Originally forming the Steel Making Department of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, the Kawasaki Steel Corporation was incorporated in August 1950 following the post-World War II breakup of the Kawasaki Dockyard. It was headed by a Japanese engineer Nishiyama Yatarō, who had convinced Kawasaki Heavy Industries to perform the breakup. At this point in time the company was using open hearth furnaces, but during the 1950s it built an integrated steel mill located at Chiba Works on reclaimed land in Chiba City.The blooming process of the Chiba Works was first placed under computer control in 1962. In 1966, the company began manufacturing iron powders. It added reduced iron powder and atomized powder manufacturing in 1978, then segregation-free iron powder in 1989.In 1989, it entered into a limit partnership with United States steel company Armco. The company was renamed AK Steel Holding in 1993 when it became publicly traded.In 2000, the price war resulting from the so-called Ghosn Shock impacted the business performance of steel manufacturers such as Kawasaki Steel. During the resulting credit crisis, NKK and Kawasaki Steel decided to merge their businesses in April 2001. This merger was completed in September 2002, forming JFE Holdings.