Chikara Kurata
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
Hitachi began in 1910 as a repair shop attached to the Hitachi Mine of Kuhara Mining, and in February 1920 became independent as Hitachi, Ltd. with the Hitachi and Kameido Works. Its first president, Namihei Odaira, set out to produce domestically the electrical machinery Japan had relied on importing, and the policy of avoiding alliances with foreign manufacturers continued for over 40 years from the founding. Kurata was a career insider of this company, and a 1955 company history also records Chikara Kurata as president.
Selection
The Kizugawa Works burned down in an air raid in June 1945, and with military orders gone at the end of the war, the Kizugawa and Amagasaki Works were closed. The remaining plants picked up reconstruction demand by supplying machinery to priority industries such as coal mining, food production, transport and electric power, but the plant and workforce swollen in wartime did not match peacetime order volumes, and about 8,500 of 44,000 employees were judged surplus. What Kurata took on was dealing with this excess.
Initiatives
After a major three-month labor dispute spanning 1949 and 1950, he completed the reduction of about 8,500 of the 44,000 employees. In his 1950 management policy Kurata described that year as "truly a year of light after overcoming these hardships." In 1952 the company concluded technical assistance agreements with RCA for receiving tubes and electron tubes and with Babcock & Wilcox for boilers, reversing the policy of avoiding alliances with foreign manufacturers it had followed for over 40 years since its founding. In October 1956 it spun off Hitachi Metals and Hitachi Cable.
Career
Career
Hitachi
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1946 | President |
| 1961 | Stepped down as President |