About
Omron's name comes from a street in Kyoto — the company took it in 1959 from 'Omon', an old name for the avenue near its headquarters, in the hope of sounding friendlier to Western customers. What the name hides is a precision-automation powerhouse: founder Kazuma Tateishi built his first product, an X-ray timer, in 1933, and Omron has been converting physical signals into electrical ones ever since. Today Omron is one of the world's largest makers of industrial sensors and control components — photoelectric, proximity, and pressure sensors plus PLCs and relays that sit inside factory automation lines worldwide. It is also the global leader in home blood-pressure monitors and a major supplier of automatic ticket gates and healthcare devices, with about 28,000 employees and annual sales near ¥800 billion. The company's unusual trait is its founding philosophy: Tateishi's 'machine that works for the benefit of people' principle pushed Omron into early development of social systems — from automated bank machines to traffic control — decades before 'Industry 4.0' became a buzzword.
Also known as: Omron
