Keyence is a Japanese multinational electronics company with its headquarters located in Osaka, Japan. The company is one of the largest manufacturers of electronic equipment like sensors, touch panels, 3D printers, microscopes, bar code readers, recorders, packaged software, etc. It is a fabrication-less company such that it plans and designs the products, but the manufacturing is done by the other companies under a contract from Keyence. The company is operational in industries including automotive, IT, logistics, manufacturing, and software. Keyence is a publically traded company, and over 8000 people are working for it in its global offices.
Founding of Keyence
Takemitsu Takizaki founded Keyence in March 1972 as Lead Electric. The company got worldwide recognition as a leader in the field of industrial automation and inspection equipment manufacturing in 1974. In 1975, the company brought a new product, ‘high accuracy proximity sensor’, and the high demand for the product brought lots of success and growth to the company. In the next ten years, the company was known as the world leader in the electronic industry.
In 1983, the company introduced the optical fiber photoelectric sensor, and the next year, it established its first international office in the United States. Keyence developed the first photoelectric sensor to utilize a laser diode as the light source in 1986, and the same year, the name of the company was changed to Keyence Corporation. The company introduced a compact barcode reader under its name in 1989, and in 1990, it came with a microscope having a built-in monitor. In the next decade, the company developed the world’s smallest machine vision system, the world’s first autofocus color laser microscope, and a high speed and high accuracy machine vision system.
The years starting from 2000 were the years of innovation for the company. It was developing new products every year, and the world’s first 3-Axis laser marker (2006) as well as the world’s first CMOS laser sensor (2007), was one of them. Keyence also introduced the world’s first microscope with high-speed magnified video capture capabilities in 2008 and the fastest laser triangulation sensor in the industry in 2009. world’s smallest micro-head (2011), the world’s fastest 2D/3D laser displacement sensor (2012), and the world’s first macroscope with one-shot 3D measurement (2013) are also credited under the name of Keyence.
The Products
From photoelectric sensor and proximity sensors to barcode reader, laser markers, and digital microscopes, a large client base of Keyence rely on the company for these products. Keyence specializes in manufacturing products under categories like automation sensors, industrial safety, industrial laser markers, machine vision systems and vision sensors, industrial inkjet printer, measurement systems and sensors, advanced microscope, static eliminators, and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC).
Keyence Today
Keyence has been in the electronic industry for almost 50 years, and since the inception of the company, the world has witnessed the per year steady growth of the company. The company is one of the leaders in the development and manufacturing of automation equipment worldwide. Other than the electronic and semiconductor industry, the company includes clients from the automotive, food and packaging, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical industries.
As of 2018, the company made revenues worth US$4.958 billion, and 6000 people were working for it in its global offices. It has appeared in the “Top Ten Most Excellent Companies in Japan” list by Nihon Keizai Shimbun multiple times. It has also been named as one of the best companies for employees in terms of salaries, the average annual salary for full-time employees, etc. Keyence operates through its network of 16 international organizations.
The Founder: Takemitsu Takizaki
Takemitsu Takizaki founded Keyence Corporation in 1972. He is a well-known Japanese businessman and currently serving as the honorary chairman of Keyence. Takizaki was born on 10 June 1945 in Japan. He completed his high school education at Amagasaki Industry High School. Apart from his interest in electronics and semiconductors, he is also a keen fossil collector.
After founding the Keyence, he held multiple posts at the company. He served the company as the chairman, president, and representative director. Presently, he is one of the members of the board at Keyence. AS of 2020, the net worth of Takizaki is $24 billion.
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