Where is sharp made

Two years later, when television broadcasting started, Hayakawa Electric introduced its first commercial television set under the brand name 'Sharp,' in honor of the pencil.

Hayakawa's good timing was essential in allowing the company to establish and maintain a significant and profitable market share. The company started development of a color television in the mids. In , with the advent of color broadcasting in Japan, Hayakawa introduced a line of color sets. This was followed in by a commercial microwave oven, and in by a desktop calculator. The Compet calculator was the first in the world to use transistors.

In the microwave oven received a rotating plate and calculators shrank with the use of integrated circuits. Hayakawa recognized the great sales potential of the United States; a sales subsidiary was established there in It served the dual purpose of facilitating sales and observing the market.

By the late s, the Sharp brand name had become well-established in North America. Sales in the United States provided the company with a large and increasing portion of its income. In addition, subsidiaries were established in West Germany in and Britain in Hayakawa Electric made two major breakthroughs in That year the company introduced the Extra Large Scale Integration Calculator, a device now reduced to the size of a paperback book.

The other new product was the gallium arsenide light-emitting diode LED --in effect, a tiny computer light. Like the radio and television before them, improved versions of both the calculator and LED were subsequently introduced in future years. Tokuji Hayakawa retired from the day-to-day operations of his company in , assuming the title of chairman.

He was replaced as president by Akira Saeki, a former executive director. Saeki oversaw an important reorganization of the company intended to establish a new corporate identity and unify product development efforts. Saeki, who witnessed the Apollo moon landing while in the United States, decided that the company's future efforts should center on the development of semiconductors, the electronic components that had made the lunar mission possible.

He initiated construction of a massive research complex called the Advanced Development and Planning Center. The project was a significant investment for Sharp, since its budget was already seriously strained by the construction of an exhibit for Expo ' Nevertheless construction was begun on a acre research complex in Tenri, Nara Prefecture. Building upon existing integration technologies, VLSI production lines enabled manufacturers to reduce defects and raise productivity through the use of industrial robots and other mechanical apparatus.

During the s, Sharp consolidated its position in consumer goods by broadening its product line to include refrigerators, washers, portable stereos, copiers, desktop computers, video equipment, and Walkman-type headsets. Perhaps Sharp's most significant development during this period occurred in , when the company introduced the first hand-held calculator using a liquid crystal display LCD screen.

Sharp, on the other hand, incorporated LCD screens into its calculator, making it smaller and lighter. Although Sharp's LCD screen did not seem like a tremendous breakthrough at the time, the technology would later prove central to Sharp's development.

In an effort to head off impending protectionist trade legislation, Sharp built new factories in its largest overseas markets, principally the United States. The company's decision to build a plant in Memphis, Tennessee, was criticized at first. RCA had closed a plant in Memphis in , favoring production in Taiwan. Sharp maintained that RCA had merely suffered from inept management and went ahead with the plant.

By pushing its American suppliers for parts with zero defects and incorporating the Japanese concept of full worker involvement, the Memphis plant proved highly successful. President Saeki retired in , continuing to serve the company as an advisor. He was succeeded by Haruo Tsuji, a 'numbers man' with an exemplary record in middle and upper management. During Saeki's tenure, Sharp had diversified into a wide range of consumer products. By Sharp operated 12 research laboratories and 34 plants in 27 countries and its employees were equally divided between Japan and foreign countries.

The logistics of running a truly international corporation took a toll on Sharp's earnings, however, particularly as the value of the Japanese yen strengthened against other currencies in the mids. Nevertheless, Saeki had left his company, with its 18 divisions, poised for a future of vigorous growth. Eschewing the more glamorous development paths of rivals such as Sony and Matsushita, who expanded by acquiring a number of Hollywood-based entertainment companies during the s, Sharp instead focused on research and development.

In consumer electronics and appliances, the company engaged in a measured effort to move upmarket, introducing more expensive, but higher quality, products. By the late s Sharp had developed a number of innovations in its product line such as a video disc player capable of reproducing three-dimensional images, a cordless telephone with a meter range, and Zarus, a highly successful computerized personal organizer, capable of reading handwritten Japanese text.

But the most significant changes took place in another area of business. New president Tsuji quickly recognized the potential of LCD devices, and unflinchingly focused the company's resources on developing the technology. Tsuji committed 10 percent of Sharp's total sales revenues to research and development.

With this push, Sharp soon began to add LCD screens to all its products. By the late s, Sharp succeeded in producing a thin film transistor LCD--a display with impressively sharp definition that opened the door to color laptop computers and portable televisions. In , Tsuji appointed Kiyoshi Sakashita, a company board member and an expert in industrial design, to lead a team of 50 engineers focused on further exploiting Sharp's LCD technology.

Learn more. Sharp trademark is owned by Sharp Corporation of Japan. Sharp is a multi-profile corporation operating in the segment of electronics, energy, visualization, etc. In , against the backdrop of the global crisis in the production of televisions, many new companies appeared that offered a large number of televisions to customers, and competition increased significantly.

Many global companies have decided to quit the TV business. Including Sharp decided to curtail its own production of televisions. In , Sharp curtailed the production of televisions. The Sharp brand of televisions has been licensed to third parties.

In addition to Japan, China and Singapore, Sharp had a large television market in these countries, and Sharp continued to manufacture television sets for these markets. For the North American market, Sharp manufactured televisions in Mexico in its own factory. In , an agreement was signed on the sale of the plant and the rights to the Sharp trademark for TV sets of the Chinese company Hisense.

In , after lawsuits by Sharp against Hisense, an agreement was reached between the companies to terminate the license agreement and from Hisense ceased to manufacture TVs under the Sharp brand. The reason for the return was claims from Sharp regarding the quality of Hisense TVs. By committing ourselves to these ideals, we can derive genuine satisfaction from our work, while making a meaningful contribution to society.

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Our mission is to originate technologies that enhance lifestyles and support individual expression. We create inspirational and innovative solutions that let you be you. Everything we create is designed with you in mind; your needs, your dreams, your desires. Our starting point is how our products and solutions will benefit peoples lifestyles and work-styles. As long as people have hopes, visions and ideas, Sharp will be there to create the products and services to make them real.

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