Hitachi Zosen Corporation
Hitachi Zosen Corporation operates as one of Japan's largest heavy industrial machinery firms. The company got its start as a shipbuilder during the 1880s in Japan. A devastating industry slump during the 1970s and 1980s forced Hitachi to diversify--its key business segments are now related to environmental equipment, energy, industrial, and precision machinery, electronics and information systems, steel construction, and marine and disaster prevention systems. Hitachi's boldest move, however, came in 2002 as it merged its shipbuilding operations with those of NKK Corp. The joint venture, Universal Shipbuilding Corp. operated as Japan's second-largest shipbuilding concern and was spun off in October 2002. During the year 2002, Hitachi Zosen created a new corporate brand image under the name Hitz. The firm plans to eventually adopt this as a corporate name once recognition is established.
The Osaka Iron Works
The Osaka Iron Works, Dock and Shipbuilding Yard were started in 1880 by Mr. E.H.Hunter, with several Japanese partners; the latter, however, withdrew, one after another, being uncertain of the prospects of the enterprise at that period, and the whole establishment was left in the hands of Mr. Hunter. To meet the steadily increasing volume of business, the works made successive extensions, more especially after 1895, and in 1899 nearly 16 acres of land, with a water frontage of more than 1 000 ft., were secured at Sakurajima, i mile from the mouth of the Aji River, and lying close to the new Osak,i Harbour. At this spot the shipyard for building iron and steel shivis is now situated. Owing to small demand in the mercantile marine few vessels were constructed by the works prior to 1891, but from 1891 to 1903, 203 ships have been built. Of these, 83 were of steel, and the remaining 120 were wooden vessels of small tonnage.
The river at the spot where the shipyard lies was 1,000 ft. wide and 14 ft. deep, thus restricting the size of the ships which can be built. Consequently, the attention of the management has been directed more to the building of vessels of smaller type, and a specialty has been made in the construction of dredges and shallow draft steamers. Bucket dredges, varying in capacity from 100 to 400 tons per hour, and shallow-draft steamers, 12 to 20 in. in draft, have been built during late years.
There were eight building berths by 1907, ranging in length from 200 to 300 ft., but as soon as the Osaka Harbour improvements, now in progress, are completed, the depth of water at the site will be increased, enabling ships of much greater length and tonnage to be launched from the yard. The yard for building wooden craft was on the other side of the river, and was available for tugboats and steam launches.
The War Years
As Japan's industrial capacity developed, its shipping needs expanded. The Osaka Iron Works acquired other facilities to meet the demand, including the Innoshima Shipyard in 1911, the Bingo Dockyard in 1919, Harada Shipbuilding Works in 1920, and the Hikojima Dockyard in 1924.
In the 1930s, militant nationalists who encouraged aggression in Asia increasingly influenced the government. Japan secretly began augmenting its navy in violation of treaties it held with Britain and the United States. In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria, setting up a puppet regime called Manchukuo, and by 1937 Japan was at war with China. In 1941, Japan attacked the United States, precipitating U.S. entry into World War II.
Much of Japan's military success came as a result of its powerful modern navy. A number of old merchant ships built by Osaka Iron Works, known as Hitachi Shipbuilding after 1934, were converted to naval use. While most of the large ships were built by Hitachi's competitors like Mitsubishi, Ishikawajima, Kawasaki, Mitsui, and Harima, the company did produce smaller vessels designed for military use including minesweepers, large landing craft, and Maru-Yu series transport submarines. Hitachi also built at least one aircraft transport ship with a flight deck for the army, the Kumano Maru. The 465-foot vessel was launched at Innoshima in January 1945.
In 1943, Hitachi opened the Kanagawa works and acquired Mukaishima Shipyard. The company changed its name to Hitachi Zosen Corporation that year. After the war, the U.S. occupation forces reorganized defense-related industries. Despite serious bomb damage at its shipyards during the war, Hitachi began building fishing and coastal transport ships almost immediately.
Postwar Boom and Bust
While other industries received government assistance to rebuild in the 1950s, the shipbuilding industry was left on its own. Japanese shipbuilders like Hitachi had to be flexible to survive--management sometimes put high-level engineers to work on the assembly line to fill orders on time. The industry developed extremely efficient methods to compete with European shipyards, and Japanese rock-bottom prices and top quality increased foreign orders. By 1955, Japan was the greatest shipbuilding nation in the world, and Hitachi was one of the busiest shipbuilders in Japan. Political uncertainties in the Middle East after the Suez Canal was closed temporarily in 1956 forced oil producers to seek economical means of bypassing the canal. Japanese shipbuilders were ready to meet the demand for larger oil tankers.
By 1966, Hitachi was capable of building ships weighing 250,000 tons, a feat unthinkable only a few years earlier. Technological developments revolutionized the shipbuilder's methods. By the early 1970s, Hitachi designed huge 250,000-ton tankers entirely by computer. Ships assembled at the company's Sakai Works used automated machinery to piece together various sections.
With about 50 percent of its turnover continuing to come from shipbuilding, Hitachi was hit hard by declining orders and canceled orders for supertankers as the 1970s went on. Further trouble came when rising material costs reduced the company's profit margin. Hitachi had continued to enter into fixed-price contracts long after European shipbuilders had gone over to flexible contracts.
Historically more marine-dependent than its Japanese competitors, Hitachi Zosen Corporation increased its nonshipbuilding activities in the late 1980s, placing greater emphasis on lines such as steel structures, construction machinery, environmental protection facilities, nuclear power equipment, industrial machinery, prime movers, and plants. By 1993 Hitachi Zosen managed to stay afloat and prosper during the worst business conditions to hit Japan's shipbuilders since the end of World War II due to the decision to turn the company into an 'all weather' entity by diversifying.
The Ariake Works was the largest and most modern plant of Hitachi Zosen. It was completed in 1974 and contains approximately 5,000,000 sq. ft. of area, two thirds of which are devoted to shipbuilding and offshore equipment manufacture and one-third to land use machinery manufacturing. The shipbuilding facility is very versatile; capable of producing small and medium size ships, as well as ultra-large ships, including LNG carriers, bulk carriers and tankers. Offshore structures which have been built include offshore platforms, oil drilling rigs and jacket modules.The Land-Use Machinery Division is equally capable of manufacturing a wide range of products such as high temperature and high pressure vessels, towers and tanks.
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