Kiichiro Toyoda
Kiichiro Toyoda (
Kiichiro Toyoda | |
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| Born | 11 June 1894 Kosai, Shizuoka, Japan |
| Died | 27 March 1952 (aged 57) Toyota, Aichi, Japan |
| Occupation | Founder of Toyota Motor Corporation |
| Children | Shoichiro Toyoda Tatsuro Toyoda |
| Parent(s) | Sakichi Toyoda |
Toyoda Loom Works and Toyota Motor Corporation
Kiichiro Toyoda persuaded his brother, who was responsible as head of the family business, to invest into expansion of Toyoda Loom Works into a concept automobiles division; of which was considered a risk to the family business at the time. Shortly before Sakichi Toyoda died, he encouraged his son to follow his dream and pursue automobile manufacturing — Kiichiro would solidify the mechanical prowess the family had experienced inventing steam, oil, and electric looms, and would develop and institute what eventually became the global powerhouse of modern fame today, Toyota Motor Corporation. He would also institute the spelling of the automobile company away from the family name to famously garner good luck.
Toyoda would never know the success that would come to him as he resigned from the company he developed in 1950 in reaction to flagging sales and profitability. He died two years later; his contemporaries would call him "Japan's Thomas Edison".[1] In 1957, his cousin and confidant Eiji Toyoda, would follow him as head of Toyota Motor Corporation, and build the late Toyoda's successful expansion into a world class conglomeration of engineering and the launch of Japan's most prominent luxury brand, Lexus.
Early life and education
Son to the founder of Toyoda Automatic Loomworks, and the forebear of two Toyota Motors chief executives, Kiichiro Toyoda was born as the eldest son of Sakichi Toyoda and Tami Sahara on June 11, 1894 at Yoshitsumura Yamaguchi, Shizuoka, Japan (currently Yamaguchi, Kochi City, Shizuoka).[1] After less than two months his mother,Tami gave birth to him, she left him, because his father, Sakichi was so engrossed in the invention that he did not involved family at all. At the age of three, he moved to Nagoya, Aichi (currently Higashi Ward, Aichi), where his father, Sakichi, lived. He entered Kyodo Kanji Ordinary Elementary School and then changed to Takadake Ordinary Elementary School (currently Nagoya Municipal Higashisakura Elementary School). After that, he entered Aichi Normal School Elementary School (currently Aichi University of Education Nagoya Elementary School), Meirin Junior High School (currently Aichi Prefectural Meiwa High School), Second High School. In 1920, he graduated from Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, at Tokyo Imperial University. After graduation, he remained in Tokyo Imperial University at the Faculty of Law, for about seven monthes unitil March 1921.[2]
After that, He returned to his hometown, Nagoya and joined Toyota Boshoku (his father, Sakichi estabulished at 1918, acted as a company president from the time). From July 1921 to February 1922, Kiichirō visited San Francisco, London, Oldham, etc to learn about spinning and weaving industry and then returned from Marseille via Shanghai.[2]
After he came back to Japan, December 1922, he got married with Hatako Iida, the daughter of the Takashimaya department store chain co-founder, Shinshichi Iida. In 1926, Kiichiro established Toyota Industris Corporation and became Managing Director. Also, he became interseted in automatic looms, so he set up a pilot plant in Kariya town to start development fo it even though his father, Sakichi disagreed. He traveled to Europe and America from September 1929 to April 1930, and thought that the automobile industry which was in its infancy at that time, would greatly develop in the future. Therefore, in 1933, the automobile manufacturing department (later the automobile department) was newly established in Toyota Industries Corporation. In 1936, Since it was designated as a licensed company under the Automotive Manufacturing Act, In 1937, it became independent as Toyota Motor Corporation. Kiichirō became the vice president of the same year. In 1941, Kiichiro took office as president. [2]
At the height of the Pacific theater of World War II, the Toyoda family would be affected on both family business and home fronts. His children's education would be delayed by civil ramifications, and his business would be compelled to manufacture trucks for the imperial Japanese Army. The family firms would be spared destruction in the days before the Japanese government's surrender.
Postwar Revival
GHQ, which occupied Japan in September 1945, announced that a Japanese automobile company must not make passenger cars except for trucks. However, raw materials and parts were not immediately available in the poor period after the war, and it was difficult to get cheap and good quality genuine parts compared to before. Therefore, Kiichiro started manufacturing trucks, but the production did not reach the monthly production of 500 cars. In 1945, the annual production volume was 3275 units, and in the following year, 5821units. However, although the production of passenger cars was prohibited, research for passenger cars could be allowed by GHQ. Also, as a part of the occupation policy, the automobile company will be contracted to repair United States military vehicles in Japan, so it was a good opportunity for Toyota employees including Kiichiro to know the structure of American cars. They actively absorbed the advanced parts of American cars, and then used as a Reference to the development of its own passenger car.[3]
Start of Passenger Cars
Immediately after the defeat in war, Kiichiro was busy dealing with zaibatsu dissolution and Excessive Economic Power Deconcentration Law, but he put a great deal of effort into research and development of passenger cars. In June 1947, GHQ approved the production of up to 300 passenger cars under 1500 cc per year, so he started to work on passenger car production from this day. Only four months after that, in October 1947, the first Japanese passenger car after the war, the SA model with an S engine, was released, and was nicknamed "Toyopet." This car was highly evaluated in the automobile industry at the time, but during that time, there were not many customs for the common people to buy a car for a drive. Therefore, the passenger car was sold only 197 units during the five years since it released, even though 12,7996 trucks were sold over the same period.[3]
Bankruptcy Crisis
The automobile industry was hit hard by the recession caused by the 1949 Dodge Line. In response to this, Kiichiro went out to sell together with the executives and went to collect accounts receivable. In addition, he made best effort to save money for materials, but there was a limit, and in the end, there was a deficit of 22 million yen every month. In this time, other car companies cut down their employees to deal with this recession and many strikes was carried out by labor unions. However, Kiichiro did not do employment adjustment but visited a lot of banks in the city to get finances for company with his accounting staff every day because he was strongly opposed to cutting his employees. After all, no financial institution provided the funds for company. Then, Shotaro Kamiya, who was a managing director of sales, persistently requested the financing provision from Sogo Takanashi who was a branch manager of the Bank of Japan, Nagoya Branch, and eventually, Kamiya was able to receive co-financing from 24 banks. In this way, Kiichiro escaped the bankruptcy crisis of 1949. [3]
Labor Dispute
Although Co-financing was obtained from 24 banks, Toyota's business situation continued to get worse, so had no choice but to cut employees. On April 22, 1950, the company announced that it would carry out 1,600 voluntary retirements to the labor union. On the other hand, labor unions were angry as a matter of course and continued to strike radically. Around this time, Kiichiro was unable to join the labor union because his poor physical condition by chronic disease. The strikes continued daily for about two months after the declaration, which caused production in April and May to drop 70% from its previous average. Since the company would be destroyed as it is, on June 5, 1950, Kiichiro announced that he would resign as the president to take on this series of responsibilities. By his retirement, the strike ended finally. After retiring from the president, he created a laboratory at his home in Okamoto, Setagaya, Tokyo, and worked every day to design a small helicopter. After that, he fell down due to cerebral hemorrhage by chronic disease and died on March 27, 1952. He was 57 years old.[3]
References
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Wikiquote has quotations related to: Kiichiro Toyoda |
- Editors, History com. "Kiichiro Toyoda, founder of the Toyota Motor Corporation, dies". HISTORY. Retrieved 6 May 2019.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
- Wada, Kazuo. Toyoda Kiichiro Den.
- Noji, Tsuneyoshi. "Toyotaseisanhoushiki wo tsukkuta otokotachi". Cite journal requires
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| Business positions | ||
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| Preceded by Rizaburo Toyoda |
CEO of Toyota 1941–1950 |
Succeeded by Taizo Ishida |
Authority control  |
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