Sony
Company Information
About
The Sony Company
Sony
was originally called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (Tokyo Telecommunications
Engineering Company), their roots go back over half a century to
1946 when it was founded by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita. During
the crippled postwar Japanese economy Ibuka and Morita made a living
repairing radios and manufacturing small numbers of voltmeters all
the time looking to develop a future in designing and manufacturing
new electronics.
Surprisingly,
their first electronic innovation was an automatic rice cooker the
success of which was limited but it was the first in a long line
of innovations which continue today...Ibuka and Morita were global
thinkers!
Ibuka and Morita realised there was a need for a global brand which
crossed cultural and language borders in order to expand the business
in the US and later on Europe. TTK was already being used by another
company so a new name, Sony, was thought up.
The
name Sony comes from the Latin word sonus meaning sound and the
English word sonny - boy - a term used by the Americans in the 1950's
to describe a bright youngster. The name of the company was not
officially changed to Sony Corporation until 1958 and the first
Sony branded product was the TR-55 transistor radio which went on
sale in 1955. This was then shortly followed by Sony’s world
first “pocketable” transistor radio.
Sony’s
UK history began in 1968 when Sony United Kingdom was formed in
London and six years later Sony became the first major Japanese
company to open a factory in the UK
Today there are two Sony factories, both of which are in Wales,
at Bridgend and Pencoed. Between them manufacture broadcast cameras,
television sets and components for the UK and export to other countries
globally. Sony was awarded the Queens Award for Export on four occasions
in the 80s and 90s. Nowadays Sony UK employs around 4,500 people
in functions including Manufacturing, Sales and Marketing, Sony’s
Headquarters are located at Brooklands, near Weybridge, in Surrey,
on the site of the old Brooklands Racing Circuit.
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