1 Biografi Yataro Iwasaki (Pendiri Mitsubishi)

Yataro Iwasaki adalah pendiri Mitsubishi (岩崎 弥太郎 Iwasaki Yatarō, 9 January 1835 – 7 February 1885)
Ia dilahirkan dalam sebuah keluarga petani di provinsi Aki, Provinsi Tosa (sekarang Kochi). Putra dari seorang petani sederhana, Yataro memulai karirnya bekerja pada klan Tosa. Klan diadakan di banyak tempat di Jepang unutk kepentingan bisnis, supaya merangsang anak muda untuk berambisi membangun perekonomian yang baik.

Yataro memulai karirnya bekerja pada klan Tosa, ia pergi ke Edo (kini Tokyo) ketika berusia sembilan belas tahun bertujuan mencari pendidikan. Cedera serius yang dialami ayahnya dalam suatu perselisihan dengan kepala desa membuat Yataro pulang dari Edo setahun kemudian dan sebentar cuti dari studinya. Hakim setempat menolak memproses kasus dari ayahya dan Yataro menuduh hakim korupsi. Ia dikirim ke penjara selama tujuh bulan. Setelah dibebaskan ia tidak memiliki pekerjaan untuk sementara waktu sebelum menemukan pekerjaan sebagai guru sekolah desa.

Kembali ke Edo, ia disosialisasikan dengan aktivis politik dan belajar di bawah reformis Yoshida Toyo, yang terpengaruh dengan ide-ide tentang membuka dan mengembangkan perekonomian bangsa melalui industri dan perdagangan luar negeri. Tak lama kemudian, melalui Yoshida, ia mendapatkan pekerjaan sebagai juru tulis bagi pemerintah Tosa. Ia kemudian dipromosikan ke posisi teratas di marga Tosa kantor perdagangan di Nagasaki, yang bertanggung jawab untuk perdagangan minyak kamper dan kertas untuk membeli kapal, senjata, dan amunisi.

Setelah Restorasi Meiji tahun 1868 yang memaksa pembubaran dari kepentingan bisnis shogun, Iwasaki pergi ke Osaka dan menyewakan hak untuk perdagangan marga TSUKUMO Tosa Trading Company. Perusahaan berubah nama menjadi Mitsubishi pada tahun 1873.

Perusahaan mengadopsi nama Mitsubishi pada Maret 1870, ketika Yataro resmi menjadi presiden. Lambang yang merupakan gabungan dari keluarga Iwasaki Lambang dan daun pohon ek puncak Yamanouchi keluarga, pemimpin klan Tosa yang menguasai bagian Yataro Shikoku di mana dilahirkan.

Mitsubishi kemudian hampir jatuh ketika Insiden Formosan terjadi. Lima puluh empat nelayan Jepang tewas di pulau Formosa (Cina) tetapi pemerintah Cina tidak bertanggung jawab atas hal itu. Perusahaan Yataro awalnya disalahkan, tetapi kemudian keadaan membaik dan bahkan Yataro memenangkan hak untuk mengoperasikan kapal-kapal pemerintah diantaranya kapal transportasi untuk manusia dan material, kemudian perusahaannya mulai berkembang lagi.

Yataro Iwasaki adalah pribadi yang patuh kepada pemerintah Jepang yang baru, serta kepada perusahaan. Mitsubishi menyediakan kapal-kapal yang membawa pasukan Jepang ke Taiwan, dengan persetujuan dia mendapat hak untuk mengoperasikan kapal lebih banyak dan subsidi tahunan yang besar dari pemerintah. Dia setuju untuk membawa surat dan persediaan pemerintah lainnya. Dengan dukungan pemerintah, ia mampu membeli lebih banyak kapal dan meningkatkan jalur pelayaran Mitsubishi. Yang membantu dia mengantar dua Pengiriman asing yang besar melalui rute Shanghai, sehingga menguntungkan Mitsubishi Transportasi Perusahaan yang Yataro didirikan. Kemudian menjadi perusahaan pelayaran yang besar, juga membawa pasukan untuk menumpas pemberontakan di Kyushu. Yataro mengajarkan anak buahnya untuk "melayani para penumpang sebaik mungkin" karena mereka adalah sumber pendapatan. Sikap modern "pelanggan selalu benar" adalah senjata utama perusahaannya.

Mitsubishi terdiversifikasi dengan cepat, pertama memperoleh tambahan dan perluasan kapal penumpang dan kargo, kemudian menyediakan transportasi untuk pasukan Jepang ke Taiwan dan Kyushu. Hal ini menyebabkan lebih banyak dukungan pemerintah, yang menyebabkan pasokan surat kontrak dan hak-hak pengiriman lebih lanjut pada rute Shanghai yang menguntungkan melalui Mitsubishi Transportasi Perusahaan yang Yataro didirikan. Kemudian ia berinvestasi di pertambangan, perbaikan kapal dan keuangan. Pada tahun 1884 ia mengambil sewa dari Nagasaki Shipyard dan menamainya Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works, memungkinkan perusahaan untuk melakukan pembuatan kapal pada skala penuh.

Pada tahun 1885, Yataro kehilangan kendali atas perusahaan pelayaran di belakang perjuangan politik yang diterjang Jepang industri transportasi laut. Perusahaan ini bergabung dengan saingan dan menjadi Nippon YUSEN (NYK Line), yang akan kembali ke jajaran perusahaan Mitsubishi di tahun-tahun berikutnya.

Meskipun kehilangan perusahaan pelayaran, Yataro mendirikan usaha lainnya (dalam perbankan, pertambangan, surat kabar dan asuransi laut) dan yang membentuk dasar bagi organisasi Mitsubishi. Kekayaannya melebihi satu juta yen. Yataro begitu percaya diri dan dengan yakin bahwa ia dapat berpartisipasi dalam banyak bisnis. Mitsubishi Kawase-ten, misalnya, adalah perusahaan financial yang juga terlibat dalam bisnis pergudangan. Itu adalah pendahulu dari perusahaan yang sekarang bernama Mitsubishi Bank dan Mitsubishi Warehouse & Transportation. Yataro juga membeli tambang batu bara dan tambang tembaga setelah menyewa sebuah galangan kapal Nagasaki dari pemerintah. Dia telah berpartisipasi dalam mendirikan perusahaan asuransi yang sekarang benama Tokyo Marine and Fire. Dia bahkan memimpin sekolah yang sekarang menjadi Tokyo University of Mercantile Marine.

Iwasaki Yataro adalah pengusaha yang sangat visioner. Dia sering menjamu makan malam pejabat pemerintah di perusahaanya. Iwasaki menghabiskan sejumlah besar uang pada kesempatan ini tapi ia juga mendapatkan banyak keuntungan. Yataro banyak menolong teman-temannya yang kemudian membantu dia dengan melakukan banyak kebaikan. Dia sangat bagus dalam hubungan membina hubungan bisnis yang akan membantunya di masa depan.

Namun Yataro, tidak ditakdirkan untuk memimpin organisasi Mitsubishi dalam pertumbuhan fase baru. Dia meninggal karena kanker saat berusia 50 tahun, dan digantikan kepemimpinan bisnis keluarga pertama oleh saudaranya, dan kemudian putranya.

Presiden Mitsubishi :


Yataro Iwasaki (1835-1885), Pendiri dan Presiden pertama


Yanosuke Iwasaki (1851-1908), Saudara Yataro, Presiden kedua


Hisaya Iwasaki (1865-1955), Putra Yataro, Presiden ketiga


Koyata Iwasaki (1879-1945), Putra Yataro, Presiden keempat

0 Biografi Torakusu Yamaha (Pendiri Yamaha)

Yamaha Corporation didirikan oleh Torakusu Yamaha adalah salah satu perusahaan yang paling terdiversifikasi di Jepang, menawarkan berbagai produk dan jasa, terutama alat musik dan elektronik. Awalnya didirikan untuk memproduksi organ buluh pada tahun 1887, sebagai Organ Yamaha Manufacturing Company, perusahaan ini berdiri pada tahun 1897, dengan nama Nippon Gakki Company, dengan cepat memproduksi piano tegak. Mengambil keuntungan dari setiap kesempatan untuk menggunakan teknologi yang sudah ada dan keahlian untuk memperluas ke pasar baru, Yamaha mulai memproduksi harmonicas selama Perang Dunia I dan tangan buatan phonographs pada 1920-an. Selama tahun 1950-an dan 1960-an, dengan pengalaman yang diperoleh selama Perang Dunia II, Yamaha mulai pembuatan perahu, busur untuk memanah, dan produk lainnya yang terbuat dari fiberglass yang diperkuat plastik (FRP). Pada tahun 1955, Yamaha Motor Corporation mulai produksi sepeda motor, dan pada tahun 1968, merilis sebuah sepeda off-road, Yamaha DT-1, menciptakan sebuah genre.

Dimulai pada 1970-an, Yamaha mengembangkan berbagai alat musik elektronik dan teknologi. Saat ini Yamaha adalah produsen terbesar alat musik di dunia, dan Yamaha Motor Corporation adalah produsen terbesar kedua sepeda motor. Yamaha berusaha untuk memberikan sebuah pengalaman kegembiraan dan kesenangan pelanggan. Ia memberi perhatian terhadap kebutuhan dan keinginan pelanggan selama pengembangan produk dan menyediakan layanan purna jual yang baik. Yamaha menjadi sponsor grup musik, acara kontes, kompetisi olahraga motor, dan program-program seperti sekolah musik Yamaha yang membantu mengembangkan pasar masa depan untuk instrumen musik; dan memberikan kesempatan seperti olahragawan dan musisi untuk menikmati produk-produknya.

Awal Tahun Pendirian

Yamaha Corporation nama perusahaan yang diberikan pendirinya, Torakusu Yamaha 20 April 1851-8 Agustus 1916). Ayahnya, seorang samurai dari Prefektur Wakayama, tertarik pada astronomi dan mekanika dan memberikan anaknya pendidikan modern. Yamaha belajar mekanik kepada insinyur Inggris, kemudian menyelesaikan magang di sekolah kedokteran Barat pertama di Jepang tepatnya di Nagasaki dan mengambil pekerjaan memperbaiki peralatan medis di kota terpencil Hamamatsu. Ketika sekolah Ia meminta agar dia dibiayai untuk memperbaiki dan membuat Mason & Hamlin buluh organ, ia menyadari potensi bisnis manufaktur organ di Jepang, dan pada tahun 1887, ia mendirikan Organ Yamaha Manufacturing Company, produsen pertama dari alat-alat musik Barat di Jepang , dan membangun organ buluh portabel pertama. Pada 1889, perusahaan itu mempekerjakan 100 orang dan menghasilkan 250 organ setiap tahun.

Yamaha mengamati bahwa piano tegak buatan AS menjadi lebih populer dan lebih murah daripada organ buatanya, sehungga Ia memutuskan untuk membuat piano tegak di Jepang. Pada tanggal 12 Oktober 1897. Tahun 1899, Kementerian Pendidikan Jepang mengirim Yamaha ke Amerika Serikat untuk belajar piano membuat dan menetapkan pemasok bahan-bahan yang diperlukan untuk memproduksi piano di Jepang. Nippon Gakki mulai membuat piano tegak pada 1900 dan menghasilkan piano pertama pada tahun 1902, menerapkan keahlian dalam pertukangan sehingga menghasilkan pembuatan mebel yang lebih baik. Di St Louis World's Fair di tahun 1904, piano dan organ Yamaha menerima Kehormatan Grand Prize. Pada tahun 1914, ketika Perang Dunia I penjualan harmonicas Jerman dibatasi di Jepang, Yamaha memperkenalkan harmonika pertama dan mulai mengekspor harmonicas di seluruh dunia. Yamaha terus memperluas ke bidang musik, meluncurkan produk berkualitas tinggi tangan buatan phonographs untuk penderita tangan yang luka pada tahun 1922.

Menghadapi persaingan dari instrumen buatan Barat, Nippon Gakki membuka program penelitian laboratorium akustik pertama di dunia pada tahun 1930. Pada tahun 1931, ia merancang alat musik akustik sederhanaa baru di Jepang. Pada 1932, ia mulai produksi pipa organ. Selama tahun 1930-an, perluasan sistem sekolah umum di Jepang menciptakan permintaan alat-alat musik Barat, dan Nippon Gakki mulai menghasilkan akordion dan gitar dengan harga yang kompetitif. Ini menghasilkan gitar akustik pertama pada tahun 1942.

Setelah Perang Dunia II

Selama Perang Dunia II, Nippon Gakki menurunkan produksi alat musiknya, dan mereka memproduksi baling-baling untuk pesawat-pesawat tempur, tangki bahan bakar, dan bagian sayap, dan akhirnya berhenti memproduksi alat-alat musik sama sekali. Teknologi baru yang dipelajari selama perang, manufaktur Nippon Gakki diaktifkan lagi untuk memproduksi cor logam sendiri yang digunakan sebagai frame piano. Pada tahun 1948, bisnis musik tiba-tiba meningkat ketika Departemen Pendidikan Jepang mewajibkan pendidikan musik di sekolah-sekolah umum. Pada tahun 1950-an, Yamaha adalah produsen piano terbesar di dunia. Pada tahun yang sama mulai memproduksi komponen audio, dan pada tahun 1955, ia menghasilkan produk pertama Hi-Fi record player.

Setelah Perang Dunia II, presiden keempat Yamaha, Gen-ichi Kawakami (Kawakami Gen'ichi, 30 Januari 1912 - 25 Mei 2002), mencari cara baru untuk memanfaatkan fasilitas manufaktur perusahaan, mulai serius menyelidiki pasar luar negeri. Ia mengunjungi Amerika Serikat beberapa kali, dan memproduksi mesin jahit, suku cadang mobil, skuter, utilitas roda tiga kendaraan, atau sepeda motor. Sejak pembiayaan untuk produk baru, Nippon Gakki mulai menggunakan bahan-bahan yang baru seperti serat gelas plastik (FRP). Pada tahun 1960, perusahaan memproduksi FRP pertama yang digunakan unutuk membuat perahu layar, kemudian memproduksi yacht, kapal patroli untuk Jepang's Maritime Safety Agency, dan kapal-kapal nelayan oceangoing. Produk FRP lain, seperti busur panah, ski, dan bak mandi.

Yamaha Motor Company Limited

Perusahaan melakukan riset secara intensif dalam perpaduan logam untuk digunakan dalam piano akustik Yamaha telah memiliki pengetahuan luas mengenai pembuatan bahan yang ringan, namun kokoh dan dapat diandalkan dalam konstruksi yang membutuhkan bahan dari logam. Pengetahuan ini dengan mudah diterapkan pada pembuatan frame logam dan suku cadang untuk sepeda motor. Kawakami dan insinyur mengunjungi pabrik-pabrik Jerman untuk belajar bagaimana membuat sepeda motor. Prototipe pertama, dengan nama Yamaha YA-1, untuk menghormati pendiri Yamaha, selesai pada bulan Agustus 1954. Sepeda ini didukung oleh udara-pendingin, 2-stroke, 125 cc mesin single silinder. Prototipe diuji dengan dikendari sejauh 10.000 km yang belum pernah dilakukan sebelumnya, tes dilakukan untuk memastikan bahwa kualitasnya adalah kelas atas.

Keberhasilan YA-1 mendorong untuk mendirikan Yamaha Motor Co, Ltd pada tanggal 1 Juli 1955. Produsen sepeda motor baru diproduksi sekitar 200 unit per bulan. Pada tahun yang sama, YA-1 memenangkan kelas 125cc di dua acara balapan terbesar di Jepang. Tahun berikutnya, YA-1 menang lagi di Highlands Asama Race.

Pada tahun 1966, Toyota dan Yamaha bekerja sama untuk memproduksi edisi terbatas Toyota 2000 GT mobil sport, hingga sekarang masih dikagumi karena kinerjanya yang memuaskan. Pada tahun 1968, Yamaha meluncurkan Yamaha DT-1, sepeda motor off-road pertama di dunia, menciptakan sebuah genre baru. Yamaha XS 650, diperkenalkan pada tahun 1970, kesuksesan yang luar biasa itu mengakhiri monopoli sepeda motor Inggris. Hari ini, Yamaha Motor Company adalah produsen sepeda motor terbesar kedua di dunia (setelah Honda). Yamaha juga memproduksi kendaraan semua medan (ATV), perahu, snowmobiles, motor tempel, dan perahu pribadi. Pada tahun 2000, Toyota dan Yamaha membentuk aliansi.

Setelah periode krisis keuangan selama tahun 1980-an, presiden kedelapan, Seisuke Ueshima, mulai reorganisasi perusahaan pada tahun 1992. Untuk pasar yang sudah hampir jenuh, Yamaha difokuskan pada produk high-end, seperti seri piano Disklavier, dengan built-in komputer untuk merekam dan memutar ulang pertunjukan, yang bisa ritel lebih dari $ 30.000 dan membawa keuntungan yang lebih tinggi. Ueshima mendorong perusahaan untuk mengembangkan produk-produk baru. Pada tahun 1993, Yamaha berhasil meluncurkan seri Silent Piano, piano yang baik dapat dimainkan seperti piano akustik biasa, atau dengan suara mereka terdengar dan hanya terdengar ke pianis melalui headphone. Hal ini diikuti oleh Trumpet Diam pada tahun 1995, Diam Drum pada tahun 1996, Biola Diam pada tahun 1997, dan Cello Diam pada tahun 1998. The VP1 virtual VL1 akustik dan synthesizer.

1 Carl Benz (Founder Mercedes Benz)

German inventor Carl Benz (1844-1929) is one of the many individuals given credit for the creation of the first automobile. In 1885 he invented the motorized tricycle, which became the first "horseless carriage" to be driven by an internal combustion engine. Benz's contributions to automotive design also included the creation of such features as a carburetor and an electrical ignition system.

Carl Benz was a German engineer and inventor who was responsible for many contributions to the design of modern automobiles. He developed an internal combustion gasoline engine for his 1885 version of the "horseless carriage," which was initially a three-wheeled vehicle. Other innovations by Benz included a simple carburetor, an electrical ignition system, rack-and-pinion steering, and water cooling. For his development of the 1885 motorized tricycle, Benz is given credit by some for creating the first automobile, while others contend that the three-wheel design did not constitute a true modern car. Regardless of his right to the title of inventor of the automobile, Benz did leave his mark on the auto industry by pioneering one of the first marketable motorized vehicles and founding the automobile company that came to be known as Mercedes-Benz.

Benz was born in Karlsruhe, Germany, on November 25, 1844. His father was a railroad engineer who died of pneumonia when his son was two years old. The income that Benz's mother received after the death of her husband was small, and Benz was called upon to help support the family as soon as he was old enough. Even as a boy, Benz was fascinated with technology, and he was able to use his talents in this area to make extra money. His earliest jobs were fixing watches and clocks, and he later constructed a darkroom where he would develop pictures for tourists visiting the nearby Black Forest.

Benz's facility for technical matters was also displayed in school, where he worked as an assistant for a physics teacher. He continued his education at Karlsruhe Polytechnic and then went to work for an engine manufacturer. Benz had a very specific motive for working at the engine plant--he dreamed of creating a horseless carriage, and he wanted to learn as much as he could about engines. After gathering what knowledge he could there, in 1871 he moved on to a position with a wagon and pump company in Mannheim, Germany, where he gained more valuable experience. By 1872, he was ready to open his own engine shop. Just before starting his business, he married Berta Ringer.

Founded Successful Engine Companies

Benz was quite successful as a manufacturer, selling a large number of engines and winning the confidence of investors. With the financial backing of others, he founded the Mannheim Gas Engine Manufacturing Company, which he intended to use in part to develop his horseless carriage. Even though the venture quickly made a profit, Benz's investors did not want him to spend valuable resources on inventions. Benz unsuccessfully fought their decision and, after being in business for only three months, left the company. He quickly lined up new shareholders and founded a third business, Benz and Company, in October of 1883. The company was to sell stationary gas engines, but the new investors were also willing to support Benz's horseless carriage as long as it did not detract from the production of the primary product.

After two decades of planning his horseless carriage, Benz finally had the resources to make it a reality. In 1885, he debuted his automobile, a motorized tricycle that was revolutionary primarily for its use of a gasoline-powered internal combustion engine. Earlier in the century, self-propelled vehicles had been developed with steam engines, but the internal combustion engine marked an important breakthrough for automobiles. It provided a lighter, more compact, and more efficient means of powering a vehicle. It was the adoption of the internal combustion engine that made Benz's car a truly practical and appealing consumer product. For this reason, many consider Benz's 1885 motorized tricycle the first automobile.

Horseless Carriage Demonstrated in 1885

Another important feature of Benz's vehicle was an electrical ignition system that used a battery to start the engine. This system became the basic model for all later ignitions. The tricycle also incorporated a carburetor, rack-and-pinion steering, a water cooling system, and rear springs. Benz held a public demonstration in the fall of 1885 to promote his invention, although he claimed to have first driven it the previous spring. On the road near his workshop, Benz and his wife began a ride on the automobile in front of a gathering of witnesses. After apparently forgetting to steer the tricycle, however, Benz quickly ran into a brick wall. Both passengers emerged from this early auto accident without injuries. The mishap did not dampen enthusiasm for Benz's creation--a positive review of the vehicle appeared the following summer in the publication Neue Badische Landeszeitung.

Benz continued to improve his design with the introduction of a second gear, a larger, 3-horsepower engine, and improved brakes and springs. The first sale of a Benz automobile occurred in 1887, after it had been displayed at the Paris Exhibition earlier in the year. At the Munich Imperial Exhibition in 1888, Benz was awarded a gold medal for his invention. This recognition brought in many orders for the automobile, which at that time was a novelty that was only affordable by the wealthy. Still, business was so good that the Benz Company grew to 50 workers by 1889 and soon moved to a larger factory where a new four-wheeled model began production in 1890.

Benz had given into the idea of a four-wheeled automobile reluctantly and only after much lobbying by others in his company who sought a more modern design. Unlike other automobile inventors, Benz did not feel that a car needed to physically resemble the traditional four-wheeled carriage. After the model of 1890, he was even more opposed to changes in his design. His opinions were so strong that after a major update of the Benz automobile in 1905, the manufacturer continued to drive his older models of the car.

Encountered Competition from Daimler Cars

One major challenger of Benz's claim to be the inventor of the automobile was a fellow German, Gottlieb Daimler. Daimler had created a better internal combustion engine and patented it five months before Benz's engine. The first vehicle in which he demonstrated his, however, was a bicycle, resulting in the first motorcycle. Those supporting Benz argued that the two-wheeled vehicle resembled the modern automobile less than the Benz tricycle. Regardless, Daimler also went on to become a successful producer of four-wheeled automobiles and became one of Benz's strongest competitors in both French and German markets. To try to gain a greater share of the French market, Daimler gave his car a French-sounding name--Mercedes--at the suggestion of a business partner. Despite their professional interest in each other, Benz and Daimler never met.

The Daimler company continued to do business after its founder died in 1900. Both it and the Benz company suffered a downturn during the economic depression after World War I. To strengthen their chances of survival, the companies merged to form Mercedes-Benz in 1926. By that time, Benz was no longer closely involved with the operation of the business, although he continued to receive recognition for his accomplishments as an automotive pioneer. His cars were collected by museums, and he was honored with a special procession of hundreds of automobiles from the city of Heidelberg to his home in Ladenburg in 1929. On that occasion, a number of prominent people made speeches in his honor and proclaimed him the inventor of the automobile. Two days later, on April 4, 1929, Benz died at his home in Ladenburg. Although later automotive innovators such as Henry Ford turned the car into a more successful product for the general public, Benz is remembered for his inventive genius and his groundbreaking work to create and market the first commercial automobile.
Ref :
http://www.bookrags.com/biography/carl-benz/

0 Soichiro Honda (Founder Honda Motor Company)

A dream
Throughout his life, Soichiro Honda never forgot the day he became a small figure who ran hopelessly after the first motor car he ever saw.

Long before it actually reached Yamahigashi, a small village in Japan's Shizuoka prefecture (now called Tenryu-shi), its own extraordinary noise heralded its imminent arrival. The small boy who heard the rumble was at first astonished, then excited, and finally enthralled, by it.

Later he would describe that moment as one of those life-changing experiences. He was seeing his first car, and as he began to tremble the closer it drew, and the dust cloud of its passage engulfed him, something inside him was triggered off.

"I turned and chase after that car for all I was worth," he said later. "I could not understand how it could move under its own power. And when it had driven past me, without even thinking why I found myself chasing it down the road, as hard as I could run."

He had no chance of catching it, and the experience became a symbol for his life: always he was chasing something that was just beyond his reach. By the time the road was empty and the car long departed, the young boy continued to stand there breathing in its gasoline stench. When he came upon a drop of its precious lifeblood spilled on the dusty track, he dropped to his knees and sniffed the oily stain like a man in a desert smelling water.

Childhood

Soichiro Honda was born in Yamahigashi on November 17 1906. His father, Gihei Honda, was the local blacksmith but could turn his hands to most things, including dentistry when the need arose. His mother, Mika, was a weaver.
Honda's subsequent spirit of adventure and determination to explore the development of new technology had its roots in his childhood. The family was not wealthy, but Gihei Honda instilled into his children the ethic of hard work, and a love of mechanical things. Soichiro soon learned how to whet the blades of farm machinery, and how to make his own toys. A nearby rice mill was powered by a small engine, and the noise fascinated him. He would demand daily that his grandfather took him to watch it in action. At school he got the nickname 'black nose weasel', which is less derogatory in Japanese than it sounds in English, because his face was always dirty from helping his father in the forge.

Soichiro Honda's childhood days are full of examples of technical ingenuity, including using a bicycle pedal rubber to forge his family's seal on school reports that were less than promising.

The bicycles had another use: those that his father sold from the shop he subsequently opened helped Honda to hone his engineering skills. As he grew, the dream of the car on the country road acted like a magnetic force, drawing him ever closer towards things mechanical. In 1917 a pilot called Art Smith flew into the Wachiyama military airfield to demonstrate his biplane's aerobatic capabilities. Honda raided the family's petty cash box, 'borrowed' one of his father's bicycles and rode the 20 kilometers to a place he had never before visited. When he got there he soon realized that the price of admission, let alone a flight, was far beyond his meagre means, but after climbing a tree he watched the plane in motion, and that was enough. When Gihei Honda learned what his son had done to get to the airfield, he was more impressed with his initiative, determination and resilience than he was angry with him for taking the money and the bike.

Adult years

By 1922 Honda was working in an auto shop in Tokyo called Art Shokai. Initially he had done menial tasks, but more and more he became a trusted mechanic. He worked on the racing car Art Daimler, then the famous machine born from the marriage of a Curtiss aircraft engine and an American Mitchell chassis. The need to make parts for this monster taught him things that would be invaluable later in life.

When Shinichi Sakibahara raced the car for the first time at Tsurumi, and won the Chairman's Trophy, the young man riding alongside as his mechanic was Soichiro Honda. He was 17 years old.

As customers brought in Mercedes, Lincolns and Daimlers for attention, Honda's experience grew in proportion with his ambition. Four years after that first race he started his own Art Shokai auto shop in Hamamatsu . It opened its doors for business on the day that, thousands of miles away on Daytona Beach , Frank Lockhart crashed to his death trying to break the land speed record. April 25, 1928. The American track star and the Japanese kid lived in different worlds but had much in common besides their willingness to take a risk. Lockhart's mechanical genius had set new standards for record car design, and in the years that followed Soichiro Honda's own technological ideas would similarly revolutionize Japan 's motorcycle and automobile industries.

Yet Honda himself never sought dominance in his homeland. At a time when nationalism was at its peak, he always saw the bigger picture. "I knew that if I could succeed in the world market," he said, "then automatically it would follow that we led in the Japanese market."

Employees in the Art Shokai shop soon came to understand that sloppy workmanship and poor performance would not be tolerated, but while his tool-hurling antics did not always encourage loyalty, those who stayed recognized his total determination to succeed and to establish an engineering business second to none. And Honda was sufficiently aware of his own managerial shortcomings.

Honda Motor Company

The history of the Honda Motor Company began with the vision of one man - Soichiro Honda. His dream was personal mobility for everyone.

Honda Motor Co. Ltd. was established in September 1948, initially to build small capacity motorcycles to get Japanese workers mobile. While Honda focused his considerable energies on the engineering side, using all the experience he had painstakingly accumulated, including time out taken to study piston ring design at Hamamatsu tech and subsequent experimentation with a small engine-powered bicycle, he left the running of the company in the hands of Takeo Fujisawa. His most trusted friend and urged him to look to the long-term. They complemented one another perfectly.

When the first fruits of their partnership hit the streets it was a 98cc two-stroke motorcycle appropriately named 'Dream' . Several times Honda Motor Co. sailed close to the rocks in the years that followed, for both Honda and Fujisawa were gamblers who knew that expansion would only be possible with risk. Growth at one stage was unprecedented, until the purchase of state-or-the-art machinery in the early Fifties led them perilously close to bankruptcy. But Honda was never faint-hearted.

'Challenging the Limits' is a phrase commonly heard across the length and breadth of Honda. It was made popular by its founder, Soichiro Honda, who knew that his fledgling company had to out-think and out-perform its competitors every step of the way in order to survive. After all, he started out at a time when his country was devastated by war.

To make these things, Honda also changed marketing methods, and manufacturing. High quality comes from a creative combination of design for use and design for manufacturing, all aimed to hit a specific market need. A product that can be made in easy steps can be made well, and a product that does its job reliably pleases its users.

The step-through Honda Cub was the first international success for the Honda Motor Company, and it was a model for all the successes that were to follow. Recognize a need, create a unique way to satisfy it, incorporate unusual performance, quality and reliability, then build from an expanding reputation into yet other areas. This pattern defined the Honda Way. A need was recognized, and after trial and error, the trouble-free, easy-to-operate 50cc Cub was created.

Marketing targeted the general public with good, clean two-wheeled fun, and introduced millions to motorcycling. When the market was saturated, Honda had the vision to see that a similarly trouble-free kind of sports motorcycle could become equally popular, building on the proven reputation of the Cub. As that success expanded into many countries, Honda expanded its line, always offering customers a step up to more sophisticated models.

Honda opened his first dealership in Los Angeles with six employees in 1959. By 1963, Honda was the top-selling brand of motorcycles in the United States. In 1961 the company produced 100000 motorcycles in a month, and in 1968 Honda has sold its 'millionth' bike. Till the end of 80's Honda has held a 60% position on the world market of motorcycles, and in 1990 the yearly output of bikes has reaches 3 million items. Now the dream of his childhood was becoming real. Soon thereafter came auto production, and the rest of the story is familiar recent history.

'Racing is in our blood'

Later his reaction was to embark on the Tourist Trophy race program that would eventually make Honda's name as an international motorcycle manufacturer. It took him five years, but by 1959 Hondas were racing on the Isle of Man. Two years later they were the talk of the TT.

Soichiro Honda was the prototypical F1 engineer. He was always probing new limits of technology, always seeking better and greater feedback from the men who rode or drove the machines that bore his name. He preached the gospel that ambition was no sin, and that success was the reward for hard work and investment. Honda was the first major manufacturer to understand that motorsport was the perfect crucible in which to develop not just superior machines, but superior engineers, and today every global player in the F1 game rotates its engineers through its motorsport programs.

Honda's lifestyle and last days

Yet there was more than even that to Honda. He and his wife Sachi both held private pilot's licences, he was still skiing, hang-gliding and ballooning at 77, and he was a highly accomplished artist. And he was a man of rare understanding. He had never wanted to follow his father in the smithy or the bicycle shop, and he and Fujisawa made a pact never to force their own sons to join the company. Soichiro Honda died in Tokyo's Juntendo Hospital on August 5 1991, aged 84 years and eight months.

Ref :
http://www.myviplife.com/lifestories/vipbusiness/Soichiro_Honda_bi.php?c=3

3 Henry Ford (Founder Ford Motor Company)

Henry Ford was an inventor, philanthropist and successful American businessman. Ford was the founder of the still popular Ford Motor Company which had its first success with the Model T Ford car that was released in 1908. Henry Ford revolutionized the way cars were designed and built, introducing assembly line factories for producing mass amounts of vehicles that led to lower prices for consumers and an explosion in car ownership throughout the United States.

Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863 in Dearborn, Michigan, United States, in what was then known as Springwells Township. Ford's parents were Irish immigrants and the family lived on a farm, with Henry Ford being the eldest of six children. The family had a comfortable upbringing on the farm with a decent income, but even as a young person, Ford believed there was too much work and not enough income living from the land.

"It was life on the farm that drove me into devising ways and means to better transportation. I was born on July 30, 1863, on a farm at Dearborn, Michigan, and my earliest recollection is that, considering the results, there was too much work on the place." Henry Ford Quote

Ford began his career as an apprentice machinist in 1879, then returned to his family farm in 1882 before starting work with the Westinghouse company to service their steam engines. Ford then went to work at the Edison Illuminating Company where he became chief engineer in 1893.

Henry Ford had always enjoyed mechanical things and was always trying to improve or create more useful machinery. In 1893 he created his first gasoline driven buggy or Quadricycle that was completely self propelled. He then started the Detroit Automobile Company with several other investors to improve on his design, but the company went bankrupt soon after. Ford then started the Henry Ford Company, which he also left, before eventually starting the Ford Motor Company in 1903.

The Ford Motor Company released the successful Model T car in 1908. Generally cars were built one at a time and were only accessible to the very wealthy, but Ford continued to improve the way the cars were manufactured. In 1913 the cars were being mass produced by one of the first moving assembly lines. In 1918, half of the total amount of cars in the United States were Model T's, 15 million cars were sold, and production of the Model T was finally stopped in 1927.

By 1926, flagging sales of the Model T finally convinced Henry to make a new model. Henry pursued the project with a great deal of technical expertise in design of the engine, chassis, and other mechanical necessities, while leaving the body design to his son. Edsel also managed to prevail over his father's initial objections in the inclusion of a sliding-shift transmission.
The result was the successful Ford Model A, introduced in December 1927 and produced through 1931, with a total output of more than 4 million. Subsequently, the Ford company adopted an annual model change system similar to that recently pioneered by its competitor General Motors (and still in use by automakers today). Not until the 1930s did Ford overcome his objection to finance companies, and the Ford-owned Universal Credit Corporation became a major car-financing operation.


Ford also had interests in politics but was never successful as a politician, and unsuccessfully ran for Senate as a Democrat. He also had strong views on labor and how the workforce should be treated. He paid his workers more money for less working days and made the 5 day 40 hour working week a normal part of working life.

Henry Ford created the Ford Foundation in 1936 to promote human welfare through research grants, educational grants and development.

In 1947, at the age 83 Henry Ford died of a cerebral hemorrhage and was buried in the Ford Cemetery in Detroit.

Ref :
http://www.woopidoo.com/biography/henry-ford/index.htm
Wikipedia

0 Sakichi Toyoda (Pendiri Toyota)

Lahir 14 Februari 1867 (1867/02/14) di Jepang, Meninggal 30 Oktober 1930 di Jepang

Sakichi Toyoda adalah seorang penemu dan industrialis Jepang. Ia dilahirkan di Kosai, Shizuoka. Anak seorang tukang kayu miskin, Toyoda ini disebut sebagai "Raja Penemu Jepang".
Karir

Sakichi Toyoda sering disebut sebagai bapak revolusi industri Jepang. Ia juga merupakan pendiri Toyota Industries Co, Ltd

Dia menciptakan berbagai perangkat tenun. Penemuan yang paling terkenal adalah kekuatan otomatis tenun di mana ia menerapkan prinsip Jidoka (otonom otomatisasi). Prinsip Jidoka, yang berarti bahwa mesin berhenti sendiri bila masalah terjadi, kemudian menjadi bagian dari Toyota Production System.

Toyoda mengembangkan konsep dari 5 mengapa: Ketika terjadi masalah, bertanya 'mengapa' lima kali untuk mencoba untuk menemukan sumber masalahnya, kemudian dimasukkan ke tempat sesuatu untuk mencegah masalah tersebut dari berulang. Konsep ini digunakan sekarang sebagai bagian dari bersandar menerapkan metodologi untuk memecahkan masalah, meningkatkan kualitas, dan mengurangi biaya.

Sejarah
Toyota Motor Corporation didirikan pada September 1933 sebagai divisi mobil Pabrik Tenun Otomatis Toyota. Divisi mobil perusahaan tersebut kemudian dipisahkan pada 27 Agustus 1937 untuk menciptakan Toyota Motor Corporation seperti saat ini.

Berangkat dari industri tekstil, Toyota menancapkan diri sebagai salah satu pabrikan otomotif yang cukup terkemuka di seluruh dunia. Merek yang memproduksi 1 mobil tiap 6 detik ini ternyata menggunakan penamaan Toyota lebih karena penyebutannya lebih enak daripada memakai nama keluarga pendirinya, Toyoda. Inilah beberapa tonggak menarik perjalanan Toyota.

Toyota merupakan pabrikan mobil terbesar ketiga di dunia dalam unit sales dan net sales. Pabrikan terbesar di Jepang ini menghasilkan 5,5 juta unit mobil di seluruh dunia. Jika dihitung, angka ini ekuivalen dengan memproduksi 1 unit mobil dalam 6 detik.

Dibandingkan dengan industri-industri otomotif lain yang menggunakan nama pendirinya sebagai merek dagang seperti Honda yang didirikan oleh Soichiro Honda, Daimler-Benz (Gottlieb Daimler dan Karl Benz), Ford (Henry Ford), nama Toyoda tidaklah dipakai sebagai merek. Karena berangkat dari pemikiran sederhana dan visi waktu itu, penyebutan Toyoda kurang enak didengar dan tidak akrab dikenal sehingga diplesetkan menjadi Toyota.

Sakichi Toyoda lahir pada bulan Februari 1867 di Shizuoka, Jepang. Pria ini dikenal sebagai penemu sejak berusia belasan tahun. Toyoda mengabdikan hidupnya mempelajari dan mengembangkan perakitan tekstil. Dalam usia 30 tahun Toyoda menyelesaikan mesin tenun. Ini kemudian mengantarnya mendirikan cikal bakal perakitan Toyota, yakni Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. pada November 1926.

Di sini hak paten mesin tekstil otomatisnya kemudian dijual kepada Platt Brothers & Co, Ltd. dari Inggris, Britania Raya. Hasil penjualan paten ini, dijadikan modal pengembangan divisi otomotif. Mulai tahun 1933, ketika Toyoda membangun divisi otomotif, tim yang kemudian banyak dikendalikan oleh anaknya Kiichiro Toyoda, tiada henti menghasilkan inovasi-inovasi terdepan di zamannya. Mesin Tipe A berhasil dirampungkan pada 1934. Setahun kemudian mesin ini dicangkokkan prototipe pertama mobil penumpang mereka, A1. Divisi otomotif Toyoda juga menghasilkan truk model G1.

Di tahun 1936 mereka meluncurkan mobil penumpang pertama mereka, Toyoda AA (kala itu masih menggunakan nama Toyoda). Model ini dikembangkan dari prototipe model A1 dan dilengkapi bodi dan mesin A. Kendaraan ini dari awal diharapkan menjadi mobil rakyat. Konsep produk yang terus dipegang Toyota hingga sekarang.

Empat tahun menunggu dirasa cukup melahirkan perusahaan otomotif sendiri dan melepaskan diri dari industri tekstil mereka. Kemudian tahun 1937 mereka meresmikan divisi otomotif dan memakai nama Toyota, bukan Toyoda seperti nama industri tekstil. Pengambilan nama Toyota dalam bahasa Jepang terwakili dalam 8 karakter, dan delapan adalah angka keberuntungan bagi kalangan masyarakat Jepang. Alasan lain yang dianggap masuk akal adalah industri otomotif merupakan bisnis gaya hidup dan bahkan penyebutan sebuah nama (dan seperti apa kedengarannya), menjadi sisi yang begitu penting. Karena nama Toyoda dianggap terlalu kaku di dalam bisnis yang dinamis sehingga diubah menjadi Toyota yang dirasa lebih baik. Tak ayal, tahun 1937 merupakan era penting kelahiran Toyota Motor Co, Ltd. cikal bakal raksasa Toyota Motor Corp (TMC) sekarang.

Semangat inovasi Kiichiro Toyoda tidak pernah redup. Toyota kemudian berkembang menjadi penghasil kendaraan tangguh. Di era 1940-an, Toyota sibuk mengembangkan permodalan termasuk memasukkan perusahaan di lantai bursa di Tokyo, Osaka dan Nagoya.

Setelah era Perang Dunia II berakhir, tahun 1950-an merupakan pembuktian Toyota sebgai penghasil kendaraan serba guna tangguh. Waktu itu kendaraan Jeep akrab di Jepang. Terinspirasi dari mobil ini, Toyota kemudian mengembangkan orototipe Land Cruiser yang keluar tahun 1950. Setahun kemudian meluncurkan secara resmi model awal Land Cruiser yakni model BJ.

Buln Juli tahun itu, test drivernya Ichiro Taira mengakhiri uji coba dengan hasil luar biasa. Diinspirasi oleh tokoh Samurai Heikuro Magaki yang mendaki Gunung Atago di atas kuda tahun 1643, Taira mengemudikan Toyota BJ-nya ke kuil Fudo di kota Okasaki. Ini sekaligus dipakai sebagai promosi ketangguhan mobil segala medan ini. Tak lama berselang, Toyota Land Cruiser mulai menandingi dominasi Jeep Willys. Bahkan dengan model-model selanjutnya, Toyota Land Cruiser bisa diterima di pasar yang kala itu sulit ditembus yakni Amerika Utara. Lewat model ini, Toyota masuk ke pasar-pasar di berbagai belahan dunia, Termasuk di Indonesia yang dikenal sebagai sebagai Toyota Hardtop Land Cruiser FJ40/45. Di Afrika, model-model Toyota Land Cruiser ini digunakan sebagai Technical alias jip bersenjata yang dibekali senapan mesin ringan, berat atau bahkan senjata basoka tanpa tolak balik (Recoilless bazooka) dan diterjunkan sepanjang konflik-konflik bersenjata dengan kinerja sangat tangguh.

Toyota tidak hanya dikenal melalui Toyota Land Cruiser. Mereka juga mengembangkan model yang menjadi favorit dunia, sedan kecil. Lewat Corolla yang memulai debutnya pada tahun 1966, sedan mungil generasi awal ini memakai penggerak belakang mengubah tatanan sedan bongsor yang populer saat itu menuju arah sedan kecil yang kompak, irit dan ringkas. Memasuki tahun 1975, Corolla masuk dalam generasi ketiga dan terjual lebih dari 5 juta unit. Hal yang menakjubkan ini masih kokoh hingga sekarang. Mesin mobil Corolla ini kemudian digunakan di Indonesia sebagai mesin untuk kendaraan niaga keluarga serbaguna, Toyota Kijang generasi awal yang dikenal sebagai Kijang Buaya.

Sejalan makin mengglobalnya produk Toyota, mereka sadar tidak mempunyai grafik logo. Bahkan di Indonesia dijumpai kendaraan bermerk Toyota seperti Toyota Kijang dengan logo TOYOTA pada grill di bagian bonnet (hidung) mobil. Di tahun 1989 Toyota akhirnya memutuskan untuk membuat dua lingkaran oval (elips) yang menghasilkan huruf T dan ellips ketiga mengisyaratkan akan the spirit of understanding in design. Lingkaran ketiga itu sekaligus mengelilingi kedua lingkaran ellips sebelumnya yang berbentuk T itu sebagai bukti menjaga dan mempengaruhi sekelilingnya.

Di tahun 1990-an, Toyota semakin membuktikan bahwa mobil Jepang dapat bersaing dengan mobil Eropa dan Amerika. Toyota Celica berhasil menjadi juara rally dunia, dan Toyota Camry menjadi mobil paling laris di Amerika.

Referensi : wikipedia