Soichiro Honda
In this article we will share a story
about Soichiro Honda biography. It was the man who changed a usual view
on traditions of running business and only in his country but also
almost in every country around the world. Enjoy reading the story about
inventions, trials and failures and success.
Soichiro Honda (本田 宗一郎, November 17, 1906 – August 5, 1991) is
Japanese entrepreneur and inventor, engaged in the development and
industrial production of mopeds, motorcycles and cars. He is the founder
of the Honda Motor Co., Inc. corporation and automobile companies in
the U.S. and Japan. Soichiro Honda is the creator of the popular models
of motorcycles and cars: Super Cub, Civic, Accord, Prelude and etc. He
is the owner of multibillion-dollar status.
Perhaps it would be difficult to find a
person who has not heard about Honda Motor Company. And this is not
surprising, because people from more than 140 countries around the world
buy its bikes, cars, boat motors, mini-tractors, autonomous power
stations, tillers for farmers and other mechanisms equipped with
gasoline engines.
Back in 1956 the company presented to the staff job descriptions with “The Three Joys” they had to learn.
The first of them is the joy of
producing. It is a joy known only to the engineer. It is an absolute
happiness of the engineers when the good is of great quality is welcomed
by society. The second joy is when a seller is happy because a buyer
has got a Honda product. The third joy belongs to the buyer. The buyer
is so happy that he or she bought the product of Honda.
Honda Company is a unique example of a
corporation that successfully works on the markets on five continents;
it is a member of prestigious sporting events, it is the Company that is
investing in the development of high-tech projects and is working to
radically improve the environmental performance of manufactured
products. The potential of Honda engineers is fully consistent to the
professional level of sales managers around the world. Such a tandem has
been ensuring the success of the company for many years and gives
confidence to be as successful in the future.
Soichiro Honda Biography
Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda
Company, was born in November 17, 1906 in Japan, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka.
His mother, Mika, was a weaver, and even designed her own loom to weave
particularly complex patterns. And his father, Gihei, was a blacksmith,
who ran a bicycle repair business. The bicycle transport became
extremely popular in big cities those years. His father was buying
broken bikes for a knockdown price in Tokyo, repairing and selling them
to all comers. Soichiro was helping his father literally from the cradle
and the bicycle parts were his favorite toys.
Helping his father in the smithy, he
always got dirty with soot but he was very ingenious. At the end of the
quarter at school, all students were handed grade reports, which parents
had to stamp with the family seal, instead of putting signatures.
Soichiro was not an excellent student, but he did not want to disappoint
his parents. So he cut family hieroglyphs on an old tire and “signed” a
grade report himself. Soichiro did not realize that the stamp had to be
mirror-imaged. He started to make fake stamps for other classmates. His
family name is 本田 and it was symmetrical when written vertically, so it
did not cause a problem, but some of other children’s family names were
not symmetrical. When the teacher noticed that, he said with the smile
that some hieroglyphs were not mirror-imaged. Soichiro Honda’s father
left him without a lunch and put him in a corner on his knees for a
whole day and he did that not for the forgery but for the fact that
Soichiro did not notice the relation between seal pattern and stamp
itself.
Curtiss
In 1922, after finishing eight years of
schooling, Soichiro noticed a job ad in a newspaper: an assistant wanted
to Art Shokai auto repair shop in Tokyo. After that he went straight to
the capital of Japan. He was accepted, but as the youngest employee,
there was left only cleaning and preparing meals job for him. Despite
this the owner of the auto repair shop allowed Soichiro to help in the
second workshop, where he was designing a racing car every night. During
the earthquake in 1923, Soichiro drove out three cars from a burning
garage, but he had never sat behind the wheel. Honda was assigned as an
assistance at Art Shokai; he helped the workshop’s proprietors, the
Sakakibara brothers, in designing a Curtiss race car. Soichiro was a
riding mechanic at races and their team took the first place at the
fifth Japan Motor Car Championship in November 23, 1924.
There were a lot of other victories
behind this success. Art Shokai workshop became one of the most popular
garages in Tokyo and in five year after the earthquake, Yuzo Sakakibara
expanded his business by opening several branches in the province. One
of them was led by 21 year Soichiro in the town of Hamamatsu. Since that
memorable earthquake in Tokyo, Honda decided to create durable spare
parts for vehicles. Soichiro Honda proposed to replace the wooden spokes
to metal ones on the wheels and even received a patent for his
invention. Art Shokai was very prosperous and brought considerable
revenue. But it was not enough for Honda. He tried to produce piston
rings, investing almost all his savings in the research laboratory. But
none of the directors of Art Shokai supported him.
Honda A-Type
Soichiro literally lived in the
workshop, developing piston rings. But it didn’t give any fruits. Honda
even handed over the jewels of his wife to the pawn shop. Only after
that he admitted his incompetence in the foundry business and changed
the attitude toward education. Up to that time Honda had considered
science useless. “If the theory promoted creativity, then all teachers
would have been the inventors.” – Honda was saying. Now he has decided
to acquire the necessary knowledge in the technological school of
Hamamatsu. And all his spare time Honda devoted to the racing car
design. Having developed his own method of engine cooling, he resolved
the main problem of the all sport cars of that time. His engine did not
explode from overheating during a race. Soichiro decided to take part in
major competitions to experience his masterpiece.
In 1936, Honda took part in the Japanese
high-speed rally in Tama River in the suburbs of Tokyo and almost died.
His car raced at breakneck speed – 120 km / h. Honda crashed into a
suddenly stopped car at the finish. The car turned over thrice in the
air, and the champion was thrown out of it. The car was lost forever.
Honda’s left arm was fractured, his shoulder was dislocated and his face
was damaged. He spent three months at a hospital. The road to the sport
was closed forever for him.
Being at the hospital, Soichiro
received bad news. Out of 30,000 piston rings, which he produced in the
recent years and sent for examination to the Toyota Company, only 50 were
accepted for consideration and only three pieces passed quality control
tests. In addition, Honda was dropped out of the college because he
refused to take the examination: Soichiro needed knowledge, but not a
diploma.
Any other man, perhaps, would give up in
such situation. But after recovering, Honda opened his own business in
Hamamatsu. In 1937 Honda founded the company ‘Tokai Seiki’ and started
producing the piston rings, production technology of which had been
finally found. Things went uphill.
During the Sino-Japanese War and then
World War II Honda’s company was providing ‘Toyota’ with the piston
rings by 40%, and also supplied parts to shipbuilding and aircraft
manufacturing companies. But with the defeat of Japan in World War II
“Tokay Seiko” came to an end. In 1945 Hamamatsu was undergone a massive
bombardment by American aircraft. Honda assumed that the country is
entering into a period of poverty and ruin and decided not to restore
the factory, but sold the business to ‘Toyota’ for 450,000 thousand yen.
10,000 ten thousand yen the businessman spent on the purchase of
alcohol tank. By installing it in his yard, he said publicly that he was
going to rest a year. Indeed, Soichiro spent a year in drunken revels,
treating friends with homemade whiskey.
In 1946 Honda opened his own ‘factory’
with a grandiloquent name – ‘Honda Technology Research Institute’ and
became engaged in artisanal production of mopeds. He fitted a generator
engine of a tiny army radio to a bicycle, used rubber hot water bottle
as a fuel tank and filled it with fir oil. There was plenty of fir oil
in the countryside of Japan in those times. Honda sold 1,500 one
thousand five hundred of these mopeds, nicknamed ‘choo-choo’ for their
sound. Then Honda replaced the engine by a two-stroke engine of his own
design. It was the first original Honda A-Type product moped of
indefatigable businessman which was developed in 1947. And after two
years the ‘Institute’ became the Honda Motor Company.
Dream-D Type
In 1949, the first model of a motorcycle
with a two-stroke engine Soichiro called ‘The Dream’. Two years later
he started the production of a model with four-stroke engine. And by
1958, when his model of “Super Cub” model came to the U.S., Honda was
already the largest Japanese manufacturer of motorcycles, leaving behind
not only 50 Japanese competitors but also 200 competitors from other
countries.
As soon as the Honda Motor began
producing motorcycles, foreign companies were interested in the
production of Honda. To sign up a contract their representatives came to
Japan. There was a story which happened with one of the foreign
partners and which was included in all the biographies of Honda
Soichiro.
Once, Honda overdid when treating a
regular guest with sake. The guest felt very bad and during a visit to
the WC he dropped his false teeth into the toilet. Honda did not
hesitate for a moment and climbed into a cesspool, found the jaw and he
went straight into the bathroom, after some time he came out, dashingly
dancing with dentures in the mouth. He was able to instantly relieve
stress and the deal was saved. Soichiro, recalling the incident, said:
“The man, who stands at the head of the company, should be ready to act
in such a way that it may seem strange to other employees. It is not
necessary to repeat these steps several times: it is enough of one
precedent to make your team follow you.”
Rapidly growing company required
completely new approaches to management. Management improvements
implemented at Honda Company were truly revolutionary. The departments
were clearly delineated and were responsible for the scientific and
technical developments and units engaged in direct production. Honda
Research Center got an autonomous status and it abandoned from the
management pyramid. Design engineer’s promotion depended not on the
vacated positions but on the personal achievements. Soichiro had always
opposed to the hierarchical form of management, believing that “in
general, people work harder and more innovative if they are not forced.
Quite a different picture of where they are strongly suggested what to
do. Honda’s system was designed to raise geniuses who sooner or later
will replace him as president.
Incidentally, the fact that Soichiro did
not intend to transfer business to heirs, played a very important role
in the company receiving long-term bank loans: the financiers were
confident that it would be passed into the hands of highly qualified
professionals. The quintessence of new approaches to management and
production were enunciated by Honda in January 1956 and was called “The
Company Principle”. Their essence can be summarized in four basic
principles: the creation of new markets, participation of all employees
in management, internationalization of production, solution of technical
and other problems without looking back to precedents, traditions, and
common views.
Honda’s motorcycle business was rapidly
gaining momentum. In 1961 the company was producing 100 thousand
motorcycles per month and in 1968 the company was producing one million
motorcycles per month. By the mid-80s Soichiro was holding in his hands
60% of the world market and by 90s the company’s production reached 3
million motorcycles a year.
Having reached the top in the motorcycle
industry, Honda decided that now he can proceed with the implementation
of a cherished dream – to create automobiles. When he was a child, he
was literally mesmerized when he first saw a car. In his bio he recalls
this impression: ”Forgetting about everything in the world, I was
running after the car…I was deeply moved…I think it was then, although I
was very young, I had the idea that someday I will construct a car
myself.”
Super Cub
In the conquest of the
automotive market Honda made a bet on his favorite race cars. The first
one was debuted in 1962. While Japanese officials tried to convince him
in the futility of the project, arguing that the country did not need
another car manufacturer, but energetic entrepreneur did not listen
their arguments. In 1970 Soichiro Honda was the winner in the highly
competitive automotive industry.
One of the first attacks, Soichiro Honda
took on the problem of exhaust gases. None of the world’s car
automakers could not handle it directly, and solved it by creating a
catalytic converter. And only Honda was able to design the first engine
with a low pollution level. This environmentally friendly device he
installed to Honda Civic model that was launched into production in 1975
and quickly gained immense popularity.
Ignoring the traditional idea that
American workers are not able to assemble high-quality Japanese cars, in
the mid-70s Honda built in Marysville, Ohio a plant which was going to
manufacture cars that match the quality standards of the Japanese
assembly. Honda Accord that was manufactured there was the sales leader
in the U.S in the late 80s. Thanks to this car Soichiro was the first
Japanese leader, noted in the Hall of Fame of the American automobile
industry.
At beginning of the 80s Honda Motor Co.,
Inc. was the third largest producer of cars in Japan. And by the end of
the decade it was the third company in the world.
For elegant solutions to complex
engineering problems Honda has always walked the easiest way. Its
production was addressed to all – men, women, teenagers – and every
particular. It was designed for very large middle class consumers, who
until his producers did not take into account. The main force of the
entrepreneur was not only bold and elegant technical solutions, the
beauty of design, but also in the market intuition, which he possessed
by nature.
To Honda’s opinion the secret of his
success lies in the fact that he had always been guided by the empirical
method of “trials and errors”. And he also believed that “employers
must be willing to set incredible goals and be ready for defeat”.
Another essential quality of a
businessman, according to Soichiro, is the ability to take risks. He did
not admit defeat and was willing to risk everything for his beliefs and
ideas, in order to achieve set goal.
Among his employees, he was
known as “Mr. Thunderstorm”. He got this nickname for emotional
outbursts. Honda was loved, by yet was feared his wrath. Soichiro Honda
served as an example of a man with perseverance, modesty, pleasant
manners and with the ability to accept mistakes as a valuable asset to
his employees and family – his wife, Sachi and his children (two boys
and two daughters).
While Honda vehicles quickly and
confidently took the leading place in the world market, he had been the
stepchild in Japanese automotive industry. The reason for his rejection
of Japan’s business world was in the denial of businessman traditional
pillars of the economy. His rebelliousness was especially manifested in
the early 70s, when Japan had the oil crisis and all of the
manufacturers agreed to reduce output and raise prices. But only
Soichiro refused to participate in that and did everything to oppose the
scenario: he doubled the production and lowered prices. And he was
right. The company’s sales of Nissan and Toyota fell by 40%, while
Honda’s ones did grew up by 76%.
All his life this rebellious businessman
was tirelessly fighting with traditions. For example, he refused to
hire professionals for many times, who had received higher education,
because he believed that dogmatic thinking would be a hindrance in the
search for new ways of development. He resisted the influence of
business traditions to the world of Honda Motor, which always had its
principles. But he never renounced his errors about which he said:
“Looking back on my work, I feel that I was doing nothing more than
mistakes, blunders and serious omissions. But I am proud of the
achievements. Although I did one mistake after another, my mistakes and
failures never occurred to the same reasons”.
Honda had worked for 65 years in the company and personally tested every new car. He never admitted his relatives
Honda Civic 1975
to the leadership: “No matter how
outstanding could be the company’s founder; there is no guarantee that
his son would be capable of the same. The company’s management should be
given to a person who has the distinctive qualities of a leader.”
In 1973, Honda Motor Co., Inc.
celebrated its 25th anniversary. During the board of directors meeting,
dedicated to this event, Soichiro Honda declared that he was going to
retire. The new president, as expected, was chosen from among the
employees. The founding father was fond of saying that the company
thrives when its former chief appears there as seldom as possible. So
his departure from the office was final.
But Honda was full of energy to remain
idle. He was elected as the vice-president of the Tokyo Chamber of
Commerce and the Association of Japanese Automotive Industry. He founded
two NGOs – the International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences
and the Honda Foundation and also studied the influence of science and
technology on the environment and developed an environmentally friendly
technology. He also lectured at international conferences.
The legendary businessman died on August
5, 1991. By the end of his life he came up with a large store of
achievements, which were 470 inventions and 150 patents, honorary
doctorate at Michigan Technical University and Ohio State University,
the highest honor of his country – Japan’s Blue Ribbon – and many other
more achievements. Starting a business having $ 3,200 thousand dollars,
he created the largest company with annual revenue of more than $ 30
billion dollars.
Soichiro Honda once said: “Many
people dream of success. I believe that success can be achieved only
through repeated failure and self-analysis. Success is only one percent
of your work, and the rest – bold overcoming of obstacles. If you are
not afraid of them, success will come to you itself”. Today’s prosperity
of Honda Motor Co., Inc. proves the truth of its founder.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading Soichiro Honda biography and it’s inspired you to new discoveries.
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