Shimano Apologises For Its Factory Catching Fire

Yesterday, British cycle trade news website, Cycling Industry News broke the news that local Japanese media were reporting a fire at Shimano’s Osaka main factory and company HQ.

We contacted Shimano’s European offices in the Netherlands and were reassured to hear that there were no injuries and that the fire, which happened in its anodising plant, was brought under control.

Checking again today, we were impressed and touched to find that Shimano has released a statement on its website, apologising deeply for having a fire and inconveniencing its customers, something that would be far from the minds of most of us when trying to damp down the embers. We’re glad to hear that everyone’s OK and we’re sure that Shimano will shortly be back to cranking out, er, cranks at its flagship factory. This was the same factory that was completely rebuilt over three years at the start of the decade, where Shimano’s high end groups, like Dura Ace and XTR are made and where Chipps visited for Issue 104’s story on Shimano. The factory features roof gardens and energy reclamation systems, so it’s not just any old rooftop fire and we hope they’re back on target soon.

The full statement:

Shimano Inc. informs with deep apology that a fire accident occurred at a part of our headquarters factory located in Sakai, Japan at around 13:40 (JST) on March 26th.

We profusely apologize to our shareholders, customers and stakeholders for all the concerns and the inconveniences that we have caused by letting this regretful accident occur.

The fire occurred at the surface treatment area.

Workers have evacuated a factory immediately and no one was injured. We are now investigating the cause of the fire.

From now on, we are determined to make every effort for safe operation and work for the prevention of this kind of accident.

Once again we would offer our deepest apologies for any inconvenience caused.

We ask your kind understanding and continued support.

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