KYB Corporation

"Kayaba" redirects here. For the fictional character Colonel Kayaba, see The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces.

KYB Corporation

Company type	Public KK
Traded as	TYO: 7242
Industry	Automotive
Founded	(November 19, 1919; 105 years ago (1919-11-19))
Founder	Shiro Kayaba
Headquarters	World Trade Center Building, 4-1, Hamamatsu-cho 2-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-6111, Japan
Key people	Tadahiko Ozawa (Chairman) Masao Usui (President and CEO)
Products	Automotive components Hydraulic components Aircraft components Welfare and environmental products
Revenue	US$ 3.42 billion (FY 2013) (JPY 352.71 billion) (FY 2013)
Net income	US$ 123.89 million (FY 2013) (JPY 12.76 billion) (FY 2013)
Number of employees	14,754 (consolidated, as of March 31, 2018)
Website	Official website
Footnotes / references [1][2]

KYB Corporation (KYB株式会社, KYB kabushiki gaisha, formerly Kayaba Kogyo kabushiki gaisha (カヤバ工業株式会社) until 1 October 2015) is a Japanese, Tokyo-based automotive company.[3]

Among KYB's main products company are shock absorbers, air suspensions, power steering systems, hydraulic pumps, motors, cylinders, and valves.[4] It is one of the world's largest shock absorber manufacturers and it also has the largest market share of concrete mixer trucks in Japan, with 85% of the market.[5]

The company has 34 manufacturing plants and 62 offices in 21 countries.[6] KYB's American aftermarket distribution of automotive shocks and struts is headquartered in Greenwood, Indiana, with additional KYB manufacturing and distribution facilities in metro Chicago, Southern California, and metro Indianapolis.[7] KYB Americas employs more than 100 people in all facilities. Shocks and struts for vehicles are the most popular KYB products distributed in North America.

Business segments and products

Automotive and motorcycle products

Automotive components

• Shock absorbers
• Semi-active air suspensions
• Adjustable shock absorbers
• Power steering systems
• Electric power steering units (EPS)
• Four-wheel steering (4WS) electric actuator
• Solenoid
• Sensors
• Noise resistant pressure sensors

Motorcycle components

• Suspensions
• Shock absorbers for ATVs
• Shock absorbers for snowmobiles

Hydraulic components

• used in construction machinery, industrial vehicles, agricultural machinery, railroad equipment, industrial machinery, building equipment, civil engineering equipment and stage equipment

Testers

• High precision leak tester
• Portable fatigue testers
• Gate type fatigue testers
• Torsional fatigue testers
• Internal pressure fatigue testers
• Shock absorbers testers
• Noise check systems
• Road simulators for automobiles
• Road simulators for motorcycles
• Simulators for research and training

Aeronautical, special-purpose vehicles and marine products

• Aircraft components
• Special-purpose vehicles
• Marine components

Environment, welfare and disaster prevention products

• Self-propelled waste checker conveyors
• Earthquake simulator trucks
• Biomixers
• Chipping vehicle for pruned branches
• Vehicle for shredding sensitive documents
• Shock absorbers for chair skis
• Solar projectors
• Mobile keeper (remote monitor camera with server function)

Source

Aircraft manufacturing

Aircraft manufacturing during and after World War II

The company between 1939 and 1941 developed several gliders, autogyros and research aircraft for the Imperial Japanese Army. These are:

• Kimura HK-1
• Kayaba Ku-2
• Kayaba Ku-3
• Kayaba Ku-4
• Kayaba Ka-Go
• Kayaba Ka-1
• Kayaba Ka-2

After the war, in 1954, the company built a gyrodyne, named Kayaba Heliplane. The development of this aircraft started in 1952 when Shiro Kayaba, the founder of the company, obtained the fuselage of a Cessna 170B and, over the course of two years, turned it into a convertiplane.[8]

Scandal

• In October, 2018, Kayaba Industry said it had falsified data on the quality of some of its shock absorbers which were used in over 70 government and municipal office buildings including Tokyo Sky Tree, Tokyo Station and facilities for 2020 Summer Olympics since at least 2003 in Japan. In addition, all the faulty Japanese quake absorbers were only exported to Taiwan.[9][10]

See also

• Shock absorber
• Car suspension
• Motorcycle suspension
• Motorcycle fork

References

1. "Corporate Information". KYB Corporation. Archived from the original on February 5, 2015. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
2. "Company Profile". Nikkei Asian Review. Nikkei Inc. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
3. "Company Profile". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
4. "Company Snapshot". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
5. Vishal Dutta (February 19, 2013). "Japanese MNC KYB Corporation acquires 50% stake in Conmat Systems". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on February 23, 2013. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
6. "Modernized manufacturing unit of Japanese firm KYB to be opened in November". Vadodara: DeshGujarat. October 7, 2014. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
7. "KYB in North America". Retrieved November 18, 2020.
8. "RE-RISING SUN — The Japanese Aircraft Industry Ten Years After VJ-Day". Flight International. London: Reed Business Information. April 1, 1955. p. 411. ISSN 0015-3710.
9. RYO ASAYAMA (October 20, 2018). "Faulty Japanese quake absorbers were shipped to Taiwan". Nikkei Asian Review.
10. MAGDALENA OSUMI (October 20, 2018). "KYB names 70 government and municipal office buildings that may be using substandard earthquake shock absorbers". The Japan Times.

External links

• Official global website (in English)