Kyushu Steel Center was formed in 1986 through the merging of Kyushu Kohan Kako and Nagasaki Steel Center, both of which were engaged in processing steel products and shot blasting for the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works. Today's two plants - Koyagi (headquarters) and Doinokubi - are vestiges of those companies. Both plants are adjacent to the MHI Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works and almost all the steel products consumed by the shipyard is delivered by them.

The company offers an array of services in its main business lines, from port cargo handling, transportation within ports and warehouse operations to shot blasting, rust prevention coating, cutting, welding and providing prefabrication services. The Koyagi Plant in particular handles the prefabricated parts that become the components of ship hulls and has devised systems to comprehensively manufacture blocks in complex configurations from steel plate to meet the requests of shipbuilders. In most cases, shipbuilders handle high-quality part processing, including that of prefabricated parts, internally. The company's processing capabilities are the same as the upstream manufacturing processing capabilities of shipbuilders.

President Katsumasa Hoshiyama, who is originally from MHI, says his goal is to "acquire a wide range of customers, without depending on MHI alone."

For example, the volume of steel products handled is greatly influenced by the types of vessels shipbuilders receive orders for because the amount of steel products used for passenger vessels and tankers broadly differs. In response to this, efforts are made to diversify supply sources to make sure that a standard amount of business volume is always maintained. The company has also increased supplies of prefabricated parts to shipbuilders in Kyushu and Shikoku. This can be seen as evidence of the high recognition that exists for the processing technology that we have developed through supplying products to MHI Nagasaki Shipyard & Machine Works.

President Hoshiyama says, "In the Metal One Group, we take pride in having the best expertise on processing steel products for shipbuilders. We hope that these capabilities will be fully employed at the headquarters, and look forward to our strengthening ties with Metal One Kyushu Corporation, and expanding our customer base." There are high hopes that Kyushu Steel Center will serve as the nucleus for the future development of the shipbuilding steel plate value chain.