Rays Engineering

Rays Engineering
Industry Motorsport
Automotive engineering
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)
Number of employees
231 (Sept. 2008)
Parent Rays Co., Ltd.
Website

RaysWheels.co.jp

Rays International
Rays produced rear wheel belonging to a Williams Formula One car.

Rays Engineering Co., Ltd. (株式会社レイズエンジニアリング Kabushiki-gaisha Reizu Enjiniaringu), a part of Rays Co., Ltd. is a high-end Japanese wheel manufacturer for both motorsport and street use, mostly notable for manufacturing 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 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]

History

RAYS Engineering Timeline:[3]

Year Event
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
2012 RAYS CWP line addition to accommodate larger diameter production
2013 RAYS CWP R&D testing device building addition/reinforced.

Wheel Construction

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.

Forging

The forging process for a Rays Wheel consists of seven steps:

  1. Hot Forging - Takes a billet and creates metal lines through volume distribution with a hot press.
  2. RM Forging - Forging method exclusively developed Rays Engineering. Finishing of designed parts on the wheel is completed during this process.
  3. Cold Spinning - Width of wheel is constructed during this process with a high-speed spinning machine.
  4. Heat Treatment - Wheel is quickly heated then immediately cooled down with a solution to form a strong structure for the wheel.
  5. Machine Work - Special cutting device used to improve roundness of the wheel.
  6. Shot Blast - This process smooths the surface of the wheel to prepare of aesthetic finishing.
  7. Surface Finishing - Various chemicals are used to prevent corrosion and protect the surface of the wheel

Types of Forged Wheels

Casting

The casting process for a Rays Wheel consists of four steps:

  1. Fusion - Aluminum metal is heated up into molten liquid.
  2. Molten Metal Treating - Process of removing impurities from molten aluminum. Molten aluminum with no impurities are moved into a holding furnace.
  3. Casting - Molten aluminum is poured into a die to form the wheel.
  4. Machine Work - Various chemicals are used to prevent corrosion and protect the surface of the wheel

Types of Cast Wheels

Product Lineup

Exclusive Distributors & Authorized Dealers


References

Rays Authored Dealers

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, July 29, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.