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Kabushiki Kaisha Mitsutoyo is a Japanese multinational corporation specializing in measuring instruments and Metrology technology, headquartered at Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa." Company Profile." Mitutoyo. Retrieved on May 13, 2013. "20-1, Sakado 1-Chome, Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa 213-8533, Japan"
It was founded in 1934 by Yehan Numata (沼田 恵範 Numata Ehan).
On October 22, 1934, Mitutoyo was established by Numata. At the time of launch, Mitutoyo only had a single product, the micrometer. The 1930s in Japan was a period of industrialization and Numata was part of a wider movement to begin to produce foreign technology domestically. Prior to this, Japan was heavily focused on textiles, with Mitutoyo forming the foundations for the technically advanced Japan we see today. The Japanese government invested heavily in the 1930s in infrastructure, especially on the railway. This led to the rapid growth of manufacturing across various sectors. This focus on manufacturing, allowed Numata to form a research and development facility in Kamata, Tokyo where he began to experiment with the creation of micrometers. Over a period of three years, Numata developed Mitutoyo's first product, a Japanese-manufactured micrometer. In order to promote the new product, a promotional towel was created, which read "The World's Best Micrometer."
Following the breakout of World War II, manufacturing demand in numerous countries intensified, due to the heavy demand for advanced military equipment. However, this demand meant that often shortcuts were taken and standardization was not common. This meant that micrometers were often produced that were substandard, with only a few manufacturers able to deliver high-quality micrometers. Numata differentiated his products by offering high quantities with standardization. This movement in Mitutoyo and other manufacturing companies during World War II eventually led to the creation of Just-in-time manufacturing.Plenert, G. 2007. Reinventing Lean: Introducing Lean Management into the Supply Chain. Oxford, U.K.: Butterworth-Heinemann. pp 41–42.
As electronic technology became more widespread in the 1970s, Mitutoyo applied electronics to its line of dimensional gaging equipment to include electronic, or digital, measuring tools. During this time it also began to offer larger, more complex and more sensitive measuring instruments, including optical comparators, form measuring equipment, and coordinate measuring machines (CMMs). As statistical process control (SPC) was introduced, Mitutoyo led the world in the development of output gages, interfaces, data collectors and analysis software to take advantage of this new metrological science.
When the computer made its way into the field of metrology, Mitutoyo again shifted its focus to include this technology into its product offering and push measuring accuracies into the sub-micrometre range. Today, Mitutoyo presents its 6,000+ products as integrated, computer-based metrology systems, where they can be interconnected to form closed-loop-measuring networks.
The company name is usually spelled in the Kunrei-shiki/Nihon-shiki manner "Mitutoyo". Because most publications for foreigners as of 2000 require the usage of Hepburn romanization, as of 2000 in the Tokyo Anglophone yellow pages the company name is rendered in the Hepburn style "Mitsutoyo".
Following the opening of the Boeing manufacturing base in Sheffield, England, it was announced that Mitutoyo would be an active partner in the supply chain.
There is evidence that a portion of Mitutoyo’s illegal exports helped in nuclear-weapon programs in Libya, Iran, and North Korea. In particular, several Mitutoyo coordinate-measuring machines were allegedly sold to Scomi NY Times 25 August 2006. Precision Engineering in Malaysia. The Scomi scandal was part of a wider arms-smuggling operation masterminded by Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. Video of NHK News Bulletin Item.
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