1927 Okura Iron Works founded by Genjiro Okura as President. 1938 Okura Iron Works reorganized and renamed as Okura Machine Works. New factory constructed at present site; facilities improved. 1941 Munitions Industry designates Okura Machine Works to manufacture aircraft maintenance machinery. 1946 With the return of peace, Okura resumed its original business. 1955 Opened Sales Office in Osaka. 1956 Okura Machine Works announces the "Korokon Carrier" and the "Flow Rack". Opened Sales Office in Tokyo. 1960 Okura Machine Works reorganized and renamed as Okura Yusoki Co, Ltd. 1961 Opened Sales Office in Nagoya. 1963 Introduced the expandable, flexible "P.A.V. Conveyor" to the market. Opened Sales Office in Hiroshima. 1964 Introduced the first palletizer in Japan to the market. Opened Sales Office in Fukuoka. 1969 Genjiro Okura, founder and first President, died. Norio Okura, current Chairman appointed President and CEO. Began operating Tokyo plant (changed name to Kanto plant in 1999). Opend Kitakanto Sales Office. Introduced the "Truck Loader" to the market. 1974 Opened Offices in Sendai and Kanazawa. 1975 Opened Office in Takamatsu. 1978 Introduced the "Unicon Conveyor Series", 5 types and 18 models for handling light-mid-weight products. 1979 Introduced the "Verti Belcon", a continuous vertical transfer conveyor to the market. 1981 Introduced the Cartesian coordinate type robot palletizer to the market. 1982 Expanded Headquarters plant, and opened the Okura Memorial Hall. Introduced the "Belcon Mini" and the "P.A.V. powered conveyor" to the market. Introduced the "High-Speed Sorter", an automatic sorting system to the the market. 1984 Introduced the "Multi-Articulated Robot Palletizer", "Fine Conveyor Series", "Crabot" and "Pick Teacher System" to the market. 1985 Began operating Mechatronics Laboratory and Research Workshop at Headquarters. Introduced the "Fully Automatic Assembly System" to the market. 1986 Technical partnership established with BUSCHMAN (U. S. A.). Started production of Model AC250 zero-pressure conveyor. Began operating Miki plant. 1987 Opened Office in Maebashi. Introduced the "Jabucon" developed for washdown conveyor lines and small products sorting unit "Carbel sorter" to the market. 1988 Introduced the "Uni Sorter", a high-capacity sorting system to the market. 1990 Established OFAS, subsidiary in Singapore to market material handling solutions in Southeast Asia. 1991 Introduced the "FAL Conveyor" to the market. Established OAI, through joint venture with LVP(Ireland) to market light-weight conveyor series in Europe. 1992 Entered a technical partnership with the Austrian KNAPP Co., regarding automatic picking equipment. 1993 Opened Sales Office in Sapporo. Introduced the "Robogator System" for the corrugated sheet industry. 1995 Established DURKOPP Okura, through joint venture with DURKOPP ADLER AG FORDERTECHNIK (Germany). 1996 Established Okura U.S.A. Inc. in WA, U.S.A. Established Columbia Okura LLC., through joint venture with Columbia Machine, Inc.(U.S.A.) to market robotic palletizing solutions in the US, Mexico and Canada. Shizuoka Sales Office was merged into Atsugi Sales Office, which was renamed Minami-Kanto Sales Office.  1997 Introduced the "Cool Conveyor", a new stainless steel drive conveyor series for medium loads to the market. 1998 Began operating Kakogawa Higashi plant. Introduced the "Unicon II", a drive conveyor series for medium and heavy loads. Moved Kobe/Akashi Sales Office to Headquarters, and changed name to Hyogo Sales Office. Norio Okura appointed Chairman of Okura Yusoki, and Ryoichi Okura appointed President and CEO of Okura Yusoki. 1999 Received certification under ISO9001 International Quality Control Standard. Introduced "Model A1600 and A700" multi-articulated robot palletizer to the market. 2000 Opened Europe Representative Office in Amstelveen, The Netherlands. Took over the handling robot business from Kobe Steel, Ltd. Introduced the "Unicon Jr.", a drive conveyor series for light-weight products. 2001 Introduced the "Plastic Belt Conveyor" to the market. Received certification under ISO14001 International Environmental Management System Standard. 2002 Released the "Mini Perfe", vertical articulated platform conveyor for light-weight products that achieved industry-leading levels of speed. 2003 Introduced the "3-Way Brancher", "Automatic Reject Conveyor" and two other peripheral devices for Mini Perfe to the market. Developed "Model A1600Ⅱ and A700Ⅱ", multi-articulated robot palletizer improved with the industry widest operating range. 2004 Introduced the ultra-thin conveyor "Petacon", the compact belt conveyor "Slim Mini" and the improved version of "Free curve conveyor SFXD"to the market. Established Shanghai Okura Co., Ltd., subsidiary in Shanghai to market material handling solutions in China.