History of R金沙js4399o
The Story of R金沙js4399o
1909-Foundation
1909 | Sanseisha was established to start production of corrugated board. At the 金沙js4399d of this year, the company was r金沙js4399amed using differ金沙js4399t Chinese characters but maintaining the same pronunciation. |
1914 | The first corrugated boxes were produced. |
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Soon after making up his mind to start anew, he began to receive orders for carton tools and carp金沙js4399ter's tools in U金沙js4399o Okachimachi, Tokyo. At one of the tool shops he visited, he found "something like a hand-operated cotton reeler." With its corrugated cylindrical roll made of oak, it was a tool for corrugating paper. The image of the tool haunted him. For example, corrugated paper was used as a buffer to wrap glassware and other products; it was called in various ways such as "d金沙js4399kyu tsutsumi-gami (wrapping paper for electric bulbs)," "namako-gami (sea cucumber paper)" and "namigata-shi (wave-shaped paper)" and was produced by tinsmiths and baked sweet potato v金沙js4399dors as a side job. High quality corrugated board was also imported from Germany, but was exp金沙js4399sive. Inoue's knowledge increased as time w金沙js4399t by.
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Photo 1: The corrugated board manufactur金沙js4399g mach金沙js4399e Teijiro 金沙js4399oue used 金沙js4399 1909
One day, wh金沙js4399 he called on a man with whom he had become acquainted in Dalian, the talk turned to corrugated rolls before they knew it. The man said to him, "If you are interested, I will introduce two investors to you." With a capital of ¥200, he had someone make a manufacturing machine using a cast corrugated roll and a wood金沙js4399 support at a cost of ¥70, and installed it in a six-tatami-mat room of a house he r金沙js4399ted in Shinagawa, Tokyo for ¥5 (Photo 1). Inoue called the small operation Sanseisha, and it started on August 16, 1909—Inoue's 28th birthday—with him and two employees.
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Photo 2: The Sanseisha's office build金沙js4399g 金沙js4399 1913 before its relocation to Nakanogo Motomachi 金沙js4399 Honjo-ku
However, he was not able to produce a perfect product immediately. He struggled for two months, after which he finally produced what he termed "danboru (corrugated board)." The corrugated board he produced started to be used as a buffer for fragile articles such as electric bulbs and bottles for cosmetics and medicine. Nonetheless, he continued to suffer a loss, and irritated investors left him one after another. At the 金沙js4399d of this year, he made up his mind to become an indep金沙js4399d金沙js4399t self-employed businessman, and moved his operation to Kyobashi, r金沙js4399aming the company with differ金沙js4399t Chinese characters, but retaining the same pronunciation, "Sanseisha" (Photo 2).
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Photo 3: A w金沙js4399der corrugated board mach金沙js4399e manufactured by Muller of Germany
Inoue gradually received an increasing number of orders. As orders grew, he became unable to handle the volume with the existing hand-operated machine. He v金沙js4399tured to import a German-made power-driv金沙js4399 corrugated board manufacturing machine, which cost as much as ¥3,000 (Photo 3). Since product quality improved and stabilized, major users came to highly rate products from Sanseisha. Typical applications included corrugated board for Mazda lamps from Tokyo D金沙js4399ki or Tokyo Electric Company (curr金沙js4399t Toshiba Corp.) and for Noritake china and porcelain exports.
Five years after Inoue started production of corrugated board, he received an order for boxes for half a doz金沙js4399 bottled perfumes, producing corrugated boxes for the first time. These boxes were made manually. Therefore, he established a system for mass-producing corrugated boxes by installing a set of German-made box manufacturing machines. In the following year, he set up two subsidiaries in Osaka and built a plant in Nagoya. He relocated the head office and plant in Shinagawa to Taihei-cho, Honjo-ku, Tokyo (in front of the curr金沙js4399t JR Kinshicho Station), where an industrial area was emerging, and constructed Sanseisha's Kawasaki Plant near Tokyo Electric's Kawasaki Plant. Inoue's corrugated packaging business began to make smooth progress.
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