Yoshida Tadao, The World's Zipper King

A little zipper It's not very impressive. But when it is linked to a series of amazing numbers, you have to sit up and take notice. Yoshida Industrial Corporation is the largest zipper manufacturer in the world. Its annual Turnover It costs $2 billion 500 million and produces 8 billion 400 million zippers per year, the length of which is equivalent to 1 million 900 thousand kilometers, enough to circle the earth 47 times or to pull 2.5 back and forth from the earth to the moon. The company's products account for 90% of the Japanese zipper market, 45% of the US market and 35% of the world market. It is Yoshida Tadao, founder of Yoshida Company, who pulls out so many astronomical figures from a zipper. He started off with $100, worked hard, and finally became a world-famous "zipper king".

Now let's review the legend from a zipper.

In September 19, 1908, Yoshida Zhong Xiong was born in a bird trafficker family in fish City, more than 100 kilometers west of Tokyo, Japan. Father Kuta Ro is a steady and righteous bird trafficker. He catches, raises and sells small birds as a career. He runs in mountains and woods all the year round, but his family is poor but happy.

In the first year of primary school, Yoshida Tadao began to climb up the mountain alone to help his father catch birds. He became a small professional bird catcher. During the years of catching birds and taming birds, Zhong Xiong also absorbed the nutrition that affected his life. He learned from birds that he loved freedom, determined to fly high, independent and self strengthening, and strong and unyielding character. This will lay a solid ideological foundation for his hard work and the throne of "zipper king" in the future.

Because of his family difficulties, Zhong Xiong did not graduate from school. He dropped out of school and became an apprentice at a ceramic shop when he was only 15 years old. After the Kanto earthquake, he went to work in the rain shoe store of his brother. He runs business in the daytime, and goes to night school at night.

When he was 20 years old, he resolutely left his hometown, took his brother to give him 70 yen, and went to Tokyo alone. Soon, he was promoted to the head of pottery department, in charge of ceramic business.

Yoshida Tadao was very successful in developing his business. He was so appreciated by his boss that he was sent to Shanghai to purchase ceramics. The great Shanghai of 30s was mixed up. A hero in troubled times is the turbulent "ten seas" which has produced countless business giants. Yoshida Tadao travels from Shanghai to Tokyo. Although it is not long in China, small businesses such as porcelain, food and marine fish are not very prosperous, but the experience in Shanghai has made him mature. It can be said that without Shanghai's experience, there would be no Yoshida Tadao today.

As Japan launched an aggressive war, the domestic economy was in trouble and the Japanese yen depreciated sharply. Yoshida Tadao was forced to return to Japan from Shanghai to help his boss save the ceramic shop on the brink of bankruptcy. But in the wave of the sharp fall in the yen and the heavy tax days, his efforts were only a drop in the bucket.

The boss had no choice but to abandon the shop. There are a large number of other zippers left for sale in the store. These zippers have been rusted due to rough production and poor quality. Many stores have been rusted and damaged for a long time. Yoshida Tadao, who is only 26 years old, takes this opportunity. He thinks that zippers are daily necessities, and the market potential is great. So he went to ask the creditor to lend him the zipper stock in the store, and later he raised money to pay the debt.

In this way, Zhong Xiong began to set foot in the zipper industry, and founded a three S company specializing in the production and sales of zippers in January 1934. He himself is a boss, with only 2 employees, and the money is 350 yen saved by frugal savings and 2070 yen in debt.

At that time, the zipper had just arrived in Japan, and for most Japanese, it was a fresh game.

The first idea to propose a zipper is an American mechanical technician named Judson. In 1891, he invented the zipper because he wore too many boots and too much trouble to tie his shoelaces. In 1905, Judson also designed a new type of zipper for mechanized production. The new zipper, which can be called modern style, was invented by Sender Barker, a Swedish electrical engineer who emigrated to the United States in 1913. It was not until 1923 that the United States began to use zippers on jackets, and zippers were rapidly developed in business and welcomed by people.

After the first World War, the zipper was spread to Japan, and Japan called it a button with ribbons. Imitation Japanese manufacturers began to develop and produce, but because the Japanese basic industries are lagging behind, the effect of "slow implementation" is not very good. The production mode is very primitive. It is entirely manual assembly. It fits one tooth to one tooth, and the handle and cloth belt are rough and useless. It is common for customers to return goods and store inventory.

In order to find out the shortcomings of Japanese zippers, Yoshida Tadao used the opportunity to order in Osaka zipper factory, and went to factories to understand the manufacturing process of zippers. After returning, I concentrated on how to improve. He developed some repair gadgets, repaired the zippers returned, wrote down the experience, and illustrated them with diagrams. The employees called him "zipper doctor", because almost no one came back after he repaired and sold the zipper. Chung Hsiung's confidence was growing. He finally found the knack of improving the production of zippers.

Three the third floor of S company became Yoshida Tadao's Zipper processing plant. The batch of zipped up zippers were repaired by Zhong Xiong and his two employees, all sold as three S zippers. As the three S brand zipper is strong and durable, it can withstand the hammer blow, and it is smooth and easy to pull. It is like a cloth weave cloth that gives a crisp and soft sound, and its sales are more and more smooth. Many dealers in Tokyo mainly enter the three S products and are called "gold zippers".

Yoshida Tadao's zipper sales increased by 3 times a year, and three S began to produce some parts of the zipper. The company's staff increased from 3 to 26, and the sales network was growing. In 1936, Zhong Xiong paid off all his debts. He took back the loan with tears and lifted the heavy burden of several years. He felt relaxed all over.

In 1938, the number of three S companies expanded to more than 100, and the original shops were not enough. Chung Hsiung bought 85 Ping, and built a new factory. Three S also changed its name to Yoshida Industrial Company. In those days, Japan implemented the wartime economic system. The first order related to the Japanese business community is the prohibition of the use of "copper" as the necessary raw material for making guns. Since copper became wartime pipe products, the zipper industry with steel as its main raw material was subjected to great impact and will be forced to shut down and change its business. He was not afraid of difficulties. He was quick in his wit and decided to switch to aluminum instead. This made him the originator of the world's first aluminum zipper instead of copper.

At first, pure aluminum zippers were not popular because they were too soft. Chung Hsiung repeatedly studied and tested, and finally successfully manufactured a hard and light aluminum alloy zipper, which made a brand new page for the development history of the world zipper.

In addition to domestic sales, he is also actively developing export channels, with 40 thousand dozen zippers entering the US market every month. This is undoubtedly a challenge for the United States to create the home of zippers. To this end, the largest zipper enterprise in the United States, he zipper, has put pressure on the US government to restrict the import of zipper products in Japan. Yoshida Tadao shifted the focus of foreign trade to Mexico and South American countries. In Mexico alone, the export volume of Yoshida Company is as high as 50 thousand yen, and sales volume in other countries is considerable.

Compared with other zipper manufacturers, Yoshida Company has the best product quality and the lowest price, which is popular among users. In just two or three years, Yoshida has occupied the zipper market of Japan's land and navy. 100% of Japanese Navy demand and 33% of army demand are supplied by Yoshida Company.

However, when Yoshida tasted the sweetness of its success, the export market of the company was lost because of the outbreak of the Pacific War. Soon, a bigger blow came. In March 10, 1945, in a US air raid, Yoshida's zipper factory was destroyed in Tokyo, and his years of work turned to ashes. But he did not yield to it. Instead, he fought hard and worked hard to open up. Finally, he made a comeback after the war. Yoshida Industrial Company has made a new start in Yoshida Tadao's hometown and established a fish zipper factory. The domestic sales network has also been established, and the total number of employees has expanded to over 1000 people.

After the war, Japan was economically depressed, and goods were scarce. At that time, the equipment in Yoshida was primitive, and it could only be used to make zippers with manpower machinery. In 1947, there was another chance to put Yoshida Tadao's career on track.

One day, the American zipper importer visited the fish factory. The American businessman picked up a zipper and asked, "how much is this zipper?" "90 cents." "Yoshida tried to quote a price.

"Ha ha... "The American businessman burst out laughing." really? 90 cents is too high, that is, it is cheaper, and nobody in the US wants it. "Speaking, he took out a zipper from his purse and showed it to Yoshida Tadao. Yoshida Tadao looked at it carefully and could not help but be surprised. These American zippers are of excellent quality and their products are really inferior.

The American businessman smiled and pointed to the American zipper clenched in Zhong Xiong's hands. He said, "I can sell it to you for 70 cents, and I can make money." "After that, the American businessman shrugged and murmured and sneered. Left behind was a stunned Zhong Xiong and a zipper full of tables.

The ridicule of the Yankees made Yoshida Tadao see the great gap between the United States and Japan. This is not good news, but Chung Hsiung has seen the turning point of his career. The American zipper is cheap and cheap because the United States has many excellent zipper making machines. In contrast, Japan still stays in the manual workshop stage, and of course it will only be of inferior quality and high price. He vowed to catch up with the United States. This unyielding personality has opened a new leaf to his career.

So he set up a Yoshida trading company to prepare for the introduction of the American machine. In 1950, he bought 4 sets of high-speed automatic zippers from the United States. Sure enough, it is an exquisite mechanical device, running at a high speed and with excellent performance. All the workers in the factory are dumped, and the noise is overshadowed by the sound of the machine.

"I want to build 100 such machines," Yoshida Tadao made a further decision on the spot. "I want to invite Japan's first-rate Hitachi precision machinery factory to produce 100 better machines based on my improved drawings. "

When he said he could do it, he immediately invited the director of Changqing Hitachi to discuss with him and decided to develop it in 3 years and deliver it in batches.

Meanwhile, Yoshida Tadao added equipment such as plane lapping machine, chain machine and so on, and developed new products of Dan copper according to the trend, and continued developing aluminum alloy zipper.

The aluminum alloy zipper was developed in wartime, and now he is doing it again from the beginning because of the soaring copper price.

In order to find out how to develop aluminum alloy, he traveled aboard the Pan American airliner and went abroad to investigate. In the United States, he watched the conveyor belt assembly line of a Ford car factory in 6 seconds, and inspected many precision machinery factories and alloy factories in Europe and America. He wrote his daily experience on a small notebook or photographed it with a camera. No matter how tired he was that night, he would send an article back to Japan. He studied hard on aluminum alloy, automatic production line, precision machinery and international trade, and finally returned to his home.

After returning home, Yoshida Tadao immediately began to act with the newly learned "lightning tactics". He gave all the results and suggestions of the aluminum alloy to the cooperative Hitachi production office. He urged the metallurgical industry to work together to bring the aluminum alloy suitable for zippers successfully. In 1956, he set up a fifty-six S factory specializing in the production of aluminum alloy materials and zipper parts. A kind of invisible aluminum alloy zipper has been developed. Although the invisible zipper has long been popular in the United States, Yoshida Tadao's invisible aluminum zipper has a great momentum.

Many manufacturers in the United States, central and South America and Europe began to purchase aluminum alloy raw materials from Yoshida Industrial Company. The size of the company is growing. Zhong Xiong decides to set up a new factory in Hei city.

100 new high-speed chain machines, and many new machines that are being improved, are operating in the new black plant. Among them, 33 zipper machine, 4000 minutes per minute, 12 minutes of production equivalent to the old machine 8 hours a day workload. The factory's temperature, cleanliness and employee benefits are quite good. Fan Tadao's advanced experience learned from Europe and America is experimented here. In a good working environment, the enthusiasm of the staff is very high, and the output has also soared.

At this time, Zhong Xiong loudly put forward his struggle slogan: "one year Yoshida zipper circled the earth." "He used it as a trademark of the company, that is, the annual zipper length of the company can be circled around the globe.

In order to complete the one-stop operation plan, he built a textile mill besides a Dan steel plant and an aluminum alloy plant. He pursues perfection, and the specifications of all factories are first-rate. He firmly believes that first-class factories can produce first-class products.

In 1958, Yoshida Tadao, 50, finally got his wish. This year's zipper production has fulfilled the great promise of the annual zipper length on the trademark around the globe.

Zhong Xiong succeeded. He became the subject of many studies. People asked him, "what is the secret of success?" he always smiles and says, "I only care for people and money. Everyone is for me, and I am for everyone. If you do not think of others' interests, you will not have your own prosperity. I don't spend all the money I earn, but invest in machine equipment again. In short, the cycle of good. "

He believed in the philosophy of "good circulation" throughout his life. He believes that in the case of mutual benefit, we can blossom and bear fruit forever. The dividend paid by the company is only 16%, and his family accounts for 24%. The rest are shared by the company's staff, which is beyond the reach of other bosses. He asked the company staff to store 10% of their wages and allowances in the company to improve equipment and increase profits, and employees could receive more than 8 months' bonus every year. But he asked employees to buy 2/3 shares in the company's bonus, so the company increased its capital, increased salaries and bonuses, and could get 20% dividends. This leads to a "good cycle" between the company and its employees.

Yoshida Tadao's ideal song pulled out with a zipper does not seem to have used rest. He kept on working for his dream. In Japan, he has 7 factories, nearly 20 thousand employees, operates 50 thousand machines, and produces an average of 14 million zippers per day. Since 60s, he has expanded the zipper industry to the rest of the world. In just 22 years, he has set up 42 factories and 137 sales outlets in 39 countries and regions. In 1983, he had 3 branches in Italy. At present, Yoshida employs more than 10 thousand overseas employees, covering 125 countries and regions.

It is rare that Yoshida Tadao is not satisfied with the dominant position of the world zipper industry. At the same time, he spent at least 1 billion yen each year for the purpose of research and development. More than 400 kinds of zippers have been developed. From the point of view of use, it is not only used for underwear, shoes and caps, bags and bags, but also waterproof zippers used for diving suits. There are zippers for fishing nets and bird nets, and zippers with high cold resistance and corrosion resistance. You can hardly think of anything that needs no zipper in the exhibition hall of Yoshida products. So far, Yoshida has acquired 1500 zipper patents for innovation and improvement, and about 14 in Japan.

In addition, Yoshida Company's products have been developed from the original zipper to the zipper today. They also produce aluminum doors and windows, building materials, resins, nylon, vinyl chloride, cotton yarn, chemical fiber, and zipper machines. In South America, it also has its own copper and aluminum mine. It has become the "zipper kingdom" which is integrated from raw materials to product sales and the five continents all over the world. But Yoshida Tadao is rightly sitting on the throne of the "world zipper king".