History of Mitsubishi

In 1870, Yataro Iwasaki’s shipping enterprise was called Tsukumo Shokai Shipping enterprise. In 1872, it became Mitsukawa Shokai. Two years later, the company altered its name to Mitsubishi Mail Steamship.

At this time, the Mitsubishi logo matched the company’s name, meaning “three diamonds” in Japanese. The image is still used today and is just as easy to remember as Mitsubishi.

In 1921, the Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Company expanded into other product lines and established a factory in Kobe, Japan, to produce electric motors for ships. This marked the beginning of what would become the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. The new part of the company was called the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation.

As early as the 1920s, Mitsubishi pioneered air recycling technology. They must still create air conditioning. Their initial offering was a simple tabletop fan. The people of Japan, whose climate is sweltering and humid, embraced this simple device. Later in the century, the company used the profits from desk fan sales to manufacturing escalators, elevators, televisions, and computers, among other electrical products.

Mitsubishi Electric is the only company that makes spiral elevators anywhere in the world. In 1985, they put in the first spiral escalator. Since then, they have made 103 of them in Japan, China, and the United States. They have since put in the world’s biggest spiral escalator at the New World Daimaru Department Store in Shanghai, China. It goes up 12 stories.

Mitsubishi developed many new ideas in the 1990s, and 1994 was a big year for air conditioning technology. This was the year Mitsubishi made the first home air conditioner that used less energy. The Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award was given to Mitsubishi by the US Environmental Protection Agency for their work. In 1999, Mitsubishi finished and started running the first plant to recycle old home appliances at Higashihama.

At the 2007 National Commendation for Invention Awards, the company took home the Chairman’s Prize from the Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation. This showed that the company was still doing well in the industry. Mitsubishi won the award because of their work to reuse old refrigerant pipes in new air conditioning units.

In 2012, Mitsubishi made automatic disassembly equipment that makes it faster, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly to get rare earth magnets out of old air units. At Green Cycle Systems Corporation, this process is still going on right now.

In 2016, Mitsubishi’s air conditioning business grew even more. It opened a new company in Turkey called Mitsubishi Electric Air Conditioning Systems Manufacturing Turkey. From January 2018, the line will make tens of thousands of pieces each year.