The History of An Imaging Technology Giant

Today Canon is one of the largest imaging technology businesses on the planet and a household name for anyone who’s ever bought cameras, printers or photocopiers. But the company’s origins were far from impressive in many ways – started in a studio apartment in the Roppongi district of Tokyo by a handful of youngsters, Canon’s early days bear little resemblance with the company which today owns impressive headquarters dotted across the globe. For those unfamiliar with the history of what is an era-defining company, here we provide an overview of Canon’s origins and the products which in many ways provide its milestones.

During the early days of personal photography, almost all high quality camera equipment came from Europe, with the big names in cameras, such as Leica, being based predominantly in Germany. A group of youngsters interested in developing high quality Japanese equipment set up Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory in 1933, dedicated to research into high quality camera technology. The initial set-up was incredibly basic, in fact just a single apartment room in the Roppongi area of Tokyo. Having taken-apart all sorts of devices here, it was in this apartment that the dream of producing a high standard Japanese device took shape. After much time and effort, the team eventually came through producing the Kwanon camera, named after the Buddhist goddess of mercy. The following year the young team were able to produce the first ever 35mm focal-plane-shutter camera, the Hansa Canon, a product which would go on to provide the name for the brand.

From such a small production base it soon became a priority for what was now a thriving young imaging company to organise production along more sophisticated lines. The company’s first president Takeshi Mitarai visited the USA to attend a trade fair and seeing the modern production lines in use their, felt compelled to introduce some changes on his return. Mitarai oversaw the construction of a steel reinforced concrete factory in the Shimomaruko area of Tokyo. Impressed by the standard of living in the US, Mitarai recognised the importance of business values, stressing Sanji or Three Selfs Spirit, what would become the guiding principles of Canon employees. With continued success, Canon made its first global step in 1955, opening its first foreign office in New York City. In 1957 the company was able to appoint a European distributor, Canon Europa in Geneva, Switzerland. Ten years on, export accounted for over 50% of Canon’s revenues.

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The History of An Imaging Technology Giant

In 1988, came the inauguration of Canon’s philosophy kyosei which focussed the company on a collective effort towards the common good. This prompted Canon’s efforts to become one of the first major corporations to take action on environmental issues, such as introducing a recycling programme for photocopiers and printer cartridges and localising/globalising development sites to save on transport costs and emissions.

By the mid-1990′s though, the business systems division strategy, which had been in place since the 1970′s, was flagging somewhat and with the company in debt to the tune of 840 billion yen, the potential research and development that would be required to get the division back on its feet seemed unlikely. The company’s 6th president, Fujio Mitarai was appointed in 1995 and almost immediately set to work on a new Canon company programme. In 1996, the Excellent Global Company Plan was launched which helped to redefine the company’s understanding of its potential and took the focus away from sales maximisation to a greater emphasis on efficiency and margins. It’s the plan which led to many innovations which made possible such era-defining products as the imageRUNNER and imageRUNNER Advance photocopiers and the Power Shot and IXUS digital cameras.

As we move further into the second decade of the new millennium Canon continues to take a lead role in defining the shape of the imaging industry. The kyosei philosophy is still evident in some of the cutting-edge technologies Canon has developed, such as the fire-retardant bioplastic fine-tuned in collaboration with materials manufacture, Toray and which is the first such plastic to be used in the construction of photocopiers. Canon was last year announced as one of Interbrand’s Top 5 Japanese brands in 2010 and in February this year achieved No 1 position in Nikkei Inc.’s NICES ranking of Japanese corporations.

The story on Canon Corporation is truly inspirational. From humble beginnings, starting with a few young people in a small apartment, Canon has grown into an impressive multi-national corporation, an environmental trailblazer and a world-beating brand.

Falcon is proud to be a part of the Canon family and one of the company’s leading Business Solutions Partners, specialising in the award-winning imageRUNNER and imageRUNNER Advance ranges of photocopiers. For enquiries on any of Canon’s range of business products, please contact Falcon.

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Japanese Design $23.48 The Museum of Modern Art and 5 Continents Editions recently launched this series of books dedicated to industrial and graphic design. Each volume offers an overview of a single country’s design achievements and illustrates its particular design history and aesthetic by showcasing renowned architects and designers through exemplary works drawn from The Museum of Modern Art’s unmatched collection. This season, they take on Japan. Japanese designers’ special ability to combine aesthetic tradition with contemporary visual culture and material innovation has created a distinctive and exceptionally successful design industry in Japan, which has produced such divergent icons of Modern design as Sori Yanagi’s Butterfly Stool, the Sony Walkman, the Honey-Pop Armchair by Tokujin Yoshioka and the Toyota Prius. This volume traces the development of Japanese design from the country’s craft revival in the early twentieth century to the extraordinary objects of high technology that have been a specialty of Japanese designers since the middle of the century. Antonelli’s lively introduction provides an overview of Japan’s design culture, while an essay and timeline by Penny Sparke illuminate the masterpieces of Modern Japanese design that are superbly reproduced in this volume’s plate section.

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