The story
Founded by Iwasaki Yatarō in 1934.1
In 1857, at the request of the Tokugawa Shogunate, a group of Dutch engineers were invited, including Dutch naval engineer Hendrik Hardes, and began work on the Nagasaki Yotetsusho (長崎鎔鉄所), a modern, Western-style foundry and shipyard near the Dutch settlement of Dejima, at Nagasaki. This was renamed Nagasaki Seitetsusho (長崎製鉄所) Nagasaki Iron (Steel) Foundry in 1860, and construction was completed in 1861. Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the shipyard was placed under control of the new Government of Meiji Japan. The first dry dock was completed in 1879.
In 1884, Iwasaki Yatarō, the founder of Mitsubishi, leased the Nagasaki Seitetsusho from the Japanese government, renamed it the Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works (長崎造船機械工) and entered the shipbuilding business on a large scale. Iwasaki purchased the shipyards outright in 1887. In 1891, "Mitsubishi Heavy Industries - Yokohama Machinery Works" was started as Yokohama Dock Company, Ltd. Its main business was ship repairs, to which it added ship servicing by 1897. The works was renamed Mitsubishi Shipyard of Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha in 1893 and additional dry docks were completed in 1896 and 1905.
The "Mitsubishi Heavy Industries - Shimonoseki Shipyard & Machinery Works" was established in 1914. It produced industrial machinery and merchant ships.
The Nagasaki company was renamed Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Ltd. in 1917 and again renamed as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1934. It became the largest private firm in Japan, active in the manufacture of ships, heavy machinery, airplanes and railway cars. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries merged with the Yokohama Dock Company in 1935. From its inception, the Mitsubishi Nagasaki shipyards were heavily involved in contracts for the Imperial Japanese Navy. The largest battleship Musashi was completed at Nagasaki in 1942. These connections made Nagasaki a target for strategic bombing during World War II by the Allied air forces, which later dropped an atomic bomb on the city on 9 August 1945. This attack, following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima three days earlier, dealt a devastating blow to the Japanese leadership, contributing to the surrender of Japan six days later.
The Kobe Shipyard of Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha was established in 1905. The Kobe Shipyard merged with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1934. The Kobe Shipyard constructed the ocean liner Argentina Maru (later repurposed as the aircraft carrier Kaiyo), and the submarines the I-19 and I-25.
Following the dissolution of the zaibatsu after the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II, Mitsubishi divided into three companies in January 1950: Mitsubishi Nagasaki became West Japan Heavy Industries, Ltd, the Kobe Shipyard became Central Japan Heavy-Industries, Ltd., and the Yokohama branch became East Japan Heavy-Industries, Ltd. On 28 April 1952 the Occupation of Japan ended, which meant that the ban on using zaibatsu names was lifted. Accordingly, all three companies changed names again on 7 May 1952: West Japan Heavy Industries (the Nagasaki Shipyard) was renamed Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Co., Ltd., Central Japan Heavy Industries, Ltd. was renamed Shin-Mitsubishi Jukogyo K.K. (also trading as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Reorganized, Ltd.; shin meaning "New"), while East Japan Heavy-Industries became Mitsubishi Nippon Heavy Industries.
In 1964, the three independent companies from the 1950 break-up were merged into Shin-Mitsubishi Jukogyo and became Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. The Nagasaki works was renamed the Nagasaki Shipyard & Engine Works. The Kobe works was renamed the 'Mitsubishi Heavy Industries - Kobe Shipyard & Machinery Works'.
In 1970, MHI's automobile parts department became an independent company as Mitsubishi Motors.
Read the full text
In 1974, its Tokyo headquarters was targeted in a bombing that killed eight people.
MHI participated in a ¥540 billion emergency rescue of Mitsubishi Motors in January 2005, in partnership with Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group. As part of the rescue, MHI acquired ¥50 billion of Mitsubishi Motors stock, increasing its ownership stake to 15 percent and making the automaker an affiliate again. The emergency rescue was carried out 4 years after a product recall scandal in Japan that was triggered by accusations of Mitsubishi Motors allegedly trying to systematically hide manufacturing defects to avoid recalls, and marketing problems in the US.
In 1994, MHI opened the Mitsubishi Minatomirai Industrial Museum in Yokohama which is mainly a museum for kids to experience science and technology.
In October 2009, MHI announced an order for up to 100 regional jets from the United States–based airline Trans States Holdings.
MHI entered talks with Hitachi in August 2011 about a potential merger of the two companies, in what would have been the largest merger between two Japanese companies in history. The talks subsequently broke down and were suspended.
In November 2012, MHI and Hitachi agreed to merge their thermal power generation businesses into a joint venture to be owned 65% by MHI and 35% by Hitachi. The joint venture began operations in February 2014 and ended in 2020, as Hitachi transferred its shares to MHI.
In June 2014, Siemens and MHI announced their formation of joint ventures to bid for Alstom's troubled energy and transportation businesses (in locomotives, steam turbines, and aircraft engines). A rival bid by General Electric (GE) has been criticized by French government sources, who consider Alstom's operations as a "vital national interest" at a moment when the French unemployment level stands above 10% and some voters are turning towards the conservative party. GE's proposal ultimately prevailed.
MHI had entered the high-speed train business in 1995, with the manufacture of the MLX01 SCMaglev car, a business it exited in 2017 after struggling with the development costs of the Mitsubishi SpaceJet, and disagreements with Central Japan Railway Company over the manufacturing costs of the SCMaglev cars.
In February 2021, MHI sold its machine tools business MHI Machine Tool Co. to Nidec.
In June 2024, MHI announced it will cease newspaper rotary printing press production due to declining demand. At the time the company held a 50% share of the Japanese rotary press market.
From Wikipedia’s article on Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5