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| From the mid to late 1950s, the Japanese electric appliance
industry exploded. While a wide range of appliances
flooded the market, the mainstay products were TVs, washing
machines and refrigerators. Sales of TVs, in particular, saw a
dramatic increase as they rose from 3 thousand units in 1954 to
a million units in 1958. Toshio could see that he had to swiftly expand SANYO's production scale. The Kanto area (eastern Japan) accounted for half of all sales but most SANYO plants were located in the Kansai area (western Japan). Consequently, SANYO had huge transportation costs. To reduce costs and speed up production, Toshio decided to place a production base in the Kanto area as well. A site that was previously used as an airplane plant in Oizumi–cho, Gunma Prefecture was chosen for SANYO's new manufacturing plant. To further expand production, Tokyo SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. was founded in 1959. This company concentrated on producing refrigerators/freezers, radio equipment and semiconductors. |
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