Hitachi
Hitachi, Ltd. -Global - Technology's 'sunrise' in the land of the rising sun!
Today, Lalu will tell you the brand story of Hitachi Ltd. of Japan, ranked 102nd in the Fortune Global 500 Company. Hitachi Group provides world-class products and services all around the world through its most advanced technology and with a slogan called 'Inspire the Next.'
The founder of Hitachi was Namihei Odaira. He was born in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. From the age of 18, Namihei had become accustomed to writing diaries. He joined the Imperial University of Tokyo in 1896 to study electrical engineering. During his college, he traveled all over Japan and got a glimpse of the factory situation. He was shocked to learn that his country's technology was far behind Western technology. That's when he dreamed of becoming a game-changer on the world stage and sharing his innovations with the world.
After graduating, Odaira joined the Kosaka Copper Mine Company in Akita, Japan as a power plant engineer. The company was one of the three major copper mines in Japan. At that time, mining was an important sector for Japan's industrial development. He left the company after four years because he wanted to do technological innovations on his own. After that, he joined Tokyo Dento, a power station setting company as a senior engineer. He also played a significant role in the installation of Komahashi Power Station. However, the machinery used there was not indigenous, and the instructors were foreigners, and Odaira could not bear it. In 1906, with the request of Fusanosuke who was the president of the Kuhara Copper Mining Company in Hitachi, Ibaraki, Japan, Odaira joined Kuhara as head of the engineering department where his primary duty was to ensure that the power supply remained stable and to maintain the mine's electrical equipment.
In 1910, Namihei Odaira opened an electrical repair shop in the Kuhara Mining Company's building, which gave birth to the Hitachi Company. In Japanese, 'hi' means 'sun,' and 'tachi' means 'rise.' Thus, Hitachi means 'sunrise'. He teamed up with his colleagues to build Japan's first 5 horsepower induction electric motor, which was useful in a copper mine. This was the first product from the Hitachi company, and their first three products were supplied to Kuhara Mining Company. However, as Hitachi ventured in-house in Kuhara Mining Company, it was initially owned by Fusanosuke Kuhara. Odaira moved Hitachi's headquarters to Chioda, Tokyo, in 1918. In a short time, the company became a leader in the domestic market of products related to electric motors and power industries. In 1920, Odaira established the company as Hitachi Limited.
Hitachi has seen two world wars. During World War II, Hitachi city was a significant US military target as it was home to the Kuhara Copper Mining Company, which produced one-tenth of Japan's copper, and the electrical equipment manufacturers Hitachi Company. Bombings destroyed many of Hitachi's factories, and the founder Odaira was removed from the company.
Starting with the production of a 5 HP motor, today, Hitachi Group is a giant conglomerate with 814 subsidiary companies (as of March 31, 2020) and is providing world-class products and services worldwide. Today, the group operates in 11 segments: Digital Media and Consumer Products, Automotive Systems, Railway, and Urban Systems, Financial Services, Construction Machinery, Power Systems, Electronic Systems and Equipment, High Functional Systems, and Others.
Hitachi built Japan's first steam locomotive for railways in 1920. At that time, electric locomotives were imported from abroad, which was not acceptable to Odira, and thus he built Japan's first electric locomotive in 1924. Hitachi and Japan Railway Company jointly developed and successfully tested a hybrid propulsion system known as the NE train. Based on these successful results, the world's first hybrid train was launched in Japan in July 2007. As a critical player in the development of the Shinkansen bullet train in Japan, Hitachi has participated in all the Shinkansen rolling stock projects. Hitachi Rail has struck a 400 million deal to provide high-speed trains in the UK by 2022. It is successfully providing its technology and expertise for worldwide rail networks - high speed, light rail, and metro. Be it a goods train, a passenger train or a driverless robot train.
If we want to look at Hitachi's India connection, we have to go back to the time before independence. In 1933, Hitachi started exporting electric fans to India, the first notable project between Hitachi and India. In November 1935, Hitachi opened an office in India, the Hitachi Group's first overseas office. Today, Hitachi Group has 17 subsidiaries in India. TATA HITACHI is one of them. Hitachi is involved in signaling and telecommunications for the railway network of Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) of 10,122 km length in the country.
Hitachi founded Hitachi America Ltd. as a regional subsidiary in 1959, 14 years after the atomic attack on Japan. In 1977, exactly 32 years after the attack, Hitachi launched its first manufacturing facility in the United States. Today, Hitachi has 11 major R&D facilities, 30 major production sites, 88 groups of companies, and more than 20,900 employees across the United States. Hitachi Vantara is one of them, working on the Internet of Things (IoT), Data Storage Systems, Video Intelligence, etc. Hitachi has developed an IoT system called LUMADA. With an artificial intelligence (AI) system called a big data analysis engine, it has achieved outstanding results in cancer screening, food waste, shipping fuel, and finance.
From 2006 to 2010, Hitachi lost 12.5 billion US dollars. It was the turn of many departments to be restructured and some to be sold. As part of its business strategy, Hitachi is still redesigning some segments and selling some. It is the company's strategy that this process will continue until 2021.
In 1960, Hitachi developed Japan's first online computer system and became the world's largest producer of analog computers. They made the world's fastest superconducting computer in 1989 and the world's most giant processing-scale large-scale computer in 1990.
China's Guangzhou province had an estimated 50,000 old buildings of 8 or 9 floors that did not have elevators. Some of the elderly avoided coming down from the building for a month. Hitachi got rid of this problem. Besides, in 2015 the CTF Finance Center in Guangzhou operated the world's fastest lift at the time.
As of 2016, the electrification rate in Myanmar was only 37%. Hitachi Soe Electric and Machinery Co. carried out a transformer project and developed it to 100% electrification.
Hitachi Rail STS and other group companies are working hard to make the Goods Train and Passenger Train network in the USA safer and more efficient for which IoT and AI were used. A company with about 3 lakh trucks would spend a lot of time and money on the maintenance of so many trucks. Hitachi made this task more comfortable with the use of IoT and AI.
In India, the Andhra Pradesh government undertook a real-time governance project with Hitachi Consulting Software Services to provide accurate and fast administrative services to the people, reduce crime rates, and ensure effective disaster management. Hitachi Vantara, USA, India, and under the banner of "ONE HITACHI," the project was efficiently completed by other group-companies of the world. Developing a particular type of amorphous metal with its cheap and efficient solar energy system has overcome the country's challenges.
In 2019, they established an eco-friendly and state-of-the-art navigation system for maritime transport in Europe. Hitachi is advancing in the field of regenerative medicine by building automated iPS cells mass culture equipment in Japan. This therapy has the potential to regenerate or replace any damaged tissues and organs in the body. Probably many diseases, injuries, and genetic problems can be treated with this therapy.
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (in the US) and Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy (in Japan) were established in 2007 with multinational giant General Electric for the production of nuclear energy for energy security and the prevention of global warming.
Entering its 110th year of existence, Hitachi has identified five growth sectors: Mobility, Smart Life, Industry, Energy, and IT. The company is committed to enhancing social, environmental, and economic values for customers in each of these areas. Every employee of the company says, "I AM HITACHI."
The company is not just run by top management. When the administration understands that every employee of the company is a company and all the employees participate in the growth of the company efficiently, a company is created that can inspire tomorrow to make a better tomorrow.
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