would be back-to-back loss years, but robust demand for steel in the People's Republic of China
returned the company to profitability. (However, Nippon Steel had an operating profit for 2002 and 2003. The losses were made of extraordinary losses because of reevaluation of real estate and securities of the company among others). Following a triple merger of Sumitomo Corporation, Kinzoku Steel Corporation (Sumikin Bussan), and the existing Nippon Steel, NSSC was formed as these company's conglomerate Stainless Steel division.
local companies to produce 120,000 tons of sheet stell for automotive industry. Nippon Steel would control a 30 percent share of the joint venture, PT IndoJapan Steel Center. It is located in the Mitra Karawang
Industrial Estate, West Java
in a 4.8-hectare area with total investment for first phase $38 million and expected to start operating in January 2013.
Early years
Nippon Steel was created by the merger of two giants, Yawata Iron & Steel (八幡製鉄 Yawata Seitetsu) and Fuji Iron & Steel (富士製鉄 Fuji Seitetsu). Beginning in early 1981, however, the company cut production and saw a sharp decline in profit that fiscal year. Forced to close furnaces, the company exhibited a typical Japanese economicEconomy of Japan
The economy of Japan, a free market economy, is the third largest in the world after the United States and the People's Republic of China, and ahead of Germany at 4th...
aversion to layoffs, opting instead to offer standard early retirement enticements but also less conventional schemes such as a mushroom
Mushroom
A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...
cultivation venture that used the surplus heat created by steel furnaces to temperature control a fecund fungi complex.
Major plant locations
- MuroranMuroran, Hokkaidois a city and port located in Iburi, Hokkaidō, Japan. It is the capital city of Iburi Subprefecture.As of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 96,724 and a density of 1,210 people per km². The total area is 80.65 km².- History :...
, HokkaidoHokkaido, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel... - KamaishiKamaishi, Iwateis a small, historic city located on the Sanriku rias coast of Iwate, Japan. As of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 41,022 and a density of 92.9 persons per km². The total area is 441.42 km². It is famous in modern times for its steel production and most recently for its promotion...
, IwateIwate Prefectureis the second largest prefecture of Japan after Hokkaido. It is located in the Tōhoku region of Honshū island and contains the island's easternmost point. The capital is Morioka. Iwate has the lowest population density of any prefecture outside Hokkaido... - KimitsuKimitsu, Chibais a city located in Chiba, Japan. As of September 2010, the city had an estimated population of 88,661 and a population density of 278 persons per km². The total area was 318.83 km².-Geography:...
, ChibaChiba Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region and the Greater Tokyo Area. Its capital is Chiba City.- History :Chiba Prefecture was established on June 15, 1873 with the merger of Kisarazu Prefecture and Inba Prefecture... - TokyoTokyo, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
- NagoyaNagoya, Aichiis the third-largest incorporated city and the fourth most populous urban area in Japan.Located on the Pacific coast in the Chūbu region on central Honshu, it is the capital of Aichi Prefecture and is one of Japan's major ports along with those of Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Yokohama, Chiba, and Moji...
, AichiAichi Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region. The region of Aichi is also known as the Tōkai region. The capital is Nagoya. It is the focus of the Chūkyō Metropolitan Area.- History :... - SakaiSakai, Osakais a city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the Medieval era.Following the February 2005 annexation of the town of Mihara, from Minamikawachi District, the city has grown further and is now the fourteenth most populous city in...
, OsakaOsaka Prefectureis a prefecture located in the Kansai region on Honshū, the main island of Japan. The capital is the city of Osaka. It is the center of Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area.- History :... - HimejiHimeji, Hyogois a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. As of April 1, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 535,945, with 206,409 households. The total area is 534.43 km².- History :...
, HyogoHyogo Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region on Honshū island. The capital is Kobe.The prefecture's name was previously alternately spelled as Hiogo.- History :...
(Hirohata) - HikariHikari, Yamaguchiis a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan.The city was founded three times: April 1, 1943 , July 1, 1955 , and October 4, 2004 ....
, YamaguchiYamaguchi Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan in the Chūgoku region on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Yamaguchi, in the center of the prefecture. The largest city, however, is Shimonoseki.- History :...
- steel piping - KitakyushuKitakyushu, Fukuokais a city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyūshū, Japan. It is midway between Tokyo and Shanghai.- Demographics :Kitakyūshū has a population of just under one million...
, FukuokaFukuoka Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located on Kyūshū Island. The capital is the city of Fukuoka.- History :Fukuoka Prefecture includes the former provinces of Chikugo, Chikuzen, and Buzen....
(Yawata) - OitaOita, Oitais the capital city of Ōita Prefecture located on the island of Kyushu, Japan.- Demographics and geography :Ōita is the most populous city in Ōita Prefecture...
, OitaOita Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan on Kyūshū Island. The prefectural capital is the city of Ōita.- History :Around the 6th century Kyushu consisted of four regions: Tsukushi-no-kuni 筑紫国, Hi-no-kuni 肥国, and Toyo no kuni...
Troubled times
Attributing the drop to higher material costs, the company entered into another troubled year. In 1983, the company reported the end of the fiscal year (March 31) would reveal Nippon Steel was in an even more beleaguered situation. A fall in demand brought about a 39 percent tumble in profits from an already weak previous year. During this time the entire Japanese steel industry struggled in a period of turmoil as other nations such as South KoreaSouth Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, with only a fraction of labor costs, won over business. The company announced a loss in 1986, prompting a determined effort to diversify away from the moribund "smokestack" industrial sector and to provide new work for thousands of employees that would be transferred from closing furnaces.
Environmental Record
In 2005 the Nippon Steel corporation made a plan to step up its capacity for recycling waste plastics into coke by 30%. Coke is a main resource in steel production. To manage the load they have invested 4 billion yen (about $38.2 million) to install equipment at Oita Mill and set up a second furnace at Kyushu facility.In 2006 Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) jointly created a high tensile strength steel. The first application this steel was used for was the hulls of container ships. This steel allows the ships to be just as strong without the thick steel that it was requiring for them to grow in size. The smaller thickness allows the ships to attain a greater fuel-efficiency cutting down on the environmental load of the ships.
Nippon Steel announced a pilot project to process waste food into ethanol in 2006. They have tasked Kitakyushu City with collecting and sorting the food waste and Nishihara Co., a waste management company, with developing new technologies to implement the sorted collecting system. To minimize costs they will use waste heat from an existing incineration facility that had not been effectively utilized, and the residue left after ethanol recovery will be burned in this incinerator.
Diversification
Nippon Steel expanded or further established itself in semiconductors, electronicsElectronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
, a theme park called Space World
Space World
is a theme park in Yahatahigashi-ku, Kitakyūshū, Japan. Created in 1990 by Nippon Steel when the company was downsizing its steel plant in the ward, it is currently operated by Space World Inc., a subsidiary of Kamori Kankō....
, software, and even human resources
Human resources
Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...
products. The company bucked seven struggling but profitable years when it returned to loss in 1993. Again, thousands of employees would be transferred to new operations. Due to cost-cutting, the company returned to health in 1995. However, Nippon Steel reported earnings in 1999 suffered from an overwhelming charge needed to cover pension costs, a problem not uncommon for shrinking industrial giants. 2002 and 2003 would be back-to-back loss years, but robust demand for steel in the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
returned the company to profitability. (However, Nippon Steel had an operating profit for 2002 and 2003. The losses were made of extraordinary losses because of reevaluation of real estate and securities of the company among others). Following a triple merger of Sumitomo Corporation, Kinzoku Steel Corporation (Sumikin Bussan), and the existing Nippon Steel, NSSC was formed as these company's conglomerate Stainless Steel division.
Merger Plans
In early 2011, Nippon Steel announced plans to merge with Sumitomo Metal Industries. With Nippon Steel producing ~26.5 million tonnes of steel per year and Sumitomo making ~11 million tonnes, the merged entity would produce close to 37 million tonnes of crude steel per year. This volume of steel output would make Nippon Steel the second largest steelmaker in the world, putting it well ahead of Baosteel - the current number two (making ~31 mt steel / year) - although still well behind ArcelorMittal (who produced 77.5 mt crude steel in 2010).Overseas Joint Venture
Nippon Steel Trading Co., Ltd., has set up a joint venture with 3 IndonesianIndonesian
The word Indonesian may refer to:* Anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, a country in Southeast Asia* A person from Indonesia, or of Indonesian descent. For information on the Indonesian people, see Demographics of Indonesia and Culture of Indonesia...
local companies to produce 120,000 tons of sheet stell for automotive industry. Nippon Steel would control a 30 percent share of the joint venture, PT IndoJapan Steel Center. It is located in the Mitra Karawang
Karawang
Karawang is the capital of the Karawang Regency of West Java, Indonesia. It is located 32 miles east of Jakarta. Karawang has a population of 2,150,610 ....
Industrial Estate, West Java
West Java
West Java , with a population of over 43 million, is the most populous and most densely populated province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, it is slightly smaller in area than densely populated Taiwan, but with nearly double the population...
in a 4.8-hectare area with total investment for first phase $38 million and expected to start operating in January 2013.
External links
- Official website (English)