Ricoh Company, Ltd. appeared on February 6, 1936 under the name Riken Kankoshi Co., Ltd and the founder was Kiyoshi Ichimura, a son of a poor farmer. His newly formed company dealt with the production of sensitive paper. Later they focused on manufacturing of optical devices, equipment and cameras.
From the very beginning Ricoh won a reputation for being an innovator. In 1950, the company sterted serial production of the world’s first twin-lens reflex camera - the RicohFlex III. The company’s efforts in developing its system and techniques for mass-producing cameras weren’t unnoticed and in 1957 it was awarded the Ohkochi Memorial Production Prize.
During the 1950s the company began to produce office equipment and manufactured their first line of desktop copying machines, the Ricopy 101. By the middle of the 70-s Ricoh had become the first Japanese company to make copiers in the United States and their plain paper copier RiCopy DT 1200 became the world’s top selling model.
In 1983 the company introduced their first personal computer and first laser printer.
Colour copiers appeared in 1985 and the digital ones – in 1987; and in 1990 the company came up with both digital and colour copier. In 1999 Ricoh launches the new "AP" series of black & white and colour printers.
The company came into the digital camera market in 1995 with the Ricoh DC-1, the camera that recorded both still images and movies with sound.
Nowadays Ricoh Company, Ltd. is a leading maker of office automation equipment, including copiers, printers, and facsimile machines. Besides, produces personal computers, peripheral devices such as CD-recordable drives, semiconductors, and digital cameras.
