March 1666! Kyoto, Japan. Shokuro Yuasa began a business he called Yuasa Hardware Company. He had a very simple product line: supplying coal to blacksmith shops and cutting tool manufacturers throughout Japan. Occasionally, Yuasa’s cash-poor customers offered some of their own products– swords, knives and other related cutting tools—as payment for the coal he provided them. Yuasa accepted these as payment and in turn, began selling these implements to other industrial users all over Japan. He quickly realized there was an opportunity in this new “product line” and Yuasa began to expand his offerings, adding other cutting tool related items that he obtained from various suppliers.
Over the centuries, the company that Shokuro Yuasa founded so long ago has continued to expand its market base and product lines. Today, that company – Yuasa Trading Company, LTD — is, quite literally, on the cutting edge of technology, serving the world’s best manufacturers with quality CNC machine tools and components, milling machines and engine lathe accessories. It is now located in more than 30 countries around the world, with more than 5000 employees.
