or (コマツ) () is a
Japanese company that manufactures
Construction and
Mining equipment, industry machinery such as press machines, lasers, and thermoelectric modules.
Its headquarters is at 2-3-6, Akasaka,
Minato-ku ,
Tokyo ,
Japan .
Its name was taken after the current city of
Komatsu, Ishikawa at the company's foundation there in 1917. Its main plants are located in the city.
Komatsu makes the largest bulldozer in the world, the
D575 .
was started by Takeuchi Mining Industry as a subsidiary to make industrial tools for the parent company. Komatsu eventually became large enough to sell to the public, and was spun off on
1921 -
05-13 as Komatsu Ltd.
Komatsu produced its first tractor prototype in 1932. Through the 1930s, Komatsu also produced military tractors for the Japanese military. After
World War II , Komatsu added
Bulldozer s and
Forklift s to its line of equipment, and by 1957 was advanced enough technologically that all of its models were also using Komatsu engines.
Komatsu began exporting its products in the 1960s, looking to counteract the postwar image of Japanese products as being cheap and poorly made, and entered the U.S. market in July 1967, taking on
Caterpillar , the world's largest bulldozer maker, in its home market.
Komatsu and
Dresser Industries established Komatsu Dresser to make mining tractors and related equipment. This 50–50 ownership lasted from September 1988 to August 1994, when Komatsu bought out Dresser's share, and Komatsu's mining products were consolidated under the name Komatsu Mining Systems in 1997. To prevent brand name confusion during corporate changes, the name "Haulpak" is used for the product line Komatsu began with Dresser.
