1848
The predecessor of C.Uyemura & Co., Ltd., operated under the trade name “SANUKIYA”. The starting point for our company was a store specializing in business selling traditional Japanese and Chinese medicines in 1848 in Doshomachi, Osaka, which was the center of the medicines trade in Japan.
1918
After World War I, the government announced a policy of encouraging domestic production in order to break the dependence on foreign countries. Taking that opportunity, Chobei Uyemura VI carried out research for the domestic production of polishing compounds, for which Japan previously relied on imports. In 1918, the company succeeded in the domestic production of oily abrasive compounds and began manufacturing them.
1933
C. Uyemura & Co., Ltd. was established with capital of 500,000 yen, so our company changed from being a privately owned store to being a modern company organization. Chobei Uyemura VI became the first company president.
1957
Promoted full-scale research on plating technology and worked on the development of chemicals such as brighteners. Eventually succeeded in developing original products such as the “ASAHI COPPENER” brightener for copper cyanide plating and “ASAHI RIGHT” for bright nickel plating.
1960
Started the planning and design of various plating equipment, including automatic plating equipment. As an addition to abrasive compounds and chemicals, the creation of a plating equipment department secured a new major pillar for the products of the company, and it established the company as an all-round manufacturer of plating products.
1963
A joint venture company, Sanwa Bosei Co., Ltd. (now Sumix Corporation), was established in Osaka, as a factory to check the usage conditions for the users of the products developed in our company, before those products were put on the market.
1967
In order to diversify our machinery and equipment technology, we introduced “The Robot Compact (Fully automatic programmed plating system)” ahead of the industry. This was the predecessor of the UF Carrier, which had a long track record that continued to this day.
1968
The Chemical Plant and the Central Research Laboratory were completed in the grounds of the current Hirakata Plant. From that time, the Central Research Laboratory was the most advanced research institute in the industry, with a lineup of advanced instruments and equipment such as scanning electron microscopes and X-ray analysis equipment.
1972
With “NIMUDEN 5X”, the long-term continuous use of electroless nickel plating was established for the first time in Japan. Furthermore, the solid position of the company in the plating industry was established with the preparation of “NIMUDEN DX” as a version with improved corrosion resistance.
1980
As the demand for the functional characteristics of electroless nickel plating deposits became more evident, our company’s “NIMCON” was installed on a large number of production lines. This automated the analysis and replenishment and helped to secure deposits with a constant thickness and constant quality.
1983
The “CHEMiROBO” general-purpose control systems were launched with the ability to handle various plating and pretreatment liquids through the installation of a microcomputer in the control section and the incorporation of analysis mechanisms as needed.
1984
As IT advanced, the demand for higher density aluminum magnetic disks also increased. The pretreatment method “AD Process” and electroless nickel plating solution “NIMUDEN HDX” were developed for hard disks. The Science and Technology Agency Director-General’s Prize was received in 1996 for the development of a hard disk substrate layer forming technology using electroless plating.
1985
After establishing the joint venture company Uyemura International Corporation (UIC), in Los Angeles, USA, the company went on to expand its business globally, centering on the Asian region.
1989
The successful development of composite plating technology was achieved in 1980 and this attracted attention from various fields. The “NIMUFLON” composite plating solution developed in 1989 combines excellent mass productivity and coating properties. It quickly spread to a wide range of general-purpose products such as automobiles, motorcycles, IT products and home appliances.
1989
The simple “STARLiNE-DASH NP” control systems were launched with functions limited to analysis and replenishment. Together with the “CHEMiROBO” series, this created a system to be able to supply the equipment to meet the needs of users for electroless nickel plating control systems, and was adopted in many plating workplaces.
1993
The “Ucon” was developed as a plating system that fixed the lower part of printed circuit boards and transferred them vertically and continuously without the use of jigs. This made it possible to reduce maintenance work and improve the uniformity of the plating deposit thickness.
1993
The “KAT Process” was developed to cope with higher density printed circuit boards. This in turn led to the development of our company’s flagship final finish process (electroless nickel-gold plating).
1994
The “FLOW-THROUGH PLATER RP-1” plating equipment for small parts was developed based on a new concept that made anything up to fine powder plating possible.
1997
On November 21, 1997, our company listed its shares on the Second Section of the Osaka Securities Exchange. In 2013, the company was listed on the Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, following the merger of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Osaka Securities Exchange.（Listed on the Standard Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2022）
1998
The “THRU-CUP PEA” electroless copper plating solution for build-up substrates was developed in 1998 for build-up substrates with insulating resin blind via holes (BVH) made by laser beam machining, which was attracting attention at that time. It received favorable evaluations for the low stress deposit and the high reliability provided by the throwing ability to the inside of the BVH.
1998
The Technical Center was opened in Connecticut, U.S.A. It has presented a large number of research results at conferences attended by world-class companies and engineers, and plays an important role as a contact point with global IT companies.
1999
The development of products in response to various environmental regulations progressed rapidly from the 1990s, against the background of increasing interest in environmental problems. Our company began the development of a lead-free solder plating solution in 1995 and the “SOFTALLOY GTC” developed in 1999 was used in a wide range of applications, including semiconductor lead frames and chip components.
2003
The “EPITHAS Process” was developed as a UBM (Under Bump Metallization) formation process for aluminum electrodes on silicon wafers.
2004
In the latter half of the 1990s, electrolytic copper plating solution for via filling appeared in the industry. In 2004, our company developed the “THRU-CUP EVF-R” for panel plating. It was the product that became the base for the EVF series, which were currently our main product for electrolytic copper plating for via filling.
2005
The Taiwan Research Laboratory (TRL) was established in 2005 to respond to the state-of-the-art companies in the Taiwan market. It also conducts joint research with universities in Taiwan and provides technical support to Taiwanese companies advancing into the Chinese continent.
2007
The aging buildings at the Hirakata Plant were rebuilt and the plant was modernized to increase its production capacity.
2012
The “U-VCPS” fully automatic vertical transfer continuous plating system with no up-down mechanism was developed for printed circuit boards. Its unique circulation system realized efficient mass transfer and enabled improved plating deposition.
2013
This was a reconstruction of the former Central Research Laboratory, and was completed with the aim of encouraging researchers to think creatively. It is an environmentally-symbiotic laboratory that has been designed with consideration for the surrounding environment. It received an S rank in the “Osaka Prefecture CASBEE (Osaka Prefecture environmental performance indication for buildings)”.
2018
The “SpeedPlater UBM” equipment was developed for the main purpose of forming UBM by electroless plating on the mounting pad electrodes on semiconductor wafers.
