Konica History

Konica traces its history back to 1873 when Rokusaburo Sugiura began selling photographic materials at his Tokyo apothecary. By the start of the 20th century, the company had developed it’s first camera and range of photographic products. In 1971, Konica released Japan’s first plain paper photocopier, developing a dominant position in high-speed, high quality document management systems and imaging products.

Minolta History

Minolta was founded in 1928 to initially manufacture cameras and then went on to pioneer technologies including; a latent image transfer system, the world’s first magnification and reduction photocopier and the world’s first photocopier to produce two-colour images in a single pass. Minolta went on to achieve a strong global presence as a pioneer in the field of high quality imaging technology.

For more than 120 years, the Konica Minolta names have been synonymous with quality and leadership, company highlights include:

• 1873  Company begins selling photographic materials in Japan
• 1937  World's first double lens reflex camera
• 1946  Worlds's first camera with a coated lens
• 1962  Hi-Matic camera used by astronaut John Glenn on Friendship 7
• 1975  World's first copier to use latent image transfer
• 1983  World's first copier with zoom magnification
• 1987  World's first single pass two-colour copier
• 1991  World's first three-colour combination copier and fax
• 1996  World's first digital multifunction machine
• 2001  World's first polymerized toner™
• 2003  Launched first hi-speed 31 pages per minute colour machine utilising 'new'  polymerized toner™
• 2003  Konica Minolta Holdings Inc established