Kanichiro Ishibashi
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
The eldest son of founder Shojiro Ishibashi, he joined Bridgestone in 1945 and, after serving as Director and Executive Vice President, became President in February 1963. As of May 1961, just after the listing, he was the largest shareholder with 22.8%, followed by Shojiro Ishibashi with 12.2% and the Ishibashi Foundation with 10.0%. He still held 18.7% as of December 1962, and the top shareholders were the Ishibashi family, the Ishibashi Foundation, Yasuko Hatoyama and others.
Selection
His predecessor was his father, Shojiro Ishibashi, who stepped back to Representative Director and Chairman in February 1963, and Kanichiro Ishibashi, then Director and Executive Vice President, took over. The company had just listed on the Tokyo and Osaka stock exchanges in October 1961, and in 1962 it built the Nasu plant in Tochigi Prefecture, dedicated to small tires, beginning a division of production by product type. The change appears to have come as capital investment funded by outside money was getting into full swing.
Initiatives
The Tokyo plant, which began operating in March 1960, had as of 1965 a 600,000-square-meter site, 2,100 employees and annual capacity of 4.1 million tires. It used a fully continuous flow system in which raw materials entered at one end of a 430-meter building and finished products came out the other. In fiscal 1964, exports accounted for ¥10.9 billion of revenue of ¥68.5 billion, up 40% from ¥7.8 billion the year before. Overseas, the company set up the joint venture Thai Japan Tyre in Thailand in June 1967 and another joint venture in Indonesia in September 1973.
Career
Career
Bridgestone
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1945 | Joined |
| Feb 1963 | President |
| May 1973 | Chairman |
| May 1973 | Stepped down as President |
| Feb 1985 | Director, Honorary Chairman |