History
The company was founded in 1936. Before relocating to Chūō, Ricoh was first in Minato, Tokyo. In 2006 Ricoh's headquarters moved to the Ricoh Building, a 25-story building in the Ginza area in Chūō; there it occupies the same space as its sales offices.
Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, Ricoh was the primary manufacturer of Pitney-Bowes copiers. They have also manufactured copiers for Toshiba, fax machines for AT&T Corporation and Omnifax, as well as a wide variety of equipment for numerous other companies including duplicators for AB Dick. They also manufactured the Ricoh 2A03 8-bit processor used in the Nintendo Entertainment System.
In 2003 Ricoh bought naming rights to the CNE Coliseum (now known as Ricoh Coliseum) in Toronto.
In 2004 Ricoh acquired Hitachi Printing Solutions, Ltd creating a new company, Ricoh Printing Systems, Ltd.
In 2005 Ricoh bought the naming rights to the stadium/entertainment complex, home to Coventry City Football Club now called the Ricoh Arena.
In November 2006, Ricoh announced the integration of the head office of Ricoh Europe B.V. (REBV) in Amstelveen, Netherlands, with NRG's European headquarters in London, United Kingdom. This was completed on April 1, with the former NRG HQ in London becoming the Strategic HQ and the former REBV HQ in Amstelveen becoming the Operational HQ. This mirrors a similar process which took place in the US with Lanier and Ricoh USA.
This integration was the first step in integration within each country in Europe. A single country organisation was created in Austria on July 1, 2007, the UK integration being currently in process and integration also taking place in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.
On January 25, 2007, Ricoh announced purchase of IBM Printing Systems Division for $725 million and investment in a 3-year joint venture to form the new Ricoh subsidiary, InfoPrint Solutions Company, with a 51% share.
In February 2008, Ricoh partnered up with PrinterOn to set up two new HotSpot printers: The SP C410DN-KP color printer and the SP 4100N-KP monochrome printer which allows Wi-Fi enabled users to print documents from any location.
On August 27, 2008, Ricoh announced its intentions of acquiring IKON Office Solutions for $1.6 billion and later that year, on November 1, Ricoh completed the acquisition.
In May 2011, Ricoh announced a cut of 10,000 jobs worldwide up to March 2014 from the current 40,000 workers in Japan and 68,900 others overseas. The company would also shift 15,000 workers to areas with more growth potential.
Japanese optical glass-maker Hoya Corporation said on July 1, 2011, it would sell its Pentax camera business to Ricoh, in a deal the Nikkei business daily said was worth about 10 billion yen ($124.2 million). On July 29, 2011, Hoya transferred its Pentax imaging systems business to a newly established subsidiary called Pentax Imaging Corporation. On October 1, 2011, Ricoh acquired all shares of Pentax Imaging Corp. and renamed the new subsidiary Pentax Ricoh Imaging Company, Ltd.
On October 1, 2011, Ricoh announced the establishment of Pentax Ricoh Imaging Company, LTD.
Read more about this topic: Ricoh Americas Corporation
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“The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present. History is a hill or high point of vantage, from which alone men see the town in which they live or the age in which they are living.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
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—Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897–1973)
“The principle office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity.”
—Tacitus (c. 55–117)