[Company analysis] Komatsu Ltd. (小松製作所)

「Komatsu Ltd. (小松製作所)」manufactures construction machinery and mining machinery. In the construction machinery field, this company has top share in Japan, surpassing「Hitachi Construction Machinery(日立建機)」and in the world level, second only to the「Catapiller」. In addition to Japan, they have affiliated companies in the Americas, Europe, CIS, Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, Oceania, China and almost all over the world. The number of consolidated employees is approximately 61,909.

 

1. Company Profile

2. Summary and Features

3. Major Business

4. Financial Information

 

 

 

1. Company Profile

 

※Unit is JPY million, as of 2019

Company name	Komatsu Ltd.
Company name (Japanese)	小松製作所
Date of establishment	Friday, May 13, 1921
Headquarters location	〒107-8414 東京都港区赤坂二丁目3番6号（コマツビル）
Capital	68,311
Consolidated sales	2,725,243
Consolidated operating profit	397,806
Consolidated total assets	3,638,219
Consolidated capital	1,902,868
Capital adequacy ratio	52.3%
Consolidated number of employees	61,908

 

 

 

2. Summary and Features

 
In January 1917,「Takeuchi Mining Industry(竹内鉱業)」, which operated a copper mine in Komatsu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, established「Komatsu Iron Works(小松鉄工所)」near Komatsu Station to produce its own machinery. And this is the beginning of current「Komatsu」. On May 13, 1921, this company was spun off from「Takeuchi Mining」. When「Komatsu」became independent, until the Manchurian incident happen, the business situation was poor due to the Great Depression.

In 1931, this company produced the first prototype of agricultural tractor. then they also produced bulldozers, tanks and military tractors until the 1930s. After the end of World War II, the head office of「Komatsu」was relocated to Tokyo, and the business area was expanded to include not only existing bulldozers but also construction machinery such as excavators, forklifts, and dump trucks.

At the same time, they started to expand their business to overseas. 「Komatsu」opened several oversea plants in the 1950s, and this is relatively earlier than other general automobile manufacturers. Nowadays, they have 50 production bases all over the world, and it is said that the number of foreign employees in the group is 53%. In other words,「Komatsu」 is one of the most internationalized company in Japan. As for sales, overseas sales account for 80% of the construction and mining equipment sales.

One of the features of「Komatsu」is that they are developing and producing all electronic control parts such as engine, transmission, pressure device, axles and controls, which are most important for construction machinery, too. Besides, they are very positive in introducing ICT, so even they operated the unmanned truck for the first time in the world.

The evaluation from the investors is also very good. The company image is quite good and the financial status is also solid, and their sales are diversified worldwide and stable. It has been selected as one of the 500 global companies selected by Fortune. As for the company ranking from Nihon Keizai Shimbun,「Komatsu」was No.1 in 2006 and 2007, surpassing「Toyota Motor Corporation(トヨタ自動車)」and「Canon Inc.(キャノン)」.

 

 

 

3. Major Business

 

■ Construction machinery and vehicles
Manufactures and sells construction and mining equipment, forklifts, etc. As for the sales ratio, this sector account for about 90%.

■ Industrial machine
They manufacture and sell presses, sheet metal machines, machine tools, temperature control equipment, etc.

■ Retail / Finance

 

 

 

4. Financial information

 

※Unit is JPY million

		2016	2017	2018
Consolidated sales		1,802,989	2,501,107	2,725,243
Consolidated operating profit		174,097	271,581	397,806
Consolidated total assets		2,656,482	3,372,538	3,638,219
Consolidated net assets		1,648,515	1,743,590	1,902,868
Breakdown of sales	Construction machinery and vehicles	1,576,572	2,280,967	2,478,986
	Retail / Finance	49,093	60,309	63,585
	Industrial machine	191,027	185,414	203,235
	Adjustments	-13,703	-25,583	-20,563