Furuno

The Furuno Electric Company was founded in Nagasaki, Japan in 1938. The company sells Marine Electronics and has subsidiaries in the USA, Europe, China.

1938 to 1969

1938 FURUNO ELECTRIC SHOKAI LTD. founded in Nagasaki, Japan
1948 Commercialized the world's first practical fish finder
Established FURUNO ELECTRIC INDUSTRIES, LTD. in NagasakiBegan manufacturing and selling fish finders
1951 Established SUISAN ELECTRIC INDUSTRIES, CO.,LTD
1952 Developed radio communication equipment for fishery
1955 Established FURUNO ELECTRIC CO., LTD. by taking over operations from FURUNO ELECTRIC INDUSTRIES, LTD. (Capitalized at 8 million yen)
1958 Developed a numeric display type LORAN (long-range navigation) receiver
1959 Developed radar for vessels
1961 Developed the world's first net sondeCapital increased to 120 million yen
1964 Relocated headquarters from Nagasaki to Nishinomiya Factory in Hyogo pref.
1965 Developed the world's first net recorder
1966 Developed telesounder
1967 Developed full automatic sonar, facsimile receiver and direction finder
1968 Developed LORAN receiver for aircraft

1970s

1971 Developed the Omega receiver
1972 Received NMEA's fiscal 1971 Best Product AwardDeveloped Japan's first Doppler Sonar
1973 Developed autopilot system, satellite positioning equipment and simple radio telephone
1974 Developed radio navigation system and full-circle scanning sonarDeveloped gyrocompassEstablished FURUNO NORGE A/S in Norway
1976 Developed ultra-compact radar and half-circle scanning sonar
1978 Established FURUNO U.S.A., INC. in the U.S.
1979 Completed Miki Factory
Established FURUNO (UK) LTD. in the U.K.

1980s

1980 Developed the world's first current indicator, VideoPlotter and compact facsimile receiver
1981 Developed scientific sounder
1982 Listed on the Second Section of the Osaka Securities Exchange
1983 Increased capital to 6,200 million yen
1984 Moved to the First Section of the Osaka Securities ExchangeDeveloped facsimile receiver and bottom mapping systemAcquired management control of KYORITSU RADIO CO., LTD. and KYORITSU RADIO SERVICE CO., LTD.
1985 Developed marine radar, color net recorder, bottom sonar, ARPA
1986 Developed the world's first bird radarDeveloped GPS navigation system
1987 Developed fishery monitoring radar, automated bonito pole-and-line fishing system Developed the world's first video LORANEstablished FURUNO DANMARK A/S in DenmarkEstablished FURUNO SVERIGE AB in Sweden
1989 Completed FURUNO INT Center

1990s

1990 Developed equipment for the research submersible SHINKAI 6500 systemIncreased capital to 7,535 million yenLaunched Spirit of Furuno 21, a fishing boat-type testing vesselEstablished FURUNO FRANCE S.A. in France
1991 Developed wireless marine horn, radar for fishery and digital mapping system
1992 Developed kinematic GPS and GPS for aircraftEstablished FURUNO ESPANA, S.A. in Spain
1993 Succeeded in commercializing teleterminal DGPS
1994 Developed Golf Distance Meter and Integrated Navigation Display
1995 Developed integrated bridge system, GPS time server
1998 Developed radar plotter-fish finder combo
1999 Developed new Terrain Remote Monitoring System

2000s

2000 Developed satellite compass
2001 Developed NavNet Series
2002 Developed Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Voyage Data Recorder (VDR)Developed Fully-automated Clinical Chemistry AnalyzerEstablished FURUNO NAVINTRA OY (now FURUNO FINLAND OY) after acquiringFinnish company NAVINTRABegan in-house production of pulse magnetron
2003 Developed GPS-steered Time & Frequency GeneratorBegan in-house sales of ETCsWon a long-term supply contract for the NavNet series of network-compatible navigational equipment from the US Coast GuardEstablished FURUNO SOFTECH (DALIAN) CO., LTD. in Dalian, China
2004 Developed the Tanken-Maru system, a fish finder for recreational fishing boatsCompleted the world's largest test tank at the Miki FactoryBegan joint development of DNA microarray synthesizers with U.S. company CombiMatrix CorporationEstablished FURUNO POLSKA Sp. z o. o. in PolandEstablished LLC "FURUNO EURUS" in Russian FederationOpened the FURUNO European Distribution Centre (FEDC) in the NetherlandsLaunched PEGASUS, a test vessel for a pleasure boat market
2005 Developed the world's first dual-frequency searchlight sonarOpened FURUNO DONG GUAN FACTORY in ChinaEstablished FURUNO DEUTSCHLAND GmbH in GermanyEstablished the FURUNO INS Training Center (INSTC) in Copenhagen, Denmark, to train crew members of commercial vessels how to operate Integrated Navigation System
2006 Developed the high-performance 12.1-inch multi-color LCD radar FR-8002 seriesDeveloped FCV-620, a fish finder with a 5.6-inch LCD for the pleasure boat marketPurchased a 49% stake in French company SIGNET S.A. and convertible bondsEstablished FURUNO EUROPE B.V. as a local subsidiary in Rotterdam, the NetherlandsDeveloped S-VDR (Simplified Voyage Data Recorder) VR-3000SDeveloped Ultra sensitive GPS receiver for mobile communication device market
2007 Developed AIS (Automatic Identification System) receiver FA-30 for fishing vessels and recreational boatsEstablished FURUNO SHANGHAI CO., LTD. in China

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