Kenkichi Toshima
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He graduated from the metallurgy department of Kyoto Imperial University's Faculty of Engineering in March 1927 and joined Kobe Steel in November 1932. He became a Director in August 1949, a Managing Director in November 1953 and a Senior Managing Director in November 1956, reaching the presidency 26 years after joining. The company was then a processor focused on wire rod and cast and forged steel, with no blast furnace of its own and dependent on Amagasaki Steel for pig iron. A metallurgical engineer, he set out to change that.
Selection
In November 1958, when Chohei Asada moved to Chairman, he rose from Senior Managing Director to President. Two months later, in January 1959, the Nadahama No. 1 blast furnace was fired up, establishing in-house production from iron ore to steel products. The company spent ¥37.0 billion through 1962 on the Nadahama land reclamation begun in 1957, and non-consolidated net sales had fallen from ¥42.6 billion in FY ended March 1958 to ¥38.4 billion in FY ended March 1959. The appointment appears to have handed management to an engineer who could run blast furnaces just as heavy investment coincided with falling demand.
Initiatives
Even with a blast furnace, the company's mainstays were wire rod and steel bars, with no steel sheet. In April 1965 it absorbed Amagasaki Steel, which had two blast furnaces, and built a state-of-the-art integrated steelworks on reclaimed land at Kakogawa, entering fully integrated steel production in March 1970. In parallel it opened a New York office in September 1960, the Fujisawa and Ibaraki plants in 1961 and the Moka aluminum plant in August 1969. Non-consolidated net sales rose from ¥42.6 billion in FY ended March 1958, the year before he took office, to ¥372.1 billion in FY ended March 1972, his final year.
Career
Career
Kobe Steel
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Nov 1932 | Joined |
| Aug 1949 | Director |
| Nov 1958 | President |
| May 1972 | Chairman |
| May 1972 | Stepped down as President |
| Nov 1974 | Stepped down as Chairman |