Tanaka Kikinzoku
The Tanaka Kikinzoku Group, founded in 1885, is a Japanese manufacturer of precious metals materials focusing mainly on products for the electronics, semiconductor and automotive industries. Tanaka's European subsidiary is Tanaka Kikinzoku International GmbH in Frankfurt, Germany and its US subsidiary is Tanaka Kikinzoku International Inc. in Chicago, United States.
The name Tanaka Kikinzoku traces back to the owners' family name "Tanaka" and the Japanese word for precious metals "Kikinzoku".
According to its company information, Tanaka leads the world market for bonding wire and catalysts for PEM fuel cells.
History
1884-1924 Foundation: Meiji and Taisho Period
Tanaka Kikinzoku was originally founded as a monetary exchange firm, but became known as a company which connected manufacturing industries with platinum materials. Tanaka engaged in platinum metal recovery and the company was the first fabricator of platinum fine filament wire in Japan. During the Taisho period and early Showa period, the widespread modernization of Japan's industries saw the development of Tanaka's research and manufacture of industrial precious metals products.1925-1964 Showa Period: Second World War and Period of High Economic Growth until 1964
Under a policy of "National Wealth", the early Showa period was strongly influenced by the Japanese military. During the Second World War, the company was under the administration of the Army. As it was not permitted to engage in trade with other industrialized nations, Tanaka Kikinzoku was forced to promote greater domestic reliance and develop various technologies for domestic consumption.Later, products that contributed to Japan's postwar economic recovery occupied a large share of the industry, such as electrical contacts for power generation, nozzles for the synthetic fiber industry, and precious metals materials for electrical household appliances and radios.