Oiles' Path

The “DNA” of Mr. Kawasaki, which is an inquisitive spirit stemming from his desire to serving society through technology,
has been and will continue to be passed on by Oiles
in its never-ending quest to develop unique technologies and products.

An encounter with an unidentified wooden bearing was the beginning of Oiles Corporation’s history.
In a word, this was the beginning of the history of oil-less bearings in Japan.

• 1932Founder Sozo Kawasaki obtained a patent for a method of manufacturing wooden bearings requiring no lubrication
• 1939Sozo Kawasaki established the Japan Oilless Bearing Research Laboratory
• 1940“OILES” was trademarked
• 1952Nippon Oilless Bearing Research and Development Co., Ltd. was established (capital: 1 million yen)
• 1958Name of company changed to “Nippon Oiles Industry Co., Ltd.”

Founder Sozo Kawasaki

Rushing to build one plant after another, both the business and the organization continued to expand in scale.
Laid a foundation as a company that continues to the present and became a leading company.

• 1966Name of the company was changed to Oiles Industry Co., Ltd. (current name: Oiles Corporation)
• 1967The Company Headquarters was transferred to the Fujisawa Plant established in the City of Fujisawa, Kanagawa Pref.
• 1970Established the Shiga Plant in the Town of Ritto (currently the City of Ritto), Shiga Pref.
• 1976Established Oiles America Corporation as our first affiliated company overseas
• 197725th anniversary of our establishment

The Fujisawa Plant in 1967

The Company was listed on the stock exchange, overseas production began, and the foundation for the Company today was laid.

• 1983Established the Oita Plant in the City of Nakatsu, Oita Pref.
• 1986Vibration experiments were conducted at the Oiles Technical Center where LRBs were installed
• 1989Stock was registered with the Japan Securities Dealers Association as over-the-counter stock
• 1991Established a plant in North Carolina as a production plant for our affiliated company in the US
• 1993Established the Ashikaga Plant in the City of Ashikaga, Tochigi Pref.
• 1997Oiles Corporation was listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange
• 1998Established Shanghai Oiles Bearing Inc. as our first affiliated company in China

LRBs at the Oiles Technical Center

In response to a wave of globalization, we have also expanded our global operations.
We will continue to solve social issues with technology to achieve sustainable growth.

• 2002Celebrated our 50th anniversary and established Oiles (Thailand) Co., Ltd. in Thailand
• 2003Spun off our architectural devices business and integrated it with an affiliated sales company to form Oiles ECO Corporation
  Established Oiles Czech Manufacturing s.r.o. in the Czech Republic
• 2005Established Oiles Suzhou Corporation in China
• 2011Established Oiles Self Lubricating Bearings Manufacturing Private Limited (current name: Oiles India Private Limited) in India
• 2015The Oiles #100 Reproduction Team produced a reproduction of Japan’s first wooden bearing
• 2021Built the new NP Building as part of efforts to enhance R&D at the Fujisawa Plant
• 2022Celebrated our 70th anniversary. We transitioned to the Prime Market when the Tokyo Stock Exchange restructured its markets.

NP Building
(New Production of Engineering Plastics)