Company History

Establishment as the Special Electric Equipment Research Laboratory and development of Japan’s first circular laminated core

1939 The Special Electrical Equipment Research Laboratory was established in Osaka.
1943 Development of Japan's first circular laminated core used in sliding voltage regulators.
1945 War damage forced a move to the current location (Yamashina-ku, Kyoto), where operations continued.
1948 Development of voltage regulators with coupled coils that used circular laminated cores; this laid the groundwork for becoming a manufacturer specializing in sliding voltage regulators.
1951 Corporate name was changed to Special Electrical Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
1952 Sliding voltage regulators were issued official authorization numbers.
1955 Development of cores with ductile coils as well as the No-Cut Winder. These developments helped revolutionize and expand the columnar transformer industry.

Development and commercialization of Induction Heated Jacket Rolls

1960 Development and commercialization of U-shaped core transformers and saturable reactors using split ductile wound cores.
1961 Corporate name changed to Special Electrical Equipment Co., Ltd.
1964 Development and commercialization of the world's first induction heated roll for synthetic fiber heat stretching machines. Development and commercialization of single- and three-phase butt reactors, transformers, saturable reactors and other induction heating devices.
1969 Development and commercialization of Induction Heated Jacket Rolls.
1970 Developed a triple-frequency power source for blast furnaces (1,500 kW Tripler) and licensed induction heating roll technology to Dienes Co., Ltd. in the former West Germany.

From Special Electrical Equipment to TOKUDEN

1980 Corporate name was changed to Tokuden Co., Ltd.
Development and commercialization of a Jacket Roll capable of using three-phase power sources.
1984 Commmercialized four-meter wide rolls for nonwoven embossing calenders. This represented a serious push into the nonwoven fabrics market. Also developed and commercialized was the high-temperature (400℃) Jacket Rolls.
1985 Establishment of wholly-owned subsidiary Tokuden, Inc. in the United States.
Development and commercialization of heat-reaction pots and Univestors by combining induction heating and Jacket Chambers technologies.
1988 Establishment of the Makino Plant.
Received order for 160 high-temperature rolls (400°C) for carbon fiber production from a company in the United States.
Development and commercialization of high-temperature (600℃) Induction Heated Rolls for steelmaking.

Expansion of Makino Plant and reinforcement of production capacity

1993 Expanded the Makino Plant and developed an integrated production system for large rolls.
Delivered 3.5-meter high-speed, soft calender rolls to major paper manufacturers. Validated the effects of high-temperature calendering on paper.
1994 Development and commercialization of involute cores.
1995 Completed a large induction heated spin beam.
1996 Expanded facilities and strengthened the production system at the Makino Plant.
1998 Makino Plant awarded ISO9001 certification.
Pilot Calender Machine completed.
1999 Received the 1999 Science and Technology Director Award for the development and commercialization of involute cores.

Further research and development of Jacket Rolls

2000 Delivered 7.6-meter wide rolls for paper processing to a Swedish paper manufacturer.
2004 Development of the Fluid Circulation Jacket Rolls which was awarded the 2003 Energy Conservation Grand Prize.
2005 Expanded the Makino Plant to include a third building.
A state-of-the-art Technical Center was commissioned at the Makino Plant.
2006 Development and commercialization of the High-Precision Induction Heated Jacket Roll.
Development of High-Temperature (700℃) Induction Heated Rolls.
2007 The Kyoto Plant, Makino Plant and Tokyo Business Office were awarded ISO14001 certification.
2009 Completion of sample evaluation and commercialization of high-pressure multi-layer transformer incorporating a multi-layer involute core.
Development and commercialization of the Hybrid Rolls (Induction Heated Jacket Rolls with cooling function).

Start of commercialization of Induction Heated Apparatus

2010 Start of commercialization of Midfrequency Induction Heated Apparatus.
2011 Development of UPSS Superheated Steam Generator.
2013 Received the 2013 Oscar Certificate from the Advanced Scientific Technology & Management Research Institute of Kyoto.
2014 Received the 2014 Certificate from the Kyoto Genki-jirushi Medium-small Business Certificate Program.
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