KI Holdings Co., Ltd. (KIホールディングス株式会社, KI Holdings kabushikigaisha) is a business holdings company headquartered in Totsuka-ku in Yokohama, in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. It is a subsidiary of Koito Manufacturing Company. KI Holdings manufactures railway equipment, and aircraft lighting. In 1967, the company inherited the railway vehicle equipment/seat division and the lighting/electric equipment division of Koito Manufacturing Company. On 1 August 2011, businesses other than aircraft seats were spun out as "Koito Electric".
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| TYO: 6747 | |
| Industry | Components |
| Founded | 1915 |
| Headquarters | Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Japan |
| Products | Railway equipment, aircraft passenger seats, lighting equipment, traffic systems, environmental control systems, sanitary equipment |
Number of employees | 2,087 (Consolidated, as of March 2011)[1] |
| Website | koito-ind.co.jp/english/ |
History
editApril, 1915: Koito Genrokuro Shoten
April, 1936: Reorganized as Koito Manufacturing Co.
September, 1947: Established as NAIGAI SHOJI CO., LTD (predecessor company).
July, 1948: Renamed to KOITO SHOJI CO., LTD.
May, 1957: Renamed to KOITO INDUSTRIES, LIMITED
March, 1988: Listed on the second section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
1 August 2011: Koito Industries newly established KOITO ELECTRIC INDUSTRIES, LTD., which took over all businesses excluding the aviation seat business. Concurrently, Koito Industries changed its trade name to KI HOLDINGS., LTD.
19 June 2019: Parent company Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Conducted a tender offer and acquired 92.37% of shares.
30 July 2019: Delisted from the second section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
1 August 2019: Became a wholly owned subsidiary of the parent company, Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
Offices
editKI Holdings
Head Office and Factory: Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Koito Electric
Head Office and Fuji Nagaizumi Factory: Nagaizumi-cho, Shinto-gun, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
Okayama Industries
Head Office and Factory: Oizumi-cho, Guraku-gun, Gunma Prefecture, Japan
Products
editAircraft Seats KI Holdings manufactured seats for commercial aircraft from 1959, but in February 2010 received a business improvement recommendation from the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. In June 2011 KI Holdings took measures in response to an airworthiness improvement order issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
Railway Seats Koito Electric and its affiliated company Okayama Sangyo manufacture seats for railway cars. The Keio 5000 and Tokyu 6020 dual seats are also made by Koito Electric.
Railway Control Equipment and Display Devices Along with Morio Electric, KI Holdings holds a large share of destination signage, master controllers and destination display devices for the railway industry. The company also manufacturers interior LED lighting for trains and the "Patto Vision" in-car information display.
Road and Traffic Information Systems KI Holdings many traffic products such as traffic signals and traffic sign boards.
Home Equipment KI Holdings manufacturers hand driers, many of which are produced for TOTO.
2009–2010 issues with airline seats
editIn February 2010, Koito Industries faced a controversy with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Japan regarding its airline seats. The company was allegedly involved in a seat test falsification, claiming that they omitted part of a test process to test airline seats and used figures from past tests. Koito claimed that they did this because of "heavy number of orders coming and tight scheduling." The problem affected 150,000 seats among over 1,000 Airbus and Boeing planes owned by 32 airlines in 24 countries, causing delays to some aircraft deliveries such as All Nippon Airways' new Inspiration of Japan seats, particularly the premium economy seats.[2][3]
Airbus, since September 2009, before the scandal, had banned Koito from delivering seats manufactured for Airbus aircraft because of safety violations.[4]
As of July 2010, Boeing no longer allows airlines to fit Koito seats in new-build aircraft.[5][6][7]
Related Companies
editKoito Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
References
edit- ^ "KI Holdings Profile". Retrieved 14 January 2013.
- ^ "Airliner seat maker Koito hit for fabricating fire-resistance data". Japan Times. 10 February 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- ^ "Japanese plane seat maker admits falsifying safety data". Agence France-Presse. 8 February 2010. Archived from the original on 2 January 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- ^ "Airbus Banned From Using Koito Plane Seats After Safety Alert". Bloomberg L.P./BusinessWeek. 10 February 2010. Archived from the original on 25 February 2011.
- ^ "Boeing stops offering Koito seats to new customers". flightglobal. 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2010.
- ^ "Safety Issues with 150,000 Koito Airline Seats Raise Serious Questions". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 9 July 2010.
- ^ "Koito's airline customers urged to donate seats for testing". www.flightglobal.com. Archived from the original on 11 July 2010.
- Anonymous (2 March 1998). "Roads agency section chief held over bribes" (Newspaper article). Japan Times. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- Anonymous (20 February 2002). "Koito buys U.S. plane-seat servicer" (Newspaper article). Japan Times. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- Anonymous (1 September 2004). "Firms raided in bid-rigging probe" (Newspaper article). Japan Times. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- Bloomberg L.P. (7 March 2009). "Toyota suppliers taking hit: Auto parts makers fear bankruptcy unless they can claim public aid" (Newspaper article). Japan Times. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
External links
edit
- Official website (in English)