History

With a track record in technology that stretches back 100 years, Howa is well positioned to drive manufacturing forward for another century and beyond.
1907 Established Howa as Toyoda's Loom Works, Ltd. to manufacture and market Toyoda looms.
1916 Began manufacturing spinning machinery.
1927 Commenced Shinkawa Plant(currently Head Office and Main Plant)operations.
1935 Began manufacturing cast steel.
1936 Established Showa Heavy Industries, Ltd. to manufacture and market munitions and machine tools.
1941 Completed a merger with Showa Heavy Industries, Ltd., with the new company taking the name of Howa Heavy Industries, Ltd.
1945 Renamed Howa Machinery, Ltd.
1952 Began manufacturing air chucks and pneumatic equipment.
1956 Commenced manufacturing firearms.
1958 Commenced manufacturing windows&doors and vibratory rollers.
1960 Commenced manufacturing sporting rifles.
1962 Commenced manufacturing hydraulic apparatus,transfer machines.
1964 Commenced manufacturing industrial power sweepers in technical collaboration with WAYNE Manufacturing Company of U.S.A(currently Johnston Sweeper Company)
Commenced manufacturing floor scrubber.
Type 64 rifle and 81mm type 64 mortar adopted as official equipment by the Japan Defense Agency(currently Ministry of Defense).
1965 Began manufacturing aluminum sound-proof windows.
1968 Commenced manufacturing street sweepers in technical collaboration with WAYNE Manufacturing Company.
1970 Commenced manufacturing machining centers.
1972 Commenced manufacturing double sliding windows for sound proof.
1977 Howa soundproof windows were the first to receive authorization to display the Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) symbol in Japan.
1982 Commenced manufacturing the automatic jaw chuck changer and machining center MBM series.
1983 Began manufacturing rodless cylinders.
1986 Commenced manufacturing compact machining center "Super Mini".
1989 Adopted Type 89 rifle as official equipmennt by the Japan Defense Agency(currently Ministry of Defense).
1993 Commenced manufacturing 120mm mortar RT and 81mm mortar L16.
1994 Commenced manufacturing compact machining center "KIWAMI"series.
1995 Established Howa Machinery Singapore Pte. Ltd. to market machine tools in Singapore.
1998 Acquired ISO 9001 certification in the machine tool super-minidivision.
2000 Began manufacturing vertical double-sided exposure systems for printed circuit boards.
Acquired ISO 9001 certification in the machine tool accessories division and firearms division.
2001 Received the Good Design Prize for the ORC10 rodless cylinder.
2002 Began manufacturing street sweepers with a compressed natural gas (CNG) engine.
Acquired ISO 9001 certification in the Machinery Dept.
2004 Commenced manufacturing water-proof device.
2005 Commenced manufacturing rodless cylinder MRV series.
2006 Commenced manufacturing "new cera" series related to processing equipment for ceramic green sheets.
2007 Acquired ISO 14001 certification at the Head Office and Main Plant.
2011 Established Howa (Tianjin) Machinery Co., Ltd. to manufacture and market machine tools and machine tool accessories.
2013 Acquired ISO 9001 certification in the Sweepers & Road Rollers Dept(currently Sweepers & Special Vehicle Dept).
Entered the photovoltaic system business.
2015 Commenced manufacturing rodless cylinder ORB series.
2017 Acquired a local Indonesian company in order to establish PT.HowAska Mesin Indonesia, and launched sales of machine tools and various equipment and machinery, in addition to a repair and technical support.