The History of CTI Engineering Co., Ltd.

Our founding amidst Japan’s defeat in WWII

Behind the launch of the Construction Technology Institute:
Japan’s struggle to catch up to and surpass the United States

The history of the Construction Technology Institute (the predecessor of CTI Engineering Co., Ltd.) begins in December 1944, as Japan headed toward its defeat in World War II.
At that time, airfields could be constructed in a matter of weeks in the United States using bulldozers and other construction equipment, while in Japan it took several months using sheer manpower. To catch up to the United States, the board of directors of the Japan Civil Engineering and Construction Control Association (Nihon Doboku Kenchiku Tosei Kumiai) approved a proposal to establish an incorporated foundation (zaidan hojin) for the purpose of developing construction equipment that could compete with those of the United States.
It was against this backdrop that the Institute opened its office on August 1, 1945, on the first floor of the Kenchiku Kaikan located at 3-1 Ginza-nishi, Kyobashi-ku, Tokyo. The Institute held its first board of directors meeting on August 14 at the Imperial Hotel.

Hydropower Generation Reference Drawings (teaching material)

A chaotic start: Japan surrenders immediately after the Institute’s founding

The day after the Institute’s first ambitious board meeting, the Japanese government accepted the Potsdam Declaration. Japan’s surrender put the newly-founded Institute’s future in jeopardy. However, the basic objectives of the Institute, which were to “improve construction techniques” and “respond to the nation’s urgent construction needs by mobilizing the full power of academic knowledge and experience,” were recognized as essential to Japan’s reconstruction, and the decision was made to allow the Institute to continue.
During its early years following the war, the Institute struggled to get by. Its main sources of income were subcontracting for construction companies using construction machinery and publishing teaching materials for university-level civil engineering courses.

Kiyoharu Utsumi (third from left) and staff in a technical meeting

The arrival of a construction boom propels the Institute into the world of consultingengineers

In June 1950, five years after the Institute was founded, the Korean War broke out. Like other Japanese industries, the construction industry benefited from increased wartime demand, which triggered a sudden boom in construction.
Japan’s construction industry developed in leaps and bounds during this period. Such progress greatly influenced the direction of the work performed by the Institute—a prime example being the start of its consulting engineers services.
The Institute came to offer these services as a result of the achievements and personal connections of its then-president, Kiyoharu Utsumi. Early projects include the Kakimoto Dam on the Sano River in 1947 and the Nakatsu River Power Generation Project in 1948. With these projects, the Institute became a pioneer in consulting engineer in Japan.

Period of growth: The Institute enters the field of water engineering

Staff busy with design work due to increased demand for dam construction (1960)

Dam construction and hydraulic model experiments lay the foundation for consulting engineer services

From 1950 onward, with the Korean War in full swing, the number of contracts for engineering consulting services multiplied year after year. The Institute quickly and accurately grasped Japan’s agenda for post-war reconstruction and focused on one area: hydropower generation and related dam construction.
One of the major projects at the time was the Amehata Dam. This dam is noteworthy for the work the Institute was commissioned to do in the late 1940s and ’50s. Not only was the Institute involved in the entire process of constructing the dam, from design and testing to supervision of the construction work, but it also took charge of the dam’s maintenance and management once it was completed. Today, our Tokyo Head Office’s Dam Division still handles the management of this dam.
In the 1950s, the Institute also began to conduct hydraulic model experiments in earnest. These experiments were made possible by the Institute’s past chairperson. An expert in hydropower, he had secured the vast testing grounds necessary for such experiments early on.

Hydraulic model experiment (Tama Testing Lab)

An unrealized project sows the seeds for the future

In August 1953, the Congress of the Philippines authorized the construction of the Marikina Multipurpose Dam as a part of integrated development of the Marikina River.
The Marikina River is located in the Eastern Manila District in the Philippines. Because it was surrounded by low-lying wetlands, it often overflowed and caused damage when typhoons hit. The dam project was launched with the aim of reducing such flood damage along the Marikina River. Later on, a Technical Assistance Agreement was signed between the governments of Japan and the Philippines. The Japanese government nominated the Institute along with the International Engineering Development Co. (IED) to spearhead the project.
Due to political changes in the Philippines, however, the project never saw the light of day. Nonetheless, the technical studies that the Institute conducted at the time of the project were highly evaluated both in Japan and abroad. Through this experience, the Institute mastered the basics of dam design and engineering. The Tama Testing Lab, which the Institute established to perform hydraulic model experiments for the Marikina Multipurpose Dam, also led to subsequent growth in related contract work.
By developing the technology for this unrealized project and opening a dam testing lab at a time when no other engineering consultancy possessed experimental facilities, the Institute sowed the seeds for its future. Eventually, it would become known as the go-to consulting firm for water engineering.

Transformation in the face of changing times

The Osaka Branch Office (Sanoyabashi Bldg.) at the time

Incorporation as a joint-stock company: The dawn of an era of competition in the industry

In 1964, the year the Tokyo Olympics were held, the Japanese government established a registration system for civil consulting engineer. With this change, it became standard procedure to award contracts for public projects to registered consulting engineering firms through competitive bidding. As Japan diversified and expanded its social infrastructure, many more consulting engineering firms entered the scene.
In light of this new competition, it became necessary for the Institute to incorporate as a company whose sole purpose was to provide revenue-related services, a company that could pull ahead of the competition. Accordingly, we became the Construction Technology Institute Co., Ltd. (Kensetsu Giken KK) on April 4, 1963. At the time of our incorporation, we had 104 employees. During our first term as a company (fiscal year ended March 31, 1964), we received orders totaling 120 million yen and posted sales of 104 million yen. The following year, we changed our name to CTI Engineering Co., Ltd., the name we have been using to this day.

Employees using desktop calculators with programming functions

Adopting the latest technologies to become the industry leader in river planning

In 1964, Japan’s River Act was revised, requiring a basic plan for the implementation of construction work to be formulated for each river system. To keep up with the new requirements, we introduced electronic calculators—which were expensive at the time—before any of our competitors. This was a decisive factor in our development in the field of river planning. We subsequently came to be in charge of flood control plans for 62 river systems, nearly 60 percent of the 109 class A river systems under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Construction.
The number of orders we received gradually increased, starting with river channel planning—including work on the lateral overflow embankments of the Arakawa River, which runs through Saitama and Tokyo prefectures—and runoff analyses in the upper river basin of the Tone River in Gunma and other prefectures. By 1968, we led the industry with the highest volume of orders received in the river planning division. Finally, in 1970, our sales exceeded the one-billion-yen mark.

The president of the Japan Securities Dealers Association presents our OTC registration certificate

From IPO to listing, we prepare for full-scale technical competition

In the 1990s, we went public and listed our shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) in order to improve our social status, build up the financial assets of our executives and employees, and accumulate assets through financing. First, we established an IPO preparation team on January 1, 1990. This team made various preparations over the next four years, culminating in our listing on an over-the-counter market in June 1994. We were then listed on the Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in October 1996, followed by the First Section in June 1999.
Around this time, Japan reformed its bidding and contracting system and enforced the Act on Promoting Quality Assurance in Public Works (commonly known as the Quality Assurance Act). The engineering consulting industry entered an era of full-scale technical competition.

Our technology and expertise, our people, and our future

Waterman Group Plc joins the CTI Engineering Group

Achieving our goals ahead of schedule, and looking ahead to 2030

Our company had 104 employees when it was first established. Now we have about 1,800 employees. Sales have grown to 44.3 billion yen (58th term; fiscal year ended December 31, 2020), and we have consistently operated at a profit since going public. Furthermore, the CTI Engineering Group currently comprises 10 group companies and 3,000 employees.
CTI Engineering Group’s mid- to long-term vision “CLAVIS 2025,” which we established in 2015 based on the business environment and management situation at the time, sets the Group’s target business scale at 60 billion yen. Due to increasing domestic need to build national resilience and the expansion of our business overseas with the acquisition of Waterman Group Plc (headquartered in London), in 2018, we posted approximately 42 billion yen and 18 billion yen in domestic and international sales, respectively, totaling 60 billion yen. Thus, we achieved the CLAVIS 2025 target ahead of schedule. As a result, we formulated the new CTI Group medium- to long-term vision "SPRONG 2030" in June 2021 and are aiming for sales of 100 billion yen (72 billion yen in domestic sales and 28 billion yen international sales) and an operating margin of 9% by 2030.

Our company’s assets are our technology, our expertise, and our people.
To achieve our goals, the CTI Engineering Group will make our efforts to become a multi-infrastructure, global enterprise. Through our corporate activities, we will fulfill our corporate social responsibility, solve social issues, and foster and protect a culture that puts people first. In doing so, we will realize the sustainable development of both society and the Group.

The Kenchiku Kaikan, where the Institute’s office was located