Issei Hatakeyama
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He took over the task of turning into real machines the theory of the volute pump published in 1905 by Ariya Inokuchi, a professor at Tokyo Imperial University. When Kunitomo Iron Works, which had been working on its commercialization, closed amid financial difficulties at the end of the Meiji era, Issei Hatakeyama, a former student of Inokuchi, set up the Inokuchi-Type Machinery Office in Nippori in November 1912 and began production. The office opened with Inokuchi as chief and Hatakeyama as director. In 1919 it delivered a record 15 large pumps to the Tawaramachi pumping station in Asakusa, Tokyo City, and the Mikawashima sewage treatment plant, and on that footing founded Ebara Manufacturing with capital of ¥3 million in May 1920. Even at the end of October 1962 he was the largest individual shareholder, holding 5.0% of issued shares.
Selection
He became President upon the company's founding in May 1920. He is on record as president in every postwar snapshot: the 1950 edition of the corporate yearbook lists Issei Hatakeyama as president and Okuhiro Sakai as Senior Managing Director, and a 1955 eighty-year history of companies and banks also names him as president. The company was in the midst of postwar reconstruction; with the Haneda Plant crippled by war damage, it moved its main operations, including head office functions, to the Kawasaki Plant in July 1946, received approval of its reconstruction and readjustment plan in July 1948, and was released from its designation as a special accounting company in May 1950. It listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on May 16, 1949.
Initiatives
After the war he added businesses beyond pumps by buying other companies' technology. He formed alliances with Toyo Carrier in refrigeration equipment in January 1953 and with Infilco of the U.S. in water treatment equipment in January 1956, the latter leading to production through Ebara Infilco, a 50-50 joint venture. In January 1955 he split production between the Haneda Plant for large pumps and the Kawasaki Plant for mass production of small and medium pumps. Expanding the lineup to equipment for salt, sugar and starch production, sales grew from ¥2.7 billion in 1953 to ¥14.1 billion in 1962. In 1962 he handed the presidency to Okuhiro Sakai, who had joined in 1920, and became chairman.
Career
Career
Ebara
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| May 1920 | President |
| 1962 | Chairman |
| 1962 | Stepped down as President |