Company Guide

TECHNOLOGY - Stay ahead of the times -

Stress measurement technologies with strain gauges at their center are an essential element in ensuring the safety and efficiency of all kinds of structures. Being a manufacturer dedicated to stress measurement equipment production, Tokyo Measuring Instruments Laboratory Co., Ltd. has been developing distinctive technologies and contributing to technological developments in many different fields. During its history of more than 60 years, the company has always striven to provide trustworthy products that customers can use with peace of mind in response to different needs at different times. As for strain gauges, which are a staple product of the company, we unveiled the world's first polyester gauge in 1956. This new gauge brought about dramatic improvement in the humidity resistance of gauge bases, which had been far lower in conventional paper gauges. We have also developed many other innovative technologies after that, including foil strain gauges and high temperature strain gauges, to enable reliable measurements under a wide variety of conditions.
At the same time, we translate the know-how that we have gained as a gauge manufacturer into the development and production of a wide range of strain gauge type transducers, including load cells and displacement transducers. These transducers, which are being used in a wide variety of fields, including various experiments and research, production process management, and maintenance and construction management, have been enjoying excellent reputations for their accuracy, reliability, and ease of use. Our development of a broad spectrum of transducers for general and civil engineering use that suit many different environmental conditions and measurement targets continues to expand the scope of applications of strain gauge type transducers. When it comes to meters, we were the first in the industry to develop a portable digital strainmeter in 1972. This strainmeter, which had the capability to measure multiple points automatically and enabled speedy and reliable measurements, was a landmark technological breakthrough that changed static strain measurements forever.
This technology is still found in Data Loggers and other meters today.Besides these, TML has also made significant achievements in the field of data analysis, for example the 1980 development of the company's original histogram recording system. More recently, we have also started to provide measurement consultation services to meet the different needs of customers by making the most of the know-how that we have gained from many years of experience in the field of stress measurement. Our consultation services cover a wide range of areas so as to help users with experiments on different kinds of structures and construction management, from measurement planning, to measurement equipment installation, to measurements and analyses. Tokyo Sokki Kenkyujo has always contributed to improving the safety and efficiency of all sorts of structures that have been shaping the times, from vessels, railways, and automobiles to bridges, dams, and high rises.
In the future, we will strive to create even more efficient, even more excellent measurement systems, with an equal emphasis on continuing to develop innovative technologies by building upon our past successes and putting emphasis on establishing an even better quality assurance system that will allow us to produce even more reliable products.

QUALITY - We meet all your measurement needs. -

Strain gauges > Handling your specific needs with a diverse lineup of about 8,000 product varieties. 

Stress measurement using a strain gauge plays a large role in securing the safety and improving the economic feasibility of a structure. We have a broad lineup of about 8,000 industry top-level product varieties, allowing you to choose the instrument that is suited to the material and shape of the object being measured as well as measurement goals and conditions. So as to meet the specific needs of each customer, we have developed and added the DSF series for achieving improved fatigue limits, AWMD/AWHU capable of measuring strain up to +800℃ and instruments such as strain gauge FLA-T integrating a thermocouple. In addition to our original “complete correction method for strain” technology, we are active in development and have also introduced to our product line “1-gauge 4-wire strain gauges” that completely correct any adverse effect from a lead wire and an as-yet unseen small (company comparison) “ultrasmall strain gauge”. Our strain gauges are manufactured based on a unified system from development to testing/inspection, where the utmost attention is given to quality and management in every process. These strain gauges, which are designed only with the optimum materials in a clean environment, are  certified based on international standards, mainly NAS942, a standard of NASA in the US.

Transducers/civil engineering transducers > High-accuracy stable quality that lives up to the trust of users.

Strain gauge-type transducers electrically convert physical quantities such as load, displacement, and pressure (load cell, load cell displacement transducer, pressure transducer), and it is possible to build a plethora of measurement systems combining them with any other strainmeter such as a data logger. In addition to their use in testing and research of new materials and all types of structures, strain gauge-type transducers are also widely used with the purposes of production process management of industrial products, and maintenance and construction management in the civil engineering and construction fields such including general structures, bridges, roads, tunnels, and dams. To live up to the trust of all our customers, we have endeavored in product development based on a thoroughly implemented quality management system under the theme of “long-term maintenance of accuracy and establishment of durability”. Accompanying the move to expressing measurements in the SI system, the basic mode of display for transducers used for measuring load, torque, pressure, and acceleration is by SI, with certification and calibration also being carried out in SI units. For those customers using products before the introduction of SI, we accommodate calibration in gravitational units as per the customer’s request, in our effort to provide reliable products without affecting ease of use. We have also added an optical fiber measurement system to our product lineup as a latest-developed product.

Instruments > Leading products in a time where both ease of use and high-level functionality  are balanced.

Among our strainmeters for carrying out strain gauge and strain gauge-type transducer measurement, there are static strainmeters, dynamic strainmeters, histogram recorders, and similar instruments. Models can mostly be found that enable multipoint switchable measurement such as of strain, direct-current voltage, and temperature, and are widely known as “data loggers”. Demand has been growing in recent years for multipoint measurement with high-speed switchability together with an increasing scope of measurement. 
With that as a backdrop, we are constantly meeting the needs of customers, such as with development of new-type data loggers with functionality including computation, recording, and processing of measured values, and which provide easier operation with a touchpanel.
A new lineup of compact dynamic strain recorders, designed on the concept of a vehicle on-board measurement by dynamic strainmeter, have achieved a compact measurement system that integrates amplification of dynamic measurement of a high-speed moving subject, flash memory data recording, and processing functions. This kind of improvement of functions and operability as represented with data loggers is a common theme for all instruments such as digital dynamic strainmeters. And that stability is also an extremely important factor for strainmeters, since they comprise complex electronic circuitry. As a result, we work on maintaining our reliability while conducting all types of environmental testing including of temperature, humidity, and vibration and putting that to use in development of products.

Software > More efficient measurement, achievement of rapid data processing.

Measurement systems in a today where digitization has progressed have a large weight placed on data processing capabilities of computers in order to obtain accurate data rapidly. As the interface between an instrument and a computer, software is indispensable in realizing high cost performance for that functionality and versatility. In order to respond to those needs, we are also actively involved in software development. For our versatility series “Visual LOG”, our lineup features software for measuring each of static strain, dynamic strain, and histograms, and for monitoring applications, “Visual LOG Light) is also available at a reasonable price. All ofo these are supported for Windows PCs. In developing this software, emphasis is placed in particular on graphic capabilities for data processing and analysis to achieve ease of use in the field.

Measurement consulting > Broad-ranging development of measurement services making use of many years of achievements and accumulated data.

Tokyo Measuring Instruments Laboratory has built many years of achievement in the stress measurement field, and with that accumulated data and know-how as a manufacturer of measurement instruments, we have endeavored until now in many different measurement services. In recent years, which have seen introduction of new technology in a variety of fields such as bridges, airports, roads, plant facilities, and tunnels, needs have continued to grow in experiments with structures, experiments such as durability inspections of existing structures, and in measurement. Needs in terms of construction management are also growing in recent years, such as with civil engineering measurement in urban redevelopment and safety implementations in facilities. We make the most of our characteristics as a manufacturer and our measurement consulting services in responding to customer needs with anything that involves measurement, from installation of equipment to measurement, data processing/analysis, and then from report creation to software development. We will continue to develop a broad range of measurement services as a highly flexible technology team, providing selection and installation planning of sensors and instruments in the field that are matched to the environmental conditions of each customer, as well as engage in development of equipment as required.

SERVICE
- Dedicated and highly professional service and quality assurance -

■Quality assurance system

We guarantee perfect quality as a measurement instrument manufacturer.
Measurement instruments are required to always conform to the prescribed performance standards. Therefore, quality management, the ultimate aim of which is to live up to user expectations, needs to start at the stage of product development. Tokyo Measuring Instruments Laboratory Co., Ltd. offers a wide variety of products, including sensors and meters, all of which are the results of our thorough quality management that we adopt in all our operating processes, from development, through design and manufacture, to shipping, so that we can always meet customer requirements and ensure safety to users. In addition, we offer all kinds of support services to customers who have purchased our products. Tokyo Sokki Kenkyujo has been proactively working to introduce ISO9000 for a long time now and has further enhanced its system for producing high quality, which the company has been developing over many years. Moreover, we have been certified by a Japanese accreditation organization that has signed an international Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) (International Accreditation Japan, National Institute of Technology and Evaluation), according to the Measurement Law, as a JCSS-accredited calibration laboratory (Accreditation Number: 0090) in the category of Force Calibrations.

■Warranty period

The warranty period for our strainmeters is one year from the date of purchase. If defects should appear in our products under proper storage and use during their warranty periods, we will repair them at no charge. The warranty period for repaired products is six months.

■After-sale service

If a defect should appear in our strainmeter during an experiment or a measurement, please contact our sales department, which will respond quickly, by sending a serviceman for example. At the same time, we will identify and implement thorough preventative measures after investigating how the product has been used and locating the causes of the defect.

■Maintenance contract

We offer contract-based maintenance services to customers who have purchased our measurement systems, mainly meters. This allows us to make sure that our complex measurement systems can function perfectly and always keep devices in their best conditions, as well as respond swiftly to sudden failures.

■Holding period for repair parts

As a rule, the holding period for meter parts is 7 years after the cessation of production. Please note that we may not be able to meet a request for a repair or a supply of maintenance parts once this period is over.