Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers • Hacker News Board

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#21

Post by msandford » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 1:47 PM UTC

tudorw wrote: post #8

"The EU’s General Court backed the European Commission’s fines of 150 million euros ($187 million) for YKK, based in Tokyo, and 110 million euros for Coats in 2007 over cartels involving fasteners and related machinery, one of which ran for more than 21 years. The EU said at the time that the zipper market was worth about 400 million euros a year and the market for other metal fasteners was worth 200 million euros."…

So these companies led the cartels? I get that there was a judgement, but it's REALLY light on details.

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#22

Post by NateDad » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 1:55 PM UTC

shawabawa3 wrote: post #10

This just seems like a blatant submarine article [1] - anyone who upvoted want to share what they found interesting about it? [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

I find it fascinating. I had wondered about the YKK on zippers but never bothered to look it up.

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#23

Post by jon-wood » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 1:56 PM UTC

shawabawa3 wrote: post #10

This just seems like a blatant submarine article [1] - anyone who upvoted want to share what they found interesting about it? [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

I've always been curious about why almost everything seems to have a YKK zipper on it. Now, after decades of idly wondering about it, I know.

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#24

Post by coldpie » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 2:04 PM UTC

Xylakant wrote: post #15

shawabawa3 wrote: post #10

This just seems like a blatant submarine article [1] - anyone who upvoted want to share what they found interesting about it? [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

I haven't upvoted but found it mildly interesting. Point that I found interesting were mostly: * one company dominates the market for zippers by essentially capturing the middle ground of "good product with a wide range of options, reasonably priced and flawless execution" * the example of a company dominating the market with what seems to counter the trend of outsourcing, producing everything in house, which means k…

Yeah. I found it neat that this company dominates the industry by making a quality product, not by acquiring and enforcing a centuries-long monopoly on an idea.

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#25

Post by dec0dedab0de » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 2:07 PM UTC

andy_ppp wrote: post #4

The article is okay, however it says the no one ever got fired for buying Microsoft, I thought the phrase was IBM?

I've heard it many times for IBM, Microsoft, and Cisco. Once or twice for Redhat. It generally works for any large incumbent vendor.

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#26

Post by psykovsky » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 2:20 PM UTC

nacnud wrote: post #20

Does anyone else think of the 'millenium bug' when they see these zippers?

I didn't, until you brought it up...

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#27

Post by ozh » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 2:24 PM UTC

shawabawa3 wrote: post #10

This just seems like a blatant submarine article [1] - anyone who upvoted want to share what they found interesting about it? [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

submarine article yet satisfyingly informative: now that's a win-win :)

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#28

Post by Xylakant » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 2:33 PM UTC

tim333 wrote: post #18

shawabawa3 wrote: post #10

This just seems like a blatant submarine article [1] - anyone who upvoted want to share what they found interesting about it? [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

I upvoted. I didn't know that stuff and found it interesting. There's something inspiring about a company dominating for years by dedicating to quality engineering rather than marketing bs. It didn't seem that 'submarine', given they "declined to speak to [the author] for this story". Though you never know.

Well, that might be a new twist: We fake being independent :)

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#29

Post by izolate » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 2:34 PM UTC

I've started buying zipper-less equipment. It's less prone to error, and feels a bit more rustic. Definitely more fun to use.

Examples: I only buy jeans with buttons. My Fjallraven backpack has metal hooks instead of a zipper.

Re: Why YKK? The Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers

#30

Post by calinet6 » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 2:40 PM UTC

srean wrote: post #7

Yoshida also preached a management principle he termed “The Cycle of Goodness.” It holds that “no one prospers unless he renders benefit to others.” I particularly liked that line. That is how things ought to be but not sure that is how it plays out. For example I am quite skeptical whether removing arbitrage opportunities over a timescale of milisecond really benefits anybody.

There are other practices that surely come into play as well—you don't achieve quality simply by this "cycle of goodness."

The Japanese after WWII took Deming's quality concepts—specifically that quality is the product of management, knowledge, statistics, and systems—and ran with them, embracing them more than any other society. This turned Japan from a cheap-goods manufacturer, into a country nearly fully respected for quality production, in a matter of a decade.

Want to produce quality like YKK does? It's no big mystery, it's not special, and it's not a miracle. Learn about Deming, follow his systems of management and teaching, and it will start to become clear. This applies to any company producing anything.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming