Going Up: Entering the Elevator Business

In order to advance its elevator operations, Mitsubishi Electric studied some materials of Westinghouse Electric Corp. in 1930, and began developing a variable-voltage elevator at the company's Kobe Works plant. In a collaborative effort with Nippon Elevator Manufacturing, Mitsubishi Electric delivered its first elevator to Tokyo Underground Railway Ueno Store in 1931. By 1933 Mitsubishi Electric had established an elevator production line at Kobe Works for the purpose of expanding its business to include the mass production of elevator equipment. To help support the company's fledgling elevator business, the head office established a construction division to handle installation and maintenance, while the sales division went to work increasing sales capacity. The company's first mass-produced elevator was delivered in 1935, to the infirmary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Kobe.