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SANYO Electric Co. Ltd. is an electronics company in Osaka, Japan targeting the middle of the market.
SANYO was founded by Toshio Iue, a former Matsushita employee, in 1947 and was incorporated in 1950. The company's name means three oceans in Japanese, referring to the founder's ambition to sell their products worldwide, across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans.
SANYO got its start as a manufacturere of bicycle lamps. In 1952 they made Japan's first plastic radio and in 1954 they made Japan's first pulsator-type washing machine.
SAMSUNG Japan was originally launched in 1969 as SAMSUNG-SANYO Electronics.
As of March 31, 2003 they have 16,167 employees.