1. Commercialization of Electrical Components
1935-
(2) A Question from Kiichiro
- 1936
- The in-house production of electrical components, which had been a pending issue, was entrusted by Kiichiro Toyoda to Takaichi Suzuki. Suzuki declared that he would certainly accomplish this task, and by 1936, he successfully completed the prototype of the dynamo.
Takaichi Suzuki, who later became a director at the founding of Nippondenso (now DENSO), joined Toyoda Automatic Loom Works in 1934. Shortly after his arrival, Suzuki was working in the Textile Research Department on the Super Hydra-Draft spinning machine. One day, Kiichiro Toyoda called him in and posed a critical question: “Can these electrical components be made at Toyoda, or not? If not, we'll have to get them made by another company. What do you think?” Without hesitation, Suzuki replied, “We can definitely do it.”
In 1935, Kiichiro visited Suzuki's laboratory and left one Delco-Remy dynamo and one starter on Suzuki's desk. According to Suzuki's memoirs, this moment marked the beginning of electrical component research that would eventually lead to the establishment of DENSO.
As government policies shifted, the urgency to accelerate the development of electrical components increased. By 1938, a new regulation prohibited the use of imported parts in automobile manufacturing, necessitating the rapid prototyping of these components. Amidst this pressing situation, Suzuki managed to complete the first prototype of the dynamo around October 1936.