Kenichiro Komai
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
Komai handled orders for power generation equipment, which picked up with the Korean War in 1950, focusing on negotiations for hydroelectric projects such as Sakuma and Maruyama and thermal projects such as Tsurumi and Shioda. Hitachi had ample experience and testing facilities in hydropower, but in thermal power it had only imported technology from Germany's AEG before the war, had little experience, and trailed Toshiba and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Komai therefore sought an alliance with a first-rate foreign manufacturer and concluded negotiations to bring in turbine generator technology from GE.
Selection
He succeeded Chikara Kurata as president in 1961. The foreign technology brought in under his predecessor bore fruit within a few years: by 1955 Hitachi had reached 3,000 products, 28,000 employees and capital of ¥6.6 billion on a base of 16 plants and three branch plants. In 1959 the industry recognized that it had overtaken Toshiba in heavy electrical machinery. Appointing Komai, who had put together the GE alliance in practice, appears to have suited a stage in which the company needed to master foreign technology.
Initiatives
In 1961 Hitachi took a stake in Maxell Electric Industrial, and it spun off Hitachi Chemical in April 1963 and Hitachi Construction Machinery in December 1969. In February 1969 it opened the Software Works, building a structure in which contract development of computer software was housed in a plant. In December 1966 the Central Research Laboratory began developing selenium-based camera tubes jointly with NHK's Science and Technical Research Laboratories. In the mid-1960s recession he halted all capital investment, not only new projects but also those already underway, keeping the deterioration in results smaller than at rival companies.
Career
Career
Hitachi
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1961 | President |
| 1971 | Stepped down as President |