HKS Factory Tour

Lucky for me, my trip to Fuji International Speedway didn't just conclude after the HKS Premium Day. Thanks to that little "By Invitation Only" piece of plastic that was around my neck, I was amongst the privileged few who attended the HKS factory tour.  However, no photography was allowed in the factory.

Formed in 1973 by Hiroyuki Hasegawa, HKS is headquartered in Fujinomiya, Shizuoka and is currently the largest aftermarket performance accessory manufacturer in Japan.

Since Hasegawa's breakthrough of turbocharger kits, boost controllers and turbo timers in 1974, HKS has been in the business of performance tuning and has maintained a respectable reputation when it comes to top notch quality. The company is ISO certified and complies with the quality control regulations and standards.

Here are some of the highlights and pointers worth noting about HKS products.

Suspension Factory

1. HKS is the only Japanese manufacturer to make every component of the coilovers in their own factory. 

2. Coils are formed, annealed, machined and powder coated for durability.

3. Coilover tubes and other sub-components are all produced by Computer Numerical Control (CNC) lathes and milling machines.

4. All components are inspected in with both manual and electronic instrumentation.

5. All suspensions are assembled by hand. Spring and damper rates are checked for each suspension prior to packing.

6. One or two sets are randomly sampled per lot to ensure batch quality.

Machining Factory

1. All turbo compressors are CNC milled by a 5-axis CNC machines.

2. Conrods and piston heads are all CNC milled and precision inspected by electronic instrumentation.

Exhaust Factory

1. Factory output of 12,000 exhausts per month.

2. All HKS mufflers utilises a special fiberglass filling with higher withstanding temperatures of 720 degC compared to the conventional 600 degC fillings used by other manufacturers.

3. All exhaust components are welded by hand and pressure tested for every complete exhaust system.

4. All completed products are packed and filled with void fill packaging foam to protect the exhaust system during shipping and storage.

The HKS Museum.

One of the historical HKS demo car.

 Documented history since 1973.