Furuno Electric Co., Ltd. (古野電気株式会社, Furuno Denki Kabushiki-gaisha) (commonly known as Furuno) is a Japanese electronics company whose main products are marine electronics, including marine radar systems, fish finders, and navigational instruments. The company also manufactures global positioning systems and medical equipment, and entered the weather radar market in 2013.[2]

History

Furuno Electric Shokai was founded in Nagasaki, Japan in 1948. The same year, Furuno commercialized the world's first practical fish finder. Manufacturing continued to ramp up as the decade came to a close, and by the mid-1950s, Furuno was producing various Marine supplements, such as early examples of commercial Marine radars. In 1973, Furuno created an early iteration of satellite positioning receivers for vessels at sea. Later that decade, Furuno entered the United States market, establishing an HQ in the United States as Furuno USA.[3] Following this expansion and continued growth, Furuno continued expanding their marine-based radar products. In 2009, Furuno acquired San Francisco based eRide, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company.[4] Following this acquisition, in 2013, Furuno introduced an X-band weather radar, the smallest of its kind.[5] In 2015, the company's GNSS Receiver Modules were used in radio controlled flying quadcopters.[6]

In popular culture

Furuno's marine electronic devices has been featured in Licence to Kill (1989) as product placement.[7]

Gallery

  • The Furuno factory in Miki city
    The Furuno factory in Miki city
  • Furuno control panels on a ship
    Furuno control panels on a ship
  • A Furuno marine radar on a ship (visible on the left)
    A Furuno marine radar on a ship (visible on the left)
  • An old model of sonar made by the company
    An old model of sonar made by the company
  • A Furuno Doppler Weather Radar
    A Furuno Doppler Weather Radar

Notes

  1. ^ "Company Outline". Furuno. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  2. ^ "Company Snapshot". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  3. ^ "Company".
  4. ^ "Gary L. Fischer Helps eRide; Caps 8 Plus Years". Marketwired. September 18, 2014. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  5. ^ "FURUNO Launches World's Smallest and Lightest Weather Radar System for Meteorological Monitoring and Analysis" (Press release).
  6. ^ "Furuno's Latest Multi-GNSS Receiver Module Adopted for Use in Parrot's New Quadricopter "Bebop Drone"". Inside Unmanned Systems. Autonomous Media, LLC. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  7. ^ Scheidemann, Robert; "Furuno Marine Electronics in Licence To Kill (1989)"

External links