Speaking of zippers, there is a story. It was invented by an American Gitson. One day, Gitson's shoelaces came loose. He squatted down to tie them. , he suddenly thought that the shoelaces would loosen several times every day, which was really troublesome. Is there a good way to replace it? After more than two years of research, he invented the zipper and sewed it on shoes. When the zipper he invented was exhibited at the World's Fair in Chicago, it immediately aroused the interest of many people. Someone bought the right to the invention and also It caused a sensation.
But the development of zippers in Japan only happened after World War I. At that time, the Japanese called them buttons with straps. Of course, some people produced them, but because Japan's basic industries were relatively backward, the production methods were very primitive and relied entirely on manual assembly, so they often broke down. Customer returns and stores piling up inventory are commonplace. It was during the war, and no one was in charge.
The world's zipper king - Tadao Yoshida
The YKK zippers produced every year are five times the distance between the earth and the moon, accounting for 90% of Japan. YKK zippers are the representative of modern Japanese culture; It changed the human lifestyle in the 20th century and became a symbol of Japanese industrial products that were invincible in world competition.
Added a new content to the modernization of life. Yoshida Industrial Co., Ltd. has an annual turnover of more than 2 billion US dollars, ranking among the largest companies in Japan.
Type of business
Zipper manufacturing industry.
Growth Record
Nowadays, everyone owns at least one zipper. Perhaps it is inappropriate to use the word "own". After all, it is an ordinary thing with little value. , the price is cheap, but if we look at it from the other side, what would our life be like if there were no zippers? That would be unimaginable. The clothes we wear, the various items we carry with us, and the various utensils we use all rely on zippers.
Some things, although they may seem small and inconspicuous, have such a great impact on life. Many people disdain and are not likely to focus their entrepreneurial attention on small zippers, but are just keen on doing big business and big deals. However, a Japanese entrepreneur discovered huge profits from a small zipper. This discerning person is Tadao Yoshida. The brand image of the "YKK" zipper company he founded has become a symbol of Japan's developed industry like Toyota, Sony and other Japanese brands in the world.
A young apprentice trained in Shanghai
In 1908, Tadao Yoshida was born in Kurobe Town, Fuji Prefecture, on the coast of the central and northern coast of Honshu Island, Japan. His father Kutaro was a small businessman. His family was poor but happy. . Due to family difficulties, Yoshida dropped out of high school before graduating from high school and became an apprentice in a ceramics shop at the age of only 15. Later, he worked in his brother's shoe store. These hard experiences greatly trained Xiao Yoshida.
When he was 20 years old, Yoshida felt that there was no future for his family, so he left his hometown resolutely, took the 70 yen his brother gave him, and went to Tokyo alone to start a career in the world. At that time, Chinese ceramics were the most popular in Japan. For items that were more popular, he helped a friend in a small ceramics shop, and was later sent to Shanghai to purchase ceramics.
In Shanghai in the 1930s, there were all kinds of people, from upper-class gentlemen to local gangsters. You need to learn to deal with different people in order to successfully complete the task. Here, Yoshida's "business experience" slowly As the land matured, Shanghai not only gave birth to countless domestic business tycoons, but also cultivated foreign passers-by. And this is his magic weapon to win in the future.
Not long after, Japan's war of aggression against China broke out, and Japan's domestic economy also fell into trouble and entered a wartime state. The yen depreciated sharply, and Tadao Yoshida had no choice but to return to Japan to help his boss save the ceramics store that was on the verge of bankruptcy. But in the wave of people being mobilized and stocks plummeting, his efforts were of no avail, and the store could not escape the fate of closure in the end.
While cleaning up the goods left in the store, Yoshida accidentally discovered a large number of zippers entrusted by others to sell on consignment. Due to their rough production and poor quality, these zippers have been stored in the store for a long time, and many of them have become rusty and damaged. These things that others regard as junk, Yoshida regards them as future business opportunities. So, he borrowed money to buy these zippers and started his own business.
In January 1934, Tadao Yoshida founded SanS Company, which specialized in the production and sales of zippers. He is his own boss with only 2 employees. The capital is 350 yen saved by frugality, but the debt is 2,070 yen.
But Yoshida didn’t see it that way. He valued the zipper industry and regarded it as the starting point of his career. Yoshida came to the Osaka Zipper Factory and took advantage of the opportunity to place an order to learn about the zipper manufacturing process. After coming back, I concentrated on studying how to improve. He bought some repair tools, repaired the zippers that were returned every day, and found out the reasons for the failure. In this way, almost no one returned the zippers that he repaired and sold. He was called the "Magic Zipper Doctor" by the workers.
The third floor of Three S Company became Tadao Yoshida’s zipper processing factory. The piles of returned zippers were all sold as three S brand zippers through Yoshida's masterful hands. It was also known as the "Golden Hammer Zipper" and was very popular in Japan.
"YKK" was born
As the zipper business grew bigger and bigger, the scale of Three S Company also expanded, from the original 3 people to 26 people, and the sales network also grew day by day. grow. In 1936, Tadao paid off all his debts. In 1938, Tadao Yoshida purchased a piece of land and built a new factory. SanS Company was renamed Yoshida Industrial Co., Ltd.
Japan implemented a wartime economic system. For wartime needs, more guns and cannons must be produced to launch aggressive wars, and the domestic industrial and commercial circles are prohibited from using "copper". Copper cannot be produced, but zippers use copper as the main raw material. Does it mean that the business has to be shut down while the business is developing? Yoshida didn't want to do this, so he thought from another angle. In addition to using copper as raw material, the zipper could also be replaced by other things! This way he could start over without being dismissed by the government. After repeated trials, he decided to use aluminum as a substitute. As a result, Yoshida became the first in the world to replace copper zippers with aluminum. After that, he also developed a strong yet light aluminum alloy zipper, which was widely welcomed.