Ricoh

History

Ricoh's lineage begins with the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) and its commercialization venture, Rikagaku Kogyo, founded in 1927, which produced light-sensitized paper. On February 6, 1936, the sensitized-paper business was spun off as Riken Kankoshi Co., Ltd. under founder Kiyoshi Ichimura (1900–1968), with 350,000 yen in capital and a staff of 33. This company is the recognized origin point of Ricoh.

The firm entered optical and camera manufacturing in the late 1930s and was renamed Riken Optical Co., Ltd. in 1938. Company materials use several translation variants of these early names, including English renderings such as "Riken Sensitized Paper" and "Riken Optical Industries, Ltd." The name Ricoh Company, Ltd. was adopted in 1963.

Ricoh entered the copying field in 1955 with the diazo (wet-process) "Ricopy 101," moved into electrostatic copying in the mid-1960s, adopted plain-paper copying through the 1970s and 1980s, and shifted to digital copiers and multifunction printers from the late 1980s onward. From the mid-1990s the company assembled a portfolio of established Western office-equipment brands, acquiring Savin and the Gestetner business in 1995 and Lanier Worldwide in January 2001. In 2007 it acquired IBM's Printing Systems Division through the InfoPrint Solutions joint venture, moving into high-end production and transaction printing, and in 2008 it acquired the U.S. document-services firm IKON Office Solutions.

Timeline

1. 1927

   Rikagaku Kogyo, Riken's commercialization venture, is founded and markets sensitized paper.

2. 1936

   Riken Kankoshi Co., Ltd. is established on February 6 under Kiyoshi Ichimura; the origin point of Ricoh.

3. 1938

   Renamed Riken Optical Co., Ltd.; enters optical and camera manufacturing.

4. 1955

   The "Ricopy 101," a diazo (wet-process) copier, is introduced.

5. 1963

   The company is renamed Ricoh Company, Ltd.

6. 1965

   The "Ricopy BS-1" electrostatic copier is introduced.

7. 1971

   The "RICOM 8" office computer is released.

8. 1973

   The "RIFAX 600S" high-speed office facsimile is released.

9. 1975

   The "RICOPY DT1200" wet-type plain-paper copier is released.

10. 1982

    The "RICOPY FT4060," a dry-toner plain-paper copier, is introduced.

11. 1987

    The "IMAGIO 320" office digital copier is released.

12. 1990

    The "ARTAGE 8000," an early digital color copier, is introduced.

13. 1995

    Ricoh acquires Savin (U.S.) and the Gestetner business; European operations are reorganized under the NRG Group.

14. 1996

    The "Aficio" multifunction-printer brand is introduced in July.

15. 2001

    Ricoh acquires Lanier Worldwide in January.

16. 2007

    Ricoh acquires IBM's Printing Systems Division for US$725 million; InfoPrint Solutions Company is formed on June 1 as a joint venture (Ricoh 51%).

17. 2008

    Ricoh acquires IKON Office Solutions, completed November 1.

18. 2010

    Ricoh buys IBM's remaining stake; InfoPrint Solutions becomes a wholly owned subsidiary on June 30.

19. 2011

    InfoPrint Solutions is rebranded as Ricoh Production Print Solutions (April); Ricoh acquires the Pentax imaging business from Hoya.

Printing technologies

Across its history Ricoh has produced or contributed to a wide range of document-reproduction technologies:

• Diazo and diffusion-transfer wet copying, used in the earliest Ricopy machines from 1955.
• Electrostatic (analog) copying, from the mid-1960s.
• Plain-paper copying (PPC), in both wet-type and later dry-toner electrophotographic forms during the 1970s and 1980s.
• Digital electrophotography and laser xerography in office copiers and MFPs, from the late 1980s.
• Inkjet and drop-on-demand technologies, including industrial inkjet printhead development.
• Continuous-feed and cut-sheet electrophotographic production printing, through the InfoPrint/IBM lineage and the Ricoh Pro production presses.
• Thermal and laser facsimile transmission, in fax machines from the 1970s.
• Stencil duplication and digital duplicating, inherited through the Gestetner brand lineage of historic mimeograph and stencil technology.

Major printer families

• Ricopy / RICOPY — the early copier line, including the Ricopy 101, BS-1, DT1200, and FT4060.
• IMAGIO / imagio — the Japanese-market digital copier and MFP line, including the IMAGIO 320 and imagio MF200.
• Aficio — the global multifunction-printer brand introduced in 1996.
• RICOH IM series — a later office MFP line, including the IM C series.
• Ricoh Pro — the production and commercial printing series.
• InfoPrint — the production and transaction printing line inherited from IBM, later folded into Ricoh Production Print.
• Gestetner, Savin, Lanier, Nashuatec, Rex-Rotary — legacy acquired brands used as product and dealer marques.

Product areas

Ricoh's document-technology business spans several distinct product areas.

In the enterprise and office segment, the company produces plain-paper copiers, multifunction printers, laser printers, facsimile machines, and associated document-management services. In production and commercial print, it offers high-volume cut-sheet and continuous-feed presses under the Ricoh Pro line and the InfoPrint lineage.

Ricoh also maintains a consumer and imaging business built around cameras, including the Pentax line acquired in 2011. This camera business is adjacent to, and historically part of, the same corporate lineage that began with the company's sensitized-paper and optics origins. Office facsimile machines, beginning with the RIFAX line in the 1970s, form a further product area.

Major innovations

Ricoh's principal contributions to office imaging include the early Japanese desktop diazo copier, the Ricopy 101 of 1955, which was later recognized by the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers with a Mechanical Engineering Heritage certification (Heritage #54, awarded 2012).

Over the following decades the company progressed from electrostatic to plain-paper to digital office copying, spanning the 1960s through the 1990s. The globally marketed Aficio multifunction-printer platform, introduced in 1996, consolidated copy, print, scan, and fax functions in a single line. Ricoh is also a documented developer and supplier of industrial inkjet printhead technology used across the wider printing industry.

Influence on printing history

Through the Gestetner lineage, Ricoh's brand family connects to the stencil-duplicator era that made low-cost office document reproduction widespread before xerography. In its own right, Ricoh helped popularize desktop and office copying in Japan from the 1950s and became a major global supplier of plain-paper and digital multifunction printers.

Its 2007 absorption of IBM's Printing Systems Division brought a significant line of high-volume production and transaction-printing technology under Ricoh, consolidating the company's role in commercial print alongside its long-established office-imaging business.

Relationships with other manufacturers

Ricoh's history is closely tied to several other office-equipment companies, both through acquisition and through the brands it now owns.

• Gestetner — founded on David Gestetner's stencil-duplicator inventions, Gestetner had itself absorbed brands including Nashua/Nashuatec and Rex-Rotary before Ricoh's involvement; after the 1995 acquisition, the European operations were organized as the NRG Group and later as Ricoh Europe.
• Savin — a U.S. copier and office-machine brand acquired by Ricoh in 1995.
• Lanier Worldwide — a U.S. office-products company acquired in January 2001; Ricoh later merged the Gestetner and Lanier dealer networks, which had marketed largely identical products.
• IBM — Ricoh acquired IBM's Printing Systems Division in 2007 through the InfoPrint Solutions joint venture (Ricoh 51%), taking full ownership in 2010; the unit was rebranded Ricoh Production Print Solutions in 2011.
• Hoya / Pentax — Ricoh acquired the Pentax imaging business from Hoya in 2011, on the imaging and camera side rather than printing.
• IKON Office Solutions — a U.S. document-services distributor acquired in 2008.

Legacy technologies

Several older reproduction technologies survive within Ricoh's history and brand portfolio. The earliest Ricopy machines relied on diazo and diffusion-transfer wet processes, later superseded by electrostatic and then plain-paper copying.

The most significant legacy technology in the group's lineage is stencil duplication. Through the Gestetner brand, Ricoh inherited the mimeograph and stencil-duplicating heritage that dominated inexpensive office document reproduction before the spread of xerography, later evolving into digital duplicating systems.

Current status

Ricoh remains an active, publicly listed Japanese company headquartered in Tokyo. It produces office multifunction printers and printers, production and commercial printing systems, facsimile machines, industrial inkjet technology, and related document and IT services, alongside its imaging (camera) business.

Its production-print operations are organized under the Ricoh Production Print lineage, the successor to InfoPrint Solutions, and legacy brands such as Gestetner, Savin, Lanier, and Nashuatec have been consolidated within the Ricoh group.