Word: kokan
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...product will grow by just 2.3% for the fiscal year ending in March 1987, the lowest level since 1974, when GNP dropped by .4%. Even the promise of lifetime employment, a cornerstone of the country's social structure, is crumbling. Says Toshio Isago, an executive vice president at Nippon Kokan, a steel and shipbuilding conglomerate: "We have experienced hardships in the past, but nothing on this scale...
...final Government approval last month for a joint venture with Toyota to produce small cars in California. Last week the Japanese gained a major stake in another huge U.S. industry: steel. Pittsburgh's National Intergroup agreed to sell a 50% interest in its National Steel subsidiary to Nippon Kokan, Japan's second-largest steelmaker, for $292 million...
...Nippon Kokan was just the kind of partner Love had in mind. Its modern plants are renowned for their high level of automation and computerized controls. Love will remain as chairman of the jointly owned company, which will keep the name National Steel. Nippon Kokan will provide executives and engineers to help streamline the firm's production and improve quality control. National already has highly efficient plants, and the addition of Japanese technology should make the company even stronger...
National first approached Nippon Kokan about a joint venture last July. Love knew that the Japanese company wanted a beachhead in the U.S. In 1979 Nippon Kokan considered buying plants from Kaiser Steel, but backed out after deciding that the facilities were outdated. Last year the Japanese firm broke off negotiations to buy Ford's Rouge Steel unit, mainly because the United Auto Workers would not make wage concessions. This time Nippon Kokan did not insist on a new contract with National's steelworkers, though they make an average of $21 an hour in wages and benefits, compared...
...Nippon Kokan President Minoru Kanao said that the venture is "in line with our long-cherished strategy to obtain a production outpost in the U.S." He wants to sell steel to the Japanese automakers that are building assembly lines in America, but Kanao feared that Washington might raise protectionist barriers. Imports from Japan, South Korea, Mexico and other countries have captured about 25% of the American steel market, and U.S. companies are pressuring Congress to limit the foreign share...