Industry | Motorsport Automotive engineering |
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Founded | 1973 |
Headquarters | 7-17-5 Nagayoshi Deto Hirano-ku Osaka-shi, Osaka |
Key people | Masumi Shiba (president) |
Products | Alloy wheels |
Revenue | ¥1,010,000,000 (2008) |
Employees | 231 (Sept. 2008) |
Parent | Rays Co., Ltd. |
Website | RaysWheels.co.jp |
Rays Engineering Co., Ltd. (株式会社レイズエンジニアリング Kabushiki-gaisha Reizu Enjiniaringu ), a parent company of Rays Co., Ltd. is a high-end Japanese wheel manufacturer for both motorsport and street use, mostly notable for its Volk Racing flagship brand of wheels. It is a common misconception that "Volk Racing" is the parent company of Rays Engineering, purely as it is its most associated with brand name. Their wheels feature high-tech forging and casting processes that are exclusive to Rays Engineering.
They are the current wheel suppliers to winning factory race teams of Nissan, Honda, Toyota, and Mazda in racing series such as Super GT, Japanese Touring Car Championship (JTCC), British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), Formula Nippon, and Formula One.
Their Volk Racing wheels are popular with owners of sport compact and import cars on the race and show circuits.
Rays Engineering also manufactures wheels for car manufacturers' in-house tuning teams such as Nismo, Ralliart, STi, Mazdaspeed and Toyota Racing Development and also supply wheels to Williams Formula One team[1] as well as the cars of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.[2]
Contents |
Year | Event |
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1973 | RAYS established. |
1977 | RAYS Co., Ltd. established. |
1979 | RAYS ENGINEERING Co., Ltd. established. |
1980 | Tokyo sales office established. |
1981 | Fukuoka & Takamatsu sales offices established.
The Racing Division organized. |
1982 | RAYS Creative Co., Ltd. established.
The Motorcycle Division organized. |
1983 | Design room BANANA MOON established.
Parts Bank Co., Ltd. & Twin Co., Ltd. established. Sendai sales office established. |
1984 | Construction of the RAYS Engineering Yao factory completed. |
1986 | Nishinomiya Distribution Center established.
Introduced 5,500 ton forge press machine. |
1988 | Hiroshima sales office established.
Casting section :Vesta Co., Ltd. established. |
1989 | Extension of the RAYS Engineering Yao factory completed.
Introduced second 3,500 ton forge press machine. |
1990 | Resu Co., Ltd. established. |
1991 | Sapporo sales office established.
Introduced third 3,500 ton forge press machine. |
1992 | Nagoya sales office established.
RAYS R&D Co., Ltd. established. RAYBROS established. |
1993 | Hokuriku sales offices established. |
1994 | Started automatic warehouse operations in the distribution center.
Casting section : Pacific Alloy Logistics Co., Ltd. established. |
1995 | RAYS Second sales division established.
Introduced RM8000 forge machine. Construction of the RAYS Engineering Nara factory completed. |
1997 | RAYS Overseas Division established.
Merged Resu Co., Ltd. and Parts Bank Co., Ltd. |
1999 | Introduced RM8000 forge machine.
Tsubaki Seimitsu Kanafata Co., Ltd. established. |
2000 | Company name changed from Vesta Co., Ltd. to RAYS FOUNDRY Co., Ltd. and HQ relocated. |
2001 | Tokyo Sales Division address moved. |
2003 | Fuji Pacific Alloy Co., Ltd. established. |
2004 | RAYS U.S.A. Inc. established. |
2005 | Casting manufacturing related companies integrated into RAYS C.W.P. Co., Ltd.
Introduced 10,000 ton forge press machine. |
2006 | Merged RAYS Co., Ltd. and Resu Co., Ltd. and Twin Co., Ltd. |
2008 | RAYS Co., Ltd. head office relocated |
Rays Engineering wheels are manufactured through two different processes: forging and casting. After each wheel is manufactured, the wheel goes through strenuous inspection before being packaged and shipped out. The following is a video showing each manufacturing process of a Rays Engineering wheel: Rays Engineering Manufacturing Process.
The forging process for a Rays Wheel consists of seven steps:
The casting process for a Rays Wheel consists of four steps: