I dreamt Panasonic was on top again. Did my dream come true?

By Richard M. Sherwin

Watching highlights of the Indianapolis 500 race car winning with the very prominent Panasonic sign on the driver and the car, I was wondering what happened to that brand which used to be prominent at every major sports event.

Years ago, while still a sports writer and dabbling into finance and technology, I took a trip to Japan in which I discovered that my favorite tech company was more than a maker of VCRs, mid-level TVs and audio equipment. I visited the factories where the Matsushita company, now known as the Panasonic Corporation, was making medical equipment and personal health and wellness products, industrial and consumer light bulbs and even massage chairs that could make your entire body feel better.

At the Panasonic factory, I slipped away from the other visitors and peeked at an assembly line a few hundred yards away from the Matsushita Museum, where I saw other brands of TVs, air conditioners, higher end audio equipment, radios and business machines for their arch rivals where if you looked closely you could make out the Sony name.

A few years later I returned to Japan when Panasonic was now the leader in many consumer entertainment products including laptops for the U.S. Army and HDTVs.

I remembered my boss at an electronics magazine, the hall of fame writer/columnist Robert Gerson, reminisced on this  plane ride that in the late 1950s, and then the 60s, that there were radios and then TVs produced by Panasonic that some retailers, assumed were knockoffs. But in fact already were more advanced and reliable than RCA, Zenith and Sylvania.

Twenty years later the Koreans, Taiwanese and Chinese came along with their own price busting audio video equipment knockoffs that made Panasonic hard pressed to make a profit in the U.S. But Panasonic didn’t run away from their Secaucus and then Newark, NJ headquarters; they just took their creative, reliable product making down a notch in size and scope. They produced fewer consumer products (SKUs). But they remain a highly respected U.S-Japan company and a wholesome one too. They lead major electronic makers in environmental awareness with recycling of old equipment and an active participant in making next generation equipment safer and more environmentally friendly.

They are  making money selling the famous Lumix Cameras, super high quality personal care products such as men’s shavers and hair stylers, camcorders, counter top cooking appliances such as microwave ovens (hot, yes hot, with millennials), solar panels, vacuum cleaners,  power tools, premium quality head phones and more. They make the super batteries for the Tesla car company. And they’re still a top Original Equipment Maker (OEM) for other manufacturers.

This year I didn’t travel to Japan but did a virtual tour of all their new products. And what did I discover? They still make terrific TVs (just less of them) and my favorite chair of all time, a massage chair which is still going strong after 20+ years. But now that chair has the latest in comfort, style and technology.   http://shop.panasonic.com/new-products#