Panasonic churns out 100 millionth washing machine

September 2, 2013 Leave a comment

Panasonic churns out 100 millionth washing machine

KYODO

AUG 30, 2013

OSAKA – Panasonic Corp. has built its 100 millionth washing machine since starting production in 1951 under the leadership of founder Konosuke Matsushita. Its output of washing machines has accelerated since Panasonic started production in China in 1992, with the last 50 million being manufactured since 1998. Panasonic said Thursday that its washing machines are popular in numerous areas because they are designed specifically for each region, taking into consideration size and washing method.Production of washing machines began at its Osaka factory in September 1951 under forerunner Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., when Konosuke Matsushita ordered the production of household appliances to liberate housewives from exhausting household labor. The first models sold for ¥53,000, equivalent to seven to eight months of the average income at the time.

Washers became widespread during the boom in household appliances that started in the late 1950s and were one of the “three sacred treasures,” or must-have appliances, along with black-and-white TVs and refrigerators.

Panasonic began exporting washing machines to Singapore and Cuba in 1957. With factories in China and Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines, Panasonic currently produces more than 4.5 million a year overseas.

The company has also manufactured 350 million TVs and 80 million refrigerators globally.

Filed under Macro Trends

Unknown's avatarAbout bambooinnovator
Kee Koon Boon (“KB”) is the co-founder and director of HERO Investment Management which provides specialized fund management and investment advisory services to the ARCHEA Asia HERO Innovators Fund (www.heroinnovator.com), the only Asian SMID-cap tech-focused fund in the industry. KB is an internationally featured investor rooted in the principles of value investing for over a decade as a fund manager and analyst in the Asian capital markets who started his career at a boutique hedge fund in Singapore where he was with the firm since 2002 and was also part of the core investment committee in significantly outperforming the index in the 10-year-plus-old flagship Asian fund. He was also the portfolio manager for Asia-Pacific equities at Korea’s largest mutual fund company. Prior to setting up the H.E.R.O. Innovators Fund, KB was the Chief Investment Officer & CEO of a Singapore Registered Fund Management Company (RFMC) where he is responsible for listed Asian equity investments. KB had taught accounting at the Singapore Management University (SMU) as a faculty member and also pioneered the 15-week course on Accounting Fraud in Asia as an official module at SMU. KB remains grateful and honored to be invited by Singapore’s financial regulator Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to present to their top management team about implementing a world’s first fact-based forward-looking fraud detection framework to bring about benefits for the capital markets in Singapore and for the public and investment community. KB also served the community in sharing his insights in writing articles about value investing and corporate governance in the media that include Business Times, Straits Times, Jakarta Post, Manual of Ideas, Investopedia, TedXWallStreet. He had also presented in top investment, banking and finance conferences in America, Italy, Sydney, Cape Town, HK, China. He has trained CEOs, entrepreneurs, CFOs, management executives in business strategy & business model innovation in Singapore, HK and China.

Leave a comment