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Sanyo Electric

Sanyo Electric – Story of a Japanese Company Which has Become a Subsidiary of Panasonic.

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The foundation story of Sanyo Electric dates back to the late 1940s when Toshio Lue started his entrepreneurial journey. Sanyo Electric was officially launched in 1949 and its headquarters were based in Moriguchi, Osaka, Japan. In 2009, the company became a subsidiary of Panasonic when the latter acquired a 50.2 percent stake in Sanyo. Currently, the company operates under Panasonic and it is flourishing in the electronics industry. Some of the main products sold by the company are dry batteries, cellular phones, and consumer electronics. When the company was independent it had more than 230 subsidiaries and was a member of Fortune Global 500.

Origin of Sanyo Electric

Toshio Lue, before founding Sanyo Electric, was an employee at Matsushita (now Panasonic Corporation). He was the brother-in-law of the founder of Matsushita and he started building his business in an unused company plant lent to him. He started working for his start-up in 1947 and finally incorporated it after two years. In 1952, Sanyo Electric made the first plastic radio of Japan, and then in 1954 rolled out the nation’s first pulsator type washing machine. Being the first company to launch new electric appliances in the nation got Sanyo on the radar.

From the early 1970s, the company eventually planned to expand overseas and entered the American market. The demand for Sanyo’s products increased in the North American market when it started selling a vast range of consumer electronics like car stereos and home audio equipment. Sanyo started marketing extensively through television-based advertising. The expansion of Sanyo in the American market was possible because of Howard Ladd who became Executive Vice President and COO of the company in 1969.

Sanyo Electric
Image source: wikimedia.org

Expansion of Business

Under the leadership of Ladd, Sanyo didn’t just expand geographically but also started acquiring many companies and bringing more diversity. In 1977, Sanyo Electric decided to buy Fisher Electronics and completed the acquisition in the same year. Fisher became a subsidiary of Sanyo Electric and also turned into a million-dollar company in the sphere of consumer electronics. After the merger of Fisher Corporation of Sanyo, Ladd was made the CEO of the company and he remained the same till 1987.

In 1976, the company bought the television business of Whirlpool Corporation to make its presence more vivid in North America. But before that, the company suffered a bit of damage in the video sector. This happened because the company’s decision to use Sony’s Betamax VCR format didn’t turn out to be much profitable. Sanyo also acquired Warwick Electronics in 1976 which was known for television manufacturing. In the 1980s, the company also started selling personal computers but it lacked compatibility and hence disappeared from the market very soon. A merger between Fisher and Sanyo’s US affiliate took place in 1986 which made the company much more efficient but at the same time, some of the key executives of the company including Ladd quit Sanyo.

Acquisitions of Sanyo

The company suffered tremendous losses when it was hit by the Chuetsu earthquake in 2004. After a year, financial results showed that the company suffered a loss of 205 billion yen due to the earthquake. This called for a restructuring plan for Sanyo but the profits made by the company were insignificant as compared to the massive loss. In 2006, the company announced that the losses continued which led to several lay-offs. Eventually, the mobile phone division of the company was acquired by Kyocera, a ceramics and electronics manufacturer. In November 2008, Panasonic and Sanyo started discussing the buy-out agreement and after a year, Panasonic successfully acquired a majority stake in Sanyo and made it one of its subsidiaries. In 2010, Panasonic acquired the remaining shares in the company and decided the brand name of Sanyo will be terminated. But today there are still some electronics where the brand name of Sanyo is valuable.

About the Founder

Toshio Lue, before becoming the founder of Sanyo Electric, worked at Matsushita Electric Work in a growth and development role. Prior to that, Lue served in the Japanese military but stepped down after Japan’s defeat in World War II. After he resigned from Matsushita, he founded Sanyo Electric and he named his firm Sanyo because it meant “three oceans” in Japan. And, Lue’s goal was to expand Sanyo across Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans.

Murata Manufacturing

Murata Manufacturing – A Japanese company famous for manufacturing Electronic Components.

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Japan is one of the tech-driven nations that is growing in every aspect very rapidly. The country is not making impressive breakthroughs exclusively in the 21st century, as history is proof that Japan has always been a nation trying to uplift its economy. Many famous multinational conglomerates have their origin in Japan and one such company is Murata Manufacturing.

About Murata Manufacturing

Murata Manufacturing is a Japanese company established in 1944 in the electronic industry. The founder of the company is Akira Murata who started the company as a personal venture in  Kyoto, Japan. Murata Manufacturing develops a wide range of electronic products from power supply equipment to communication modules. The company is famous for manufacturing ceramic passive electronic components and dominates the market when it comes to ceramic filters. Currently, Murata Manufacturing has expanded its market beyond Japan to other Asian countries and in America and Europe as well. 

Founding History of the Company

The story of Murata Manufacturing began in 1944 when Akira Murata decided to go on a personal venture in the city of Kyoto. Akira started his business in a small factory of 150m2 where he manufactured titanium-oxide ceramic capacitors. The main use of these capacitors was in heterodyne radios. Since people had radio as the only source of entertainment and news back then, the superheterodyne radios became very popular.

In 1947, Akira started working with an assistant professor from Kyoto University and developed a practical barium titanate capacitor. This was a breakthrough for the company as it became the world’s first manufacturer to commercialize a practical barium titanate piezoelectric transducer for fishfinders. After some time, the market for Murata was going very slow as its AM radio ceramic filters took some time to gain demand in the market, and the quality of products also dropped due to compromise in raw materials after WWII. So, the company also started producing insulators and also built equipment for quality checks.

Murata Manufacturing
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In 1952, the headquarters of Murata Manufacturing was moved to another part of Kyoto City called Yamashina. The company started investing in research and development very early and its research division is called Murata Technology Research Laboratory Co. Murata’s research department introduced an electron microscope and spectrometer in 1956.

Growth and Expansion

The 1970s witnessed expansion in the international markets as Murata opened its business in Georgia, USA. Murata started expanding the range and production rate of its products and became the mass producer of SAW filter and dielectric filter for consumer products in 1975. In the 1980s, Murata introduced CERALOCK, a ceramic resonator for the PCs and it became a hit. In 1983, the company established Izumo Murata Manufacturing followed by a plant in Yasu-Cho in 1987 and the Yokohama R&D center in 1988. In 1988, the company also opened its business in Thailand.

In 1990, the company developed a very innovative design for gyro sensor technology to make it cos-effective and a comparatively smaller size for general customers. This new sensor was equipped with image stabilization and also detected travel directions in automobiles. Murata pitched this product using a small robot cyclist and the picture went viral all over the media. In 1994, Murata opened a sales and production company in Wuxi, China.

Murata in the 21st Century

Many new products came up in the 21st century and the company also evolved with time with the advent of the digital era. In the 2000s, Murata focused on developing equipment for wireless technology as the demand for communication through PCs was increasing rapidly. This was the time when the internet started ruling the digital market and everyone wanted an internet connection in their computers and smartphones.

In 2010, the company developed the world’s first smallest and thinnest pyroelectric infrared sensor and an ultra-thin piezoelectric speaker. The company acquired Peregrine Semiconductor Corp in 2014. Last year, the company announced the opening of a new R&D center in Yokohama. Currently, the company has more than 60,000 employees spread across the globe.

The Founder: Akira Murata

Born in 1921, Akira Murata is famous for establishing Murata Manufacturing and served as the President of the company from 1950 to 1991. From 1995, he served as the Honorary Chairman of the company until he passed away in 2006. Throughout his professional life, Murata was awarded many prestigious accolades including the Medal with Blue Ribbon of Japan (Ranju Hosho), Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany First Class, Order of the Sacred Treasure, etc.

Tadao Kashio

Tadao Kashio’s Journey to start Casio Computer

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In the era of the 1970’s and ’80s, the only name that was in highlight for electronic devices was Casio. Scientific calculators, electronic musical instruments, digital watches, etc were majorly manufactured by this company. Even today, this is the most common name in the consumer electronics company. Almost 90% of engineering students use Casio calculators. And that’s how most of us know this name. Want to know more about the company and how it was founded? Read ahead to find out.

Casio Computer Co

Founded by Tadao Kashio in 1946, Casio Computer Co is a Japanese company that makes consumer electronics and commercial electronics products. It is currently headquartered in Shibuya, located in Tokyo (Japan). The products of this company include calculators, mobile phones, digital watches, music instruments. In 1957, this company introduced the world’s first entirely electric compact calculator. 

Founder Tadao Kashio 

Born in an ordinary family on November 26, 1917, Tadao had a rough childhood. He has seen the worst of the days in the early years of his life. But his condition did not hold him back from achieving academic excellence. Tadao was the best student in his class. He joined a company just after his school graduation, which recycled oil cans. Later he joined another company which used to make military medals for soldiers. He was working as a lathe operator and never failed to impress his managers with his skills. They encouraged him to take further education and asked him to take admission into Waseda’s worker’s school (Currently, Waseda University). He got a chance to enrich his professional knowledge there.

Later he took up a few jobs and demonstrated his excellence and continued to impress his managers. After getting experience in various fields, he started making pots, bicycle generator lamps, and pans. He gained a lot of popularity in his locality because of which he started getting some contracts for making various products.

 Starting own company 

In 1946, Japan was going through a major loss caused by world war II. After completing his graduation, Kashio started his own company to manufacture simple electrical relays. The company was called Kashio Seisakujo. It is commonly known as Casio in English speaking countries. He started this venture with his father, Shigeru, and three brothers – Kazuo, Toshio and Yukio. The first product of the company was the Yubiwa pipe which was a finger ringer to hold a cigarette. That product was celebrated by its users because it was giving comfort to them. During world war II, there was a lot of tension and stress in Japan and that’s why Cigarette usage increased, and the product went successful. 

Casio Computer

The first fully electrical product of the company was released in 1957, which was a compact electric calculator. His father was the president till 1960 and later Tadao became the president. With Tadao’s leadership, Casio became worldwide famous with products like digital watches cash registers liquid crystal display pocket televisions and other devices for business and private use. The company became a $2 billion-dollar global operation with thousands of employees worldwide.

In the 1980s, Casio’s affordable electronic instruments and its line of affordable home electronic musical keyboard instruments became very famous. With this, their wristwatches also got worldwide acceptance because they were one of the only digital and analog watches. Casio was the first company to manufacture watches that displayed timezones and temperature. Casio also made some contributions to the digital camera field.

Later Life                                

Tadao lived his entire life as the president of the company. In the history of Japan, he is one of the most celebrated industrialists because he founded that electric company when Japan was at the lowest point in the industrial area. His company emerged as a saviour. The boost in the Japanese economy was very evident.

Death

On 4th March 1993, Mr. Tadao died in Tokyo, Japan. The causes of his death were vague. The company was taken over by his brothers after his death. 

Bottom line

Casio is an outcome of tremendous efforts made by its founders even in the toughest time of their lives and countries. Currently, Casio sells ‘n’ types of calculators, watches, and other different products. The simple message from their story is, it is not the situation that determines your success, but your will power and hard work do.