Product Code Database
Kabushiki-Gaisha Densō is a global automotive components manufacturer headquartered in the city of Kariya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
After becoming independent from Toyota, the company was founded as Nippon Densō Kabushiki-Gaisha in 1949. About 25% of the company is owned by Toyota. Despite being a part of the Toyota Group of companies, as of the year ending March 2016, sales to the Toyota Group accounted for less than 50% of total revenue (44% of revenue originated from other car manufacturers in Japan, Germany, the U.S. and China). In 2023, DENSO was the second largest auto parts supplier in the world.
In 2022, DENSO was listed at #278 on the Fortune Global 500 list with a total revenue of $49.0 billion and 167,950 employees.
DENSO consisted of 200 consolidated [[subsidiaries|subsidiary]] (64 in [[Japan]], 23 in [[North America]], 32 in [[Europe]], 74 in [[Asia]], and seven in [[Oceania]] and other regions).
In June 2020, DENSO announced the opening of its "Electrification Innovation Center" at its plant in Anjō. The facility will support the company's development of products and technologies for electric and hybrid vehicles.
In 1992 Masahiro Hara, an engineer in the Research & Development department, was tasked with developing a new 2D code system to streamline the tracking of components used in the automotive industry. Traditional barcodes had limitations, including their low data capacity and sensitivity to damage, such as oil stains, which caused scanning errors. To overcome these challenges, Hara began researching and, in 1994, invented the QR code.
Inspired by the black-and-white patterns of the Japanese strategy game Go, the QR code can store 200 times more characters than a standard barcode and remains readable even if 30% of its surface is damaged, thanks to its error correction mechanism. Originally referred to as the "ND code" (for Nippon Denso), it was later renamed QR code, short for Quick Response, to emphasize its fast readability. The QR code was released under a free license, which allowed it to gain widespread adoption beyond the automotive sector, expanding into industries such as logistics, commerce, marketing, and healthcare.
In the early 2000s, QR codes began to be integrated into mobile phones in Japan, where they were initially used to link to websites. This marked a turning point for the global spread of the technology, further accelerated by the rise of smartphones around 2010.
By 2024, during the 30th anniversary of the QR code, Hara expressed pride in seeing his invention adopted worldwide across diverse fields, including design, healthcare, and even tattoos. He also highlighted its cultural appropriation by artists like qargo, who creatively combined QR codes with Lego bricks to produce interactive and unique portraits that tell inspiring stories.
For his groundbreaking work, Masahiro Hara was awarded the European Inventor Award in 2014.
In 1970, DENSO Corporation decided to expand overseas from Kariya, Japan, to North America. DENSO Sales California, Inc., was founded in Hawthorne, California, in March 1971. The company was staffed with only 12 associates, four of them being Americans. The objective of DENSO Sales California was to promote their air conditioner systems as options in Japanese-made vehicles.
In May 1975, DENSO Corporation opened a sales division, Denso Sales, in Southfield, Michigan.
In September 1975, DENSO International America opened a service center in Cedar Falls, Iowa. This was opened due to an agricultural parts contract with John Deere that included starter motors and meters.
DENSO International America employs over 17,000 people at 38 locations between North, Central, and South America. At year end, on March 31, 2008, combined sales totaled $8.3 billion for all American locations.Proud Past, Strong Future: A History of DENSO’s First 50 Years (pg. 112-115)
Denso products are also used in many local Japanese motorsports, including Super Formula and Super GT.
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