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Yamaha Corporation

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"Yamaha" redirects here. For other uses, see Yamaha (disambiguation).
Yamaha Corporation Kurosawa
IndustryConglomerate
FoundedOctober 12, 1887
Headquarters
Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture
,
Japan
ProductsMusical instruments, Audio/Video, Electronics, Computer related products, ATVs, Motorbikes, Vehicle Engines, Personal water craft
RevenueIncrease 7.4 billion US$ (2003)
900 million US$ (2005)
149 million US$ (2003)
Number of employees
23,500 (3/2003)
Websitewww.global.yamaha.com/
The headquarters of Yamaha Corporation

The Yamaha Corporation (ヤマハ株式会社, Yamaha Kabushiki Gaisha) (TYO: 7951) is a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, predominantly musical instruments and electronics.

History

Yamaha was founded in 1890 as a piano and reed organ manufacturer by Torakusu Yamaha as Nippon Gakki Company, Limited (日本楽器製造株式会社, Nippon Gakki Seizō Kabushiki Gaisha) in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture, and was incorporated on October 12, 1897. The company's origins as a musical instrument manufacturer is still reflected today in the group's logo — a trio of interlocking tuning forks.[3]

After World War II, company president Genichi Kawakami repurposed the remains of the company's war-time production machinery and the company's expertise in metallurgical technologies to the manufacture of motorcycles. The YA-1 (aka Akatombo, the "Red Dragonfly"), of which 125 were built in the first year of production (1954), was named in honor of the founder. It was a 125cc, single cylinder, two-stroke, streetbike patterned after the German DKW RT125 (which the British munitions firm, BSA, had also copied in the post-war era and manufactured as the Bantam and Harley-Davidson as the Hummer). In 1955, the success of the YA-1 resulted in the founding of the Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.

Yamaha has grown to become the world's largest manufacturer of musical instruments (including Pianos,"silent" pianos, drums, guitars, woodwinds, violins, violas, celli, and vibraphones), as well as a leading manufacturer of semiconductors, Audio/Visual, computer related products, sporting goods, home appliances and furniture, specialty metals, machine tools, and Industrial robots.

In October 1987, on its 100th anniversary, the name was changed to The Yamaha Corporation.

In 1989, Yamaha shipped the world's first CD recorder. Since then, Yamaha has purchased Sequential Circuits in 1988 and bought a significant share (51%) of competitor Korg in 1989–1993.

In 2002, Yamaha closed down its archery product business, that was started in 1959. Six archers in five different Olympic Games won gold medals using their products.[1]

It acquired German Audio Software manufacturers Steinberg in 2004, from Pinnacle Systems.

In July, 2007, Yamaha bought out the minority shareholding of the Kemble family in Yamaha-Kemble Music (UK) Ltd, Yamaha's UK import and musical instrument and professional audio equipment sales arm, the company being renamed Yamaha Music U.K. Ltd in autumn 2007.[2] Kemble & Co. Ltd, the UK piano sales & manufacturing arm was unaffected.[3]

On December 20, 2007, Yamaha made an agreement with the Austrian Bank BAWAG P.S.K. Group BAWAG to purchase all the shares of Bösendorfer[4], intended to take place in early 2008. Yamaha intends to continue manufacturing at the Bösendorfer facilities in Austria.[5]The acquisition of Bösendorfer was announced after the NAMM Show in Los Angeles, on 28 January, 2008. As of February 1, 2008, Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH operates as a subsidiary of Yamaha Corp.[6]

Yamaha Corporation is also widely known for their music program that began in the 1980s.

Other companies in the Yamaha group include:

Environmental Record

Yamaha Corp. will have to pay over 2 million dollars to the state of California in order to settle a 2005 lawsuit over the importation of motorcycles that failed to meet California emissions standards. Yamaha will also have to begin a vehicle purchasing program to buy back, remove, or destroy any motorcycles that are not certified for use in California.[7] California motorcyclists can find out if their bike is illegal by looking at the emissions label. If it does not state California, the bike has only met federal emissions standards. Other California motorcycle dealers had already settled this case with the Air Resources Board, but Yamaha held out until the end.[8] They concluded that Yamaha had imported over 400 illegal motorcycles, registered them to Yamaha in California, obtained state license plates, and sold the vehicles to California residents. In addition to paying 1.2 million dollars to the Board, the company will also be forced to pay $500,000 to fund a project to test the impact of ethanol fuel blends on emissions from off-road gasoline engines, and $300,000 to the Office of the Attorney General for attorneys' fees.[9]

References

  1. ^ "YAMAHA to Close Archery Products Business". 2002-02-01. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  2. ^ Cancellation of Joint Venture Contracts for Sales Subsidiaries in U.K. and Spain, Yamaha Global website, July 10, 2007
  3. ^ Yamaha buys out Kemble family, MI Pro, July 10, 2007
  4. ^ Competition For Bosendorfer.[1]
  5. ^ Yamaha Reaches Basic Agreement with Austrian Bank to Purchase All Shares of Bösendorfer, Yamaha Global website, December 20, 2007
  6. ^ Business Week. March 3, 2008. Bosendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH. [2]
  7. ^ http://www.allbusiness.com/government/environmental-regulations/862669-1.html
  8. ^ http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=31150
  9. ^ http://www.blogmyair.com/labels/air_quality.html

Products

Main article: List of Yamaha products

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yamaha.
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