Every walk of life today seems to have its own legendary story.
First, Jack Ma quit his job as a teacher and relied on "cheating and abduction" to gather his 18 Arhats to establish Alibaba, thus establishing his throne as an e-commerce giant.
The Wen Group’s annual revenue from pig raising is as high as 55.6 billion, and the company’s employees’ treatment and benefits are comparable to those of Tencent and Huawei.
In the end, even Wang Jiaying picked up a cardboard box and got a net worth of 1 billion. In the year when Taobao and JD.com were popular, he was known as the "e-commerce cardboard brother".
A small zipper can actually sell tens of billions a year and circle the earth 50 times
There are many legendary stories similar to the above in Japan, and the most legendary one is the one that sells zippers for years. The "World Zipper King" with sales of US$2.5 billion (equivalent to approximately 16.8 billion yuan): Tadao Yoshida.
Today, YKK is an old zipper manufacturing company with a history of about a century. It is one of the giant companies that best reflects Japan's industrial development. According to its official statistics, YKK's annual revenue has exceeded US$2.5 billion and is heading towards the US$3 billion mark, and its annual output has reached an astonishing nearly 10 billion.
In the past, when I saw advertisements, I would always hear “Xiang Piaopiao’s annual output is After all, the combined length of the zippers produced by YKK as early as 2016 has reached an astonishing 2 million kilometers and can circle the earth nearly 50 times.
It is a legend that a small zipper can create such brilliance.
A small zipper actually hides a market worth hundreds of billions?
In fact, as early as 1893, Judson, an engineer from the United States, came up with the prototype of the zipper. He applied a sliding device to clothes to allow the buttons on both sides of the clothes to continuously separate and bite. He gave The device was named the "Hook Lock" and was later patented.
After this, a French pilot was unlucky and accidentally dropped a button into the control device of the aircraft during the flight. The aircraft at that time was not as sophisticated as it is now. Such a small button His negligence led to the crash. After that, the United States learned its lesson and began to purchase zippers in large quantities, promoting the production of zippers.
One day in 1993 was also the 100th anniversary of the invention of the zipper. The zipper was not only named a "miracle of the world" by the BBC, but was also hailed by critics from all walks of life as "one of the most important inventions in the world in a century." one".
However, long before that, the 100 billion market in zippers was easily captured by Tadao Yoshida.
Tadao Yoshida "conquered" Tokyo with 70 yen
Tadao Yoshida was born in 1908. His father's meager income from raising chickens and selling pets could not support his family of six ( Tadao Yoshida also has two brothers and a sister). Therefore, Yoshida started doing some small businesses when he was young to supplement his family's income.
Although Yoshida had excellent grades since he was a child, his family was in a tight financial situation and he could not afford the increasingly expensive tuition fees, so he had to start working to support his family. While working part-time, Yoshida did not give up on his studies. With his own efforts, he did not fall behind too much in his homework. By 1928, Yoshida's brother had collected a "huge sum" of 70 yen (approximately 4.25 yuan). With this money, Yoshida started his own trip to Tokyo.
Perhaps it was this childhood experience that gave Yoshida an extremely strong interest in business. Around 1930, by chance, Yoshida came to Shanghai, my country, to study business. Due to the turmoil of the time, Yoshida had to return to his hometown for some reason. When he returned to his hometown, he found that although his friend's shop had closed down, it had left behind a large number of unsalable zippers due to poor workmanship. Yoshida's keen business sense told him that he must buy this batch of "junk".
Tadao Yoshida’s hard work was wiped out in one day due to the war
In 1934, the 25-year-old Yoshida started his own business in Tokyo with the 350 yen left over from frugality. Start your own business. At that time, the company was in debt of 2,070 yen from the beginning due to renting the store and employee wages.
Since no one cared about the workmanship of zipper products at that time, coupled with the debt, relatives and friends began to oppose his business venture. But Yoshida was very stubborn, and he followed the path of "quality first" and plunged into the zipper industry. Due to Yoshida's strict control, nearly 66% of the zipper products produced by the company were eliminated by him, and only 33% of the zippers purchased from the raw materials were sold on the market.
Because of this, the price of Yoshida zippers is several times higher than the market price, and the company was once on the verge of bankruptcy. However, due to its insistence on quality, Yoshida zippers have gradually gained a good reputation in the industry, and are even known as the "Golden Hammer Zipper".
As the times progress, the clothing industry begins to rise rapidly, and zippers are suddenly in short supply. Relying on the reputation of "quality first", Yoshida Zipper began to receive many orders one after another, and the number of employees increased from 2 to about 50. Export projects began to be launched, and the company's status also changed accordingly. Get better.
In 1938, Yoshida Zipper, which had developed considerably, was transformed into a large factory covering an area of ??nearly 300 square meters and was renamed Yoshida Industry. However, due to the impact of the war, everything Yoshida worked so hard for in a few years turned into ashes. With undying faith, Yoshida borrowed a huge sum of money from the bank to make a comeback. However, just after the payment of the money, a riot completely extinguished Yoshida's zipper dream.
Tadao Yoshida eventually became the "World Zipper King"
When the turmoil subsided, Yoshida was already 38 years old. It took him 2 years to convince anyone to invest money for him. As a last resort, he had to borrow another 12 million yuan from the bank to buy machines. His keen eyesight and firm belief finally made Yoshida's suffering come to an end.
In 1957, Yoshida Industry developed rapidly and began to get involved in the building materials industry.
In 1958, Yoshida Industry’s zipper production set a record, and the combined length of its zippers could circle the earth once.
In 1959, Yoshida Industry entered Europe and the United States and opened a factory in New Zealand.
In 1969, American astronauts successfully landed on the moon, and the zipper of that suit was made by Yoshida Industries.
In 1980, Yoshida Industry had occupied nearly 90% of Japan's market and about 35% of the world's share.
In 1990, Yoshida Industry entered the Chinese market, driving the development of my country's zipper manufacturing industry.
Around 2000, Yoshida Industry’s share of the world market had reached 65%.
Along the way, Yoshida Industry, which once had two employees, now has 10,000 employees, with an average daily production of tens of millions of zippers. Its 132 factories are spread all over the world, firmly occupying the leading position in the industry. .
And its founder is also known as the "World Zipper King".
Yoshida once said: "Even if we suffer a loss of 10 billion yuan, we must maintain the trust of our customers in us." Perhaps it is this insistence on quality and integrity that allows Yoshida zippers to still occupy nearly 60% of the global market.
Although a zipper is small, it can still change the world. His business beliefs are worthy of study and learning by every relevant practitioner.