PlainPatent

CPC technology class · B21

B21D - Working Or Processing Of Sheet Metal Or Metal Tubes

Working or processing of sheet metal or metal tubes, rods or profiles without essentially removing material; punching metal. 7,309 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

7,309
US patents granted
#1/9
in B21
47.2%
B21 class share
+5%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Working Or Processing Of Sheet Metal Or Metal Tubes ranks #203 of 670 CPC technology areas - 7,309 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 5% over five years.

#203
of 670 CPC technology areas
7,309
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Nippon Steel
leading assignee (195)
+5%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B21D's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B21D recorded 3,349 grants versus 3,199 in 2015–2019 (+5% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2019 at 786 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 560 (+40% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Nippon Steel Corporation holds 2.7% of the class ; the top three share 5.9%.

Leaderboard read

B21D concentration, lead at 2.7%

Nippon Steel Corporation leads this historical grant record at 2.7% of B21D - foreign corporation assignees hold 69% of class grants (2,686 of 3,888). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share
2.7%

195 of 7,309 grants

Top three share
5.9%

of the class's recorded grants

Lead over #2
72

more grants than JFE Steel Corporation

Where B21D sits inside B21

Among 9 subclasses in B21 (Mechanical Metal-working Without Essentially Removing MATERIAL; Punching Metal), B21D ranks #1 and holds 47.2% of the parent class's 15,472 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

B21B 1,895 B21C 1,874 B21J 1,805 B21K 1,246 B21F 817 B21H 386 B21G 86 B21L 54

Rising assignees active in B21D

Company-wide grant multiples (2022–2024 vs 2019–2021) among assignees with ≥5 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide; class patent counts are subclass-specific.

  1. #1 TE Connectivity Solutions GmbH 68x 4 → 271 company-wide · 8 in B21D
  2. #2 Trumpf Werkzeugmaschinen SE + Co. KG 27x 0 → 27 company-wide · 6 in B21D
  3. #3 Nanjing University OF Posts AND Telecommunications 9.80x 5 → 49 company-wide · 6 in B21D
  4. #4 Emerson Professional Tools, Inc. 9.00x 0 → 9 company-wide · 6 in B21D
  5. #5 Rogue Fabrication, LLC 7.00x 0 → 7 company-wide · 6 in B21D

B21D grants by year, peak 2019 (786)

US utility-patent grants per year in B21D, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 5% versus 2015–2019.

300400500600700800900 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 388

Who leads B21D?

The 12 most active assignees in Working OR Processing OF Sheet Metal OR Metal Tubes, Rods OR Profiles Without Essentially Removing MATERIAL; Punching Metal - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Nippon Steel is the most active filer in B21D, holding 195 of the 7,309 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

Source USPTO PatentsView, granted utility patents As of 2015–2025 grant years
View data table
Top patent holders in CPC subclass B21D
Rank Company Patents in B21D
#1 Nippon Steel Corporation 195
#2 JFE Steel Corporation 123
#3 Stolle Machinery Company, LLC 112
#4 Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation 86
#5 Kobe Steel Ltd. 67
#6 Amada Co., Ltd. 67
#7 Trumpf Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH + Co. KG 58
#8 Trumpf Maschinen Austria GmbH & Co. KG 58
#9 ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe AG 57
#10 Aida Engineering, Ltd. 49
#11 Benteler Automobiltechnik GMBH 48
#12 Standard Lifters, Inc. 47
#13 Ball Corporation 42
#14 Crown Packaging Technology, Inc. 40
#15 Magna International Inc. 38
#16 Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. 37
#17 Toyota Boshoku Kabushiki Kaisha 34
#18 Citic Dicastal Co., Ltd. 34
#19 ArcelorMittal 34
#20 thyssenkrupp AG 33

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B21D assignee, placed by how many patents it holds in this class (horizontal) against its company-wide average claims per patent (vertical) - a read on whether the class is led by broad-but-shallow filers or focused deep-claim players.

Top 14 B21D assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B21D. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 510152025 050100150200250 Patents in B21D Avg claims / patent (company-wide) Nippon SteelJfe SteelStolle MachineryNippon Steel &…Kobe SteelAmadaTrumpf Werkzeugmaschin…Trumpf Maschinen…Thyssenkrupp Steel…Aida EngineeringBenteler Automobiltech…Standard LiftersBallCrown Packaging…
Top 14 B21D assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B21D. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near B21D's 7,309-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for B21D (#203 of 670 by volume ; lead share 2.7%) - not the B21 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

F03D 7,370 H01P 7,237 E06B 7,398 F16J 7,442

Nearest by lead-assignee share

E03F 2.7% F28F 2.7% A23P 2.7% H02H 2.6%

Questions about B21D

Which company holds the most patents in B21D?
Nippon Steel Corporation leads B21D with 195 patents (2.7% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 69% of class grants.
Which B21D assignees grew fastest recently?
Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B21D, TE Connectivity Solutions GmbH shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (68x: 4 grants in 2019–2021 → 271 in 2022–2024) while holding 8 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.
How does B21D compare inside parent class B21?
Inside B21 (Mechanical Metal-working Without Essentially Removing MATERIAL; Punching Metal), B21D ranks #1 of 9 subclasses by grant volume and holds 47.2% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B21B (1,895 grants).

What to do with this data

B21D in context - here's where to go next.

  • Nippon Steel Corporation leads B21D with 195 grants in this class. See full portfolio
  • B21D ranks #203 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
  • Inside parent class B21, the largest sibling subclass is B21B with 1,895 grants. Explore B21B

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through 2026-05-15; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Methodology - B21D figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (7,309 grants in the tracked window).

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.