one of the instruments needed for the capacitor manufacturing processes was the ph meter. imported ph meters tended to be unreliable, possibly because of japan's hot and humid climate. they were also expensive. rather than buy imported ph meters, horiba had built his own ph meters for capacitor testing. he saw a potential market for reliable, low-cost ph meters in japan's food and chemical industries, and partnered with kitahama works, a major scientific instruments company, to sell them. the ph meters were sold to fertilizer plants throughout japan to monitor ph levels in the production of ammonium sulfate fertilizer for use in rice production. in 1953, "horiba radio laboratory" was renamed "horiba ltd."