Sanyo, Panasonic, Batteries and a Family Feud in Osaka..
Oct 3, 2018 13:00:51 GMT 1
northbynorthwest and idlewild like this
Post by radiostationx on Oct 3, 2018 13:00:51 GMT 1
Matsushita electric corp was founded in Osaka Japan by Konosuke Matsushita, (you will no doubt have heard of that name,it may be the brand of optical drive in your computer) after a short while everyone including him thought his company was going to fail.
His products were more expensive that his competitors, in the early days he even pawned his wifes kimono keep his company alive.
The matsushita products had the branding "National".
Working with him was his broher in law, Toshio "Toshi" Iue (a former sailor and keen inventor) who tuned out to be an excellent salesman. Eventually Toshio did his thing with the sales patter and National Bicycle lamps powered by batteries were their best selling product in Japan.
Anyway National made washing machines and all manner of electrical powered devices for the home. The Japanese government were not happy with the management structure so they demanded it should be changed and moved in one of their own "overseers".
When the government intervened,The company then hit hard times.
Toshio wasnt happy, he decided to go down the bank with his shares in National and give some more patter to the Manager at Sumitumo Bank. The manager must have been impressed..At the end of the meeting he came out with a nice big loan which he used to set up his own comapny and he called it Sanyo ( meaning :three oceans).
Toshio started making wooden boats at his new firm Sanyo using his skills as a sailor to help him along.
After a while the little voice in his head (the inventor in him) said.. "hey you were good at that electric stuff, especially those new thingys you used on the bike lamps, electric batteries..you should do that instead of this boat stuff..theres more money in it".
So, he did just that.
When Sanyo electric came along (also in Osaka by the way) Toshios brother in law, Mr Matsushita the boss at national wasnt happy..to say the least.
Toshio was family, Setting up a competing electrics company in the same town ? How could he ?
A family Feud of massive proportions ensued in Osaka.
Was the town big enough for the both of them ?
It was common knowledge that Matsushita and "Toshi" didnt get on shall we say...
Well Sanyo went on to make the first plastic transistor radio in Japan, later they formed friendships with Sony. Sanyo set up semi conductor manufacture , one of the first factories in Japan to do so.
Panasonic wanted huge amounts of semiconductors to manufacture their products, but by principle they didnt buy them from sanyo !
Sony gave the "Betamax secret file" to Sanyo who then made beta video recorders at a cheaper price point than sony.
Sanyo were a very inovative company led by Toshio, they were right in there first with a lot of modern electronics, many of their products copied from others but at a cheaper price.
Natioinal couldnt trade as National in the USA as there was already a company of that name so they changed to Panasonic, National Panasonic and also had the Technics name for their Hi-Fi kit.
The USA market was to be the saving of National /Panasonic.
Post war America needed electric /electronics manufacturers to supply their consumers.
In the 60s the demand was huge and the USA manufacturers couldnt keep up...Enter Japan !
Mr Matsushita had plenty of work in the end thanks very much..His National Panasonic radios and audio kit sold in droves, not only in the US but worldwide they were half the price of the USA equiv and were miles better quality. In Great Britain there was a 40% tarrif applied to Japanese transistor radios in the 70s in an attempt to keep Hacker, Bush,Roberts,Decca and others alive but the writing was on the wall.
Who won the feud ? Nobody.. Both Sanyo and Panasonic did very well their respective turnovers are in the Billions of $.
It seems ironic that long after both men died,the long standing feud seems to be a thing of the past & their respective companies have now joined together to become one of the giants of the electronics world.
Giant they are and no mistake !
Sanyo Panasonic signed up to make the batteries for all Tesla Cars.
Sanyo have been making batteries for all Toyota hybrid cars for years, and Nissan..they are great at making batteries.
In Adelaide, Aus there is an experimental solar/lithium ion battery power station, it is massive.. created by Tesla, who makes the batteries ? Ill let you guess.
There are a lot of batteries in that set up !
Panasonic I think still hold the accolade of making the worlds biggest consumer TV screen, a 152 inch plasma , a £600K YES £600,000.. monster.
I recall reading that although they were special order at first, they became popular believe it or not.. and there were teams of 4 specially trained Panasonic engineers strategically dotted around the globe so that they could come to your house/office whatever and install it.
Mr Matsushita was well loved by his employees, so much so they had a statue commissioned and today he stands proudly as the gate guardian at the Panasonic HQ in Osaka.
Image attribution Financial Times ( ft.com)
Strange the things that you remember when studying as a lad !
maverick asked about batteries and that was me off on another of my ramblings...sorry
His products were more expensive that his competitors, in the early days he even pawned his wifes kimono keep his company alive.
The matsushita products had the branding "National".
Working with him was his broher in law, Toshio "Toshi" Iue (a former sailor and keen inventor) who tuned out to be an excellent salesman. Eventually Toshio did his thing with the sales patter and National Bicycle lamps powered by batteries were their best selling product in Japan.
Anyway National made washing machines and all manner of electrical powered devices for the home. The Japanese government were not happy with the management structure so they demanded it should be changed and moved in one of their own "overseers".
When the government intervened,The company then hit hard times.
Toshio wasnt happy, he decided to go down the bank with his shares in National and give some more patter to the Manager at Sumitumo Bank. The manager must have been impressed..At the end of the meeting he came out with a nice big loan which he used to set up his own comapny and he called it Sanyo ( meaning :three oceans).
Toshio started making wooden boats at his new firm Sanyo using his skills as a sailor to help him along.
After a while the little voice in his head (the inventor in him) said.. "hey you were good at that electric stuff, especially those new thingys you used on the bike lamps, electric batteries..you should do that instead of this boat stuff..theres more money in it".
So, he did just that.
When Sanyo electric came along (also in Osaka by the way) Toshios brother in law, Mr Matsushita the boss at national wasnt happy..to say the least.
Toshio was family, Setting up a competing electrics company in the same town ? How could he ?
A family Feud of massive proportions ensued in Osaka.
Was the town big enough for the both of them ?
It was common knowledge that Matsushita and "Toshi" didnt get on shall we say...
Well Sanyo went on to make the first plastic transistor radio in Japan, later they formed friendships with Sony. Sanyo set up semi conductor manufacture , one of the first factories in Japan to do so.
Panasonic wanted huge amounts of semiconductors to manufacture their products, but by principle they didnt buy them from sanyo !
Sony gave the "Betamax secret file" to Sanyo who then made beta video recorders at a cheaper price point than sony.
Sanyo were a very inovative company led by Toshio, they were right in there first with a lot of modern electronics, many of their products copied from others but at a cheaper price.
Natioinal couldnt trade as National in the USA as there was already a company of that name so they changed to Panasonic, National Panasonic and also had the Technics name for their Hi-Fi kit.
The USA market was to be the saving of National /Panasonic.
Post war America needed electric /electronics manufacturers to supply their consumers.
In the 60s the demand was huge and the USA manufacturers couldnt keep up...Enter Japan !
Mr Matsushita had plenty of work in the end thanks very much..His National Panasonic radios and audio kit sold in droves, not only in the US but worldwide they were half the price of the USA equiv and were miles better quality. In Great Britain there was a 40% tarrif applied to Japanese transistor radios in the 70s in an attempt to keep Hacker, Bush,Roberts,Decca and others alive but the writing was on the wall.
Who won the feud ? Nobody.. Both Sanyo and Panasonic did very well their respective turnovers are in the Billions of $.
It seems ironic that long after both men died,the long standing feud seems to be a thing of the past & their respective companies have now joined together to become one of the giants of the electronics world.
Giant they are and no mistake !
Sanyo Panasonic signed up to make the batteries for all Tesla Cars.
Sanyo have been making batteries for all Toyota hybrid cars for years, and Nissan..they are great at making batteries.
In Adelaide, Aus there is an experimental solar/lithium ion battery power station, it is massive.. created by Tesla, who makes the batteries ? Ill let you guess.
There are a lot of batteries in that set up !
Panasonic I think still hold the accolade of making the worlds biggest consumer TV screen, a 152 inch plasma , a £600K YES £600,000.. monster.
I recall reading that although they were special order at first, they became popular believe it or not.. and there were teams of 4 specially trained Panasonic engineers strategically dotted around the globe so that they could come to your house/office whatever and install it.
Mr Matsushita was well loved by his employees, so much so they had a statue commissioned and today he stands proudly as the gate guardian at the Panasonic HQ in Osaka.
Image attribution Financial Times ( ft.com)
Strange the things that you remember when studying as a lad !
maverick asked about batteries and that was me off on another of my ramblings...sorry