Epson

Last updated
Seiko Epson Corporation
Epson
Native name
セイコーエプソン株式会社
Romanized name
Seikō Epuson Kabushiki-gaisha
Company type Public (K.K.)
TYO: 6724
Industry Electronics
FoundedMay 18, 1942;81 years ago (1942-05-18) (as Daiwa Kogyo, Ltd.)
Headquarters,
Japan
(Officially registered in Shinjuku, Tokyo)
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Minoru Usui  [ jp ] (Chairman & Director)
Yasunori Ogawa  [ jp ] (President, CEO & Representative Director)
Products
RevenueIncrease2.svg ¥1.129 trillion (2021)
(US$9.231 billion) [2]
Number of employees
77,642 (2022) [2]
Divisions Orient Watch
Website corporate.epson
JR Shinjuku Miraina Tower, which houses the Tokyo office (registered office) of Seiko Epson and the headquarters of Epson Sales Japan on the 29th-32nd levels, located adjunct to the JR East Shinjuku Station in Shinjuku and Shibuya wards, Tokyo JR Shinjuku Miraina Tower.jpg
JR Shinjuku Miraina Tower, which houses the Tokyo office (registered office) of Seiko Epson and the headquarters of Epson Sales Japan on the 29th-32nd levels, located adjunct to the JR East Shinjuku Station in Shinjuku and Shibuya wards, Tokyo
Epson America headquarters in Los Alamitos, California Epson America Headquarters Los Alamitos California 2021.jpg
Epson America headquarters in Los Alamitos, California

Seiko Epson Corporation, commonly known as Epson, [3] is a Japanese multinational electronics company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of printers and information- and imaging-related equipment. Headquartered in Suwa, Nagano, Japan, [4] the company has numerous subsidiaries worldwide and manufactures inkjet, dot matrix, thermal and laser printers for consumer, business and industrial use, scanners, laptop and desktop computers, video projectors, watches, point of sale systems, robots and industrial automation equipment, semiconductor devices, crystal oscillators, sensing systems and other associated electronic components.

Contents

The company has developed as one of manufacturing and research and development (formerly known as Seikosha) of the former Seiko Group, a name traditionally known for manufacturing Seiko timepieces. Seiko Epson was one of the major companies in the Seiko Group, but is neither a subsidiary nor an affiliate of Seiko Group Corporation.

History

Seiko Astron.jpg
Seiko 35A.jpg
First quartz wristwatch movement, the Caliber 35A developed by Suwa Seikosha in 1969 and used in the Seiko Astron

Origins

The roots of Seiko Epson Corporation go back to a company called Daiwa Kogyo, Ltd. which was founded in May 1942 [5] by Hisao Yamazaki, a local clock shop owner and former employee of K. Hattori, in Suwa, Nagano. Daiwa Kogyo was supported by an investment from the Hattori family (founder of the Seiko Group) and began as a manufacturer of watch parts for Daini Seikosha (currently Seiko Instruments). The company started operation in a 230-square-metre (2,500 sq ft) renovated miso storehouse with 22 employees.

In 1943, Daini Seikosha established a factory in Suwa for manufacturing Seiko watches with Daiwa Kogyo. In 1959, the Suwa Factory was split up and merged into Daiwa Kogyo to form Suwa Seikosha Co., Ltd: the forerunner of the Seiko Epson Corporation. The company has developed many timepiece technologies, such as the world's first portable quartz timer (Seiko QC-951) in 1963, the world's first quartz watch (Seiko Quartz Astron 35SQ) in 1969, the first automatic power-generating quartz watch (Seiko Auto-Quartz) in 1988, and the Spring Drive watch movement in 1999.

The watch business is the root of the company's ultra-precision machining and micromechatronics technologies and still a major business for Seiko Epson, although it accounts for a low percentage of total revenues. [6] [7] Watches made by the company are sold through the Seiko Watch Corporation, a subsidiary of Seiko Group. The watch brand Orient Watch, also known as Orient Star, has been owned by Epson since 2009 and was fully integrated into the company in 2017.

Printers

Epson LQ 850 dot matrix printer Epson dot matrix printer.jpg
Epson LQ 850 dot matrix printer

In 1961, Suwa Seikosha established a company called Shinshu Seiki Co. as a subsidiary to supply precision parts for Seiko watches. When Seiko was selected to be the official time keeper for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, a printing timer was required to time events, and Shinshu Seiki started developing an electronic printer. [8]

In September 1968, Shinshu Seiki launched the world's first mini-printer, the EP-101 ("EP" for Electronic Printer), which was soon incorporated into many calculators. In June 1975, the name Epson was coined for the next generation of printers based on the EP-101, which was released to the public. The Epson name was coined by joining the initials EP (Electronic Printer) and the word son, making "Epson" mean "Electronic Printer's Son". [9] In April of the same year, Epson America Inc. was established to sell printers for Shinshu Seiki Co.

Epson HX-20 Epson-hx-20.jpg
Epson HX-20

In June 1978, the TX-80 (TP-80), an eighty-column dot matrix printer, was released to the market and was mainly used as a system printer for the Commodore PET computer. After two years of further development, an improved model, the MX-80 (MP-80), was launched in October 1980. [8] It was soon advertised as the best selling printer in the United States. [10]

In July 1982, Shinshu Seiki officially named itself the Epson Corporation and launched the world's first handheld computer, the HX-20 (HC-20), and in May 1983, the world's first portable colour LCD TV was developed and launched by the company. [11]

In November 1985, Suwa Seikosha Co., Ltd. and the Epson Corporation merged to form Seiko Epson Corporation. [12]

The company developed the Micro Piezo inkjet technology, which used a piezoelectric crystal in each nozzle and did not heat the ink at the print head while spraying it onto the page, and released the Epson MJ-500 inkjet cartridge for the Epson Stylus 800 printer in March 1993. Shortly after in 1994, Epson released the first 720 dpi colour inkjet printer, the Epson Stylus Color (P860A) utilizing the Micro Piezo head technology. Newer models of the Stylus series employed Epson's special DURABrite ink and used two hard drives (an HD 850 and an HD 860). [13]

Epson R2000 printer Epson Stylus Photo R2000 Impresora 2014-03.jpg
Epson R2000 printer

In 1994, Epson started to outsource sales representatives to help sell their products in retail stores in the United States. The same year, they started the Epson Weekend Warrior sales program. The purpose of the program was to help improve sales, improve retail sales reps' knowledge of Epson products, and to address Epson customer service in a retail environment. Reps were assigned on weekend shifts, typically around 12–20 hours a week. Epson started the Weekend Warrior program with TMG Marketing (now Mosaic Sales Solutions), and later with Keystone Marketing Inc, then returned to Mosaic, and switched again to Campaigners Inc. on June 24, 2007 after the Mosaic contract expired. The sales reps of Campaigners, Inc. are not outsourced; Epson hired rack jobbers to ensure retailers displayed products properly, freeing up its regular sales force to concentrate on profitable sales solutions to value-added resellers and system integrators, leaving "retail" to reps who did not require sales skills.

Epson R-D1 digital rangefinder camera Epson R-D1 Digital Rangefinder Camera.jpg
Epson R-D1 digital rangefinder camera

Personal computers

Epson entered the personal computer market in 1983 with the QX-10, a CP/M-compatible Z80 machine. By 1986, the company had shifted to the growing PC market with the Equity line. EPSON manufactured and sold NEC PC-9801 clones in Japan. Epson withdrew from the international PC market in 1996.[ citation needed ] The company still produces and sells PCs in Japan as of 2022. [14]

21st century

SureColor large format printer at Photokina, 2016 Epson SureColor-10000 2016 Photokina.jpg
SureColor large format printer at Photokina, 2016

In June 2003, the company became public following their listing on the 1st section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Since 2017, the company is a constituent of the Nikkei Stock Average index. Although Seiko Group Corporation (f/k/a K. Hattori, Hattori Seiko, and Seiko Holdings) and the key members of the Hattori family still hold approximately 10% of the outstanding shares of Seiko Epson, the company is managed and operated completely independently from Seiko Group.

Seiko Watch Corporation, a division of Seiko Group, produces Seiko timepieces in-house through its subsidiaries as well as delegates the manufacture of some of its high-end watches (Seiko Astron, Grand Seiko, Credor, etc) to Epson. [15] The company makes some of Seiko's highest-grade watches at the Micro Artist Studio inside its Shiojiri Plant in Shiojiri, Nagano. [16] Beside Seiko timepieces, Epson develops, designs, manufactures, markets, and sells watches under its own brands such as Trume, Orient, [17] and Orient Star.

In 2004, Epson introduced their R-D1 (the first digital rangefinder camera on the market), which supports the Leica M mount and Leica M39 mount lenses with an adapter ring. Because its sensor is smaller than that of the standard 35 mm film frame, lenses mounted on the R-D1 have a field of view 1.53 times as wide as that of the standard 35 mm camera. In 2006, the R-D1 was replaced by the R-D1s, a cheaper version with identical hardware. Epson has released a firmware patch to bring the R-D1 up to the full functionality of its successor, being the first digital camera manufacturer to make such an upgrade available for free.[ citation needed ]

In September 2012, Epson introduced a printer called the Expression Premium XP-800 Small-in-One, with the ability to print wirelessly. [18] The Expression brand name has since been used on various models of scanners. In the third quarter of 2012, Epson's global market share in the sale of printers, copiers and multifunction devices amounted to 15.20 percent. [19]

In September 2015, Epson debuted the ET-4550 printer, which enables the user to pour ink into separate inkwells from ink bottles instead of cartridges. [20]

Epson is also involved in the smartglasses market. Since 2016, the company has three different models: the Moverio BT-100, the Moverio BT-200, and the Moverio Pro BT-2000, the latter of which is an enterprise oriented, upgraded version of the BT-200 with stereoscopic cameras. The company also was the first to release consumer smartglasses with transparent optics, which were popular with drone pilots for providing a first-person view while still being able to see the drone in the sky.[ citation needed ]

Epson LX-300+ dot matrix printer with optional colour upgrade YosriPencetakBintik9pinEpson1.jpg
Epson LX-300+ dot matrix printer with optional colour upgrade

In 2016, Epson presented the large-format SureColor SC-P10000 ink printer; it prints with inks in ten colours on paper up to 44 inches (1.1 m) wide. [22]

ESC/P

To control its printers, Epson introduced a printer control language, the Epson Standard Code for Printers (or ESC/P). It became a de facto industry standard for controlling print formatting during the era of dot matrix printers, whose popularity was initially started by the Epson MX-80. [8]

Robots

Epson Robots is the robotics design and manufacturing department of Epson. Seiko Epson produces some microcontrollers, such as the S1C63. In 1980, Epson started the production of robots. [23]

Ink cartridge controversies

In July 2003, a Netherlands-based consumer association advised its 640,000 members to boycott Epson inkjet printers. The organisation alleged that Epson customers were unfairly charged for ink they could never use. Later that month, however, the group retracted its call for a nationwide boycott and issued a statement conceding that residual ink left in Epson cartridges was necessary for the printers to function properly. [24]

Epson designed ink to be left in the cartridges (having done so ever since the introduction of piezoelectric print heads) due to the way the capping mechanism worked. If the capping mechanism dries out, then the heads risk getting clogged, necessitating expensive repairs. The reason that the Dutch consumer association retracted their statement was that, as pointed out, Epson had made a statement regarding how many pages (at usually a 5% coverage of an A4 sheet of paper) each cartridge could sustain for printing.[ citation needed ]

Nonetheless, Epson America, Inc. settled a class action lawsuit brought before the Los Angeles Superior Court. It did not admit guilt, but agreed to refund $45 to anyone who purchased an Epson inkjet printer after April 8, 1999 (at least $20 of which must be used at Epson's e-Store). [25]

According to IDG News Service, Epson filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in February 2006 against 24 companies that manufactured, imported, or distributed Epson-compatible ink cartridges for resale in the U.S.[ citation needed ] On March 30, 2007, ITC judge Paul Luckern issued an initial determination that the cartridges in question did infringe upon Epson's patents. [26] He also recommended those companies and others to be barred from manufacturing, importing, or reselling Epson cartridges in the U.S., said Epson.[ citation needed ]

In 2015, it emerged that Epson printers reported cartridges to be empty when in fact up to 20% of their ink remains. As in 2003, the company responded:

The ink reporting and ink cartridges used in Epson's Stylus Pro 9900-series large format printer reports on ink levels and simultaneously protect the health of the printhead. During printhead maintenance or cleanings, if a cartridge doesn't have enough ink to complete the cleaning, a fuller cartridge must be used. However, users have the choice to swap out a cartridge that is reporting low levels for a fuller cartridge for the cleaning maintenance as needed, and then replace it with the original cartridge to use the remaining ink. The original cartridge does not need to be discarded. [27]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Printer (computing)</span> Computer peripheral that prints text or graphics

In the field of computing, a printer is considered a peripheral device that serves the purpose of creating a permanent representation of text or graphics, usually on paper. While the majority of outputs produced by printers are readable by humans, there are instances where barcode printers have found a utility beyond this traditional use. Different types of printers are available for use, including inkjet printers, thermal printers, laser printers, and 3D printers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dot matrix printing</span> Computer printing process

Dot matrix printing, sometimes called impact matrix printing, is a computer printing process in which ink is applied to a surface using a relatively low-resolution dot matrix for layout. Dot matrix printers are a type of impact printer that prints using a fixed number of pins or wires and typically use a print head that moves back and forth or in an up-and-down motion on the page and prints by impact, striking an ink-soaked cloth ribbon against the paper. They were also known as serial dot matrix printers. Unlike typewriters or line printers that use a similar print mechanism, a dot matrix printer can print arbitrary patterns and not just specific characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inkjet printing</span> Type of computer printing

Inkjet printing is a type of computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper and plastic substrates. Inkjet printers were the most commonly used type of printer in 2008, and range from small inexpensive consumer models to expensive professional machines. By 2019, laser printers outsold inkjet printers by nearly a 2:1 ratio, 9.6% vs 5.1% of all computer peripherals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suwa, Nagano</span> City in Chūbu, Japan

Suwa is a city located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 March 2019, the city had an estimated population of 48,972 in 20698 households, and a population density of 452 persons per km². The total area of the city is 109.17 square kilometres (42.15 sq mi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orient Watch</span> Japanese watch brand owned by Epson

Orient is a Japanese watch manufacturer founded in 1950. Established as an independent company in 1950, it became a functional subsidiary of Epson in 2009 before being fully integrated into the company in 2017.

Seikosha was a branch of the Japanese company Seiko that produced clocks, watches, shutters, computer printers and other devices. It was the root of the manufacturing companies of the Seiko Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EP-101</span> Electronic miniprinter

The EP-101 was the first ever electronic miniprinter for printing figures and symbols and was launched by Shinshu Seiki Co., a subsidiary of Suwa Seikosha Co., Ltd, in September 1968. The drum printer wasn't very big, being only 164 millimetres in width, 102 millimetres in height, 135 millimetres in depth and weighed 2.5 kilograms. It was created out of development work that Shinshu Seiki did for the Seiko Group when they became the official time-keepers for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic games and needed a machine that could print out times they gathered from their time-pieces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seiko</span> Japanese manufacturing company

Seiko Group Corporation, commonly known as Seiko, is a Japanese maker of watches, clocks, electronic devices, semiconductors, jewelry, and optical products. Founded in 1881 by Kintarō Hattori in Tokyo, Seiko introduced the world's first commercial quartz wristwatch in 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seiko Instruments</span> Japanese company

Seiko Instruments Inc. (SII) is a Japanese company, which develops and commercializes semiconductor, micromechatronics, and precision machining technologies. It is one of the business units of Seiko Group Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spring Drive</span> Hybrid (mechanical and quartz) watch movement

Spring Drive is a name given to a series of watch movements produced by Epson in Shiojiri. The concept of using a mainspring to power a quartz timing package was first conceived in 1977 by Yoshikazu Akahane at Suwa Seikosha. Specified to one second accuracy per day, the movement uses a conventional gear train as in traditional mechanical watches, but rather than an escapement and balance wheel, instead features Seiko's Tri-synchro Regulator system in which power delivery to the watch hands is regulated based on a reference quartz signal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Citizen Watch</span> Core company of a Japanese global corporate group based in Tokyo, Japan

Citizen Watch Co., Ltd. is an electronics company primarily known for its watches and is the core company of a Japanese global corporate group based in Nishitokyo, Tokyo, Japan. In addition to Citizen brand watches, it is the parent of American watch company Bulova, and is also known for manufacturing small electronic devices such as calculators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Continuous ink system</span> Method for delivering a large volume of liquid ink to a comparatively small inkjet printhead

A continuous ink system (CIS), also known as a continuous ink supply system (CISS), a continuous flow system (CFS), an automatic ink refill system (AIRS), a bulk feed ink system (BFIS), or an off-axis ink delivery system (OIDS) is a method for delivering a large volume of liquid ink to a comparatively small inkjet printhead. Many business and professional grade printers incorporate a continuous ink system in their design to increase printing capacity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ink cartridge</span> Inkjet printer component

An ink cartridge or inkjet cartridge is the component of an inkjet printer that contains the ink to be deposited onto paper during printing. It consists of one or more ink reservoirs and can include electronic contacts and a chip to exchange information with the printer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epson HX-20</span>

The Epson HX-20 was the first "true" laptop computer. It was invented in July 1980 by Yukio Yokozawa, who worked for Suwa Seikosha, now the Seiko Epson subsidiary of the Japanese Seiko Group, receiving a patent for the invention. It was announced in 1981 as the HC-20 in Japan, and was introduced by Epson in North America as the HX-20 at the 1981 COMDEX computer show in Las Vegas, where it drew significant attention for its portability. It had a mass-market release in July 1982, as the HC-20 in Japan and as the Epson HX-20 in North America. The size of an A4 notebook and weighing 1.6 kg, it was hailed by BusinessWeek magazine as the "fourth revolution in personal computing".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seiko Group</span> Japanese corporate group

Seiko Group is a Japanese corporate group consisting of three core companies Seiko Group Corp. (Seiko), Seiko Instruments Inc. (SII) and Seiko Epson Corp (Epson). The three companies are linked by a common thread of timepiece technology. Epson has established its own brand image and rarely uses 'Seiko'. On January 26, 2009, Seiko Holdings and Seiko Instruments announced that the two companies will be merged on October 1, 2009, through a share swap. Seiko Instruments became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seiko Holdings on October 1, 2009. On May 10, 2022, Seiko Holdings Corporation announced that it would rename Seiko Group Corporation as of October 1, 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astron (wristwatch)</span> First quartz wristwatch in the world; made by Seiko in 1969

The Astron wristwatch, formally known as the Seiko Quartz-Astron 35SQ, was the world's first "quartz clock" wristwatch. It is now registered on the List of IEEE Milestones as a key advance in electrical engineering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quartz crisis</span> 1970s–80s watchmaking industry upheaval

The quartz crisis (Swiss) or quartz revolution was the upheaval in the watchmaking industry caused by the advent of quartz watches in the 1970s and early 1980s, that largely replaced mechanical watches around the world. It caused a significant decline of the Swiss watchmaking industry, which chose to remain focused on traditional mechanical watches, while the majority of the world's watch production shifted to Japanese companies such as Seiko, Citizen and Casio which embraced the new electronic technology.

Dynamic Cassette International (DCI) is an internationally recognised Boston, Lincolnshire, UK based ink cartridge and laser toner manufacturing company, producing products under the Jet Tec brand name. DCI is the sole UK manufacturer of compatible ink cartridges. DCI is notable for winning the Queen's Award for Enterprise: Innovation in 2004 and the Queen's Award for Export and being one of the biggest employers in Boston, employing over 300 staff at its 40,000 square metres factory. The company is currently Europe's largest manufacturer of compatible inkjet cartridges and has a turnover in excess of £20 million.

Elecom Co., Ltd. is a Japanese electronics company and founded by Junji Hada in Osaka, Japan in 1986. The company introduced an oval mouse in 1988 that became a global standard design. They manufacture office and other furniture for using with electronics, computer peripherals, gaming peripherals, computer memory and USB flash drives, keyboards, and many other related devices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kintarō Hattori</span> Japanese watchmaker

Kintarō Hattori was a Japanese businessman and one of the first and most important Japanese watchmakers in history, as well as the founder of Seiko, one of the world's largest manufacturers of watches. He was a permanent council member of the Japanese Red Cross.

References

  1. "Company Outline | About | Epson".
  2. 1 2 "Annual Report 2022" (PDF). 2022-06-29. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
  3. "Company History". Epson US. Retrieved 2017-09-02.
  4. "Head Office & Japanese Facilities". Seiko Epson. Retrieved on January 13, 2009.
  5. "Company History | Epson US". epson.com. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
  6. Epson at a Glance, Investor Relations, Epson
  7. "Corporate Profile セイコーエプソン株式会社 会社案内 2021/2022" (PDF). www.epson.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  8. 1 2 3 Kelly, Jan Seaman; Lindblom, Brian S. (2006). Scientific Examination of Questioned Documents (2nd ed.). Hoboken: CRC Press. p. 202. ISBN   9781420003765.
  9. "Company History". Epson US. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  10. "Advert". InfoWorld . Vol. 5, no. 22. 30 May 1983.
  11. "State of the Art". SPIN. Vol. 1, no. 3. July 1985.
  12. "Corporate History: Timeline 1970-1999". Epson. Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  13. "Epson Printers - Unrivaled in Quality" . Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  14. "パソコン". shop.epson.jp.
  15. "Wearables Innovation - Investor Relations - Epson". global.epson.com. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
  16. "Micro Artist Studio Watchmaker, Yoshifusa Nakazawa | Toki-no-Waza The Artisan of Time|SEIKO WATCH CORPORATION". Toki-no-Waza The Artisan of Time|SEIKO WATCH CORPORATION. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
  17. In 2009, the company became full owner of Orient Watch, one of the largest timepiece manufacturers in Japan. Orient Watch History Archived 2012-01-10 at the Wayback Machine , (in Japanese)
  18. Porterfield, Deborah (September 29, 2012). "New products: earphones block noise and take calls". USA Today . Retrieved September 29, 2012.
  19. Print industry crisis Retrieved 17. January 2013.
  20. Nadel, Brian (September 24, 2015). "Review: Epson EcoTank -- an inkjet printer without cartridges". Computerworld.
  21. Service manual Epson LX-300+, 2000, page 25.
  22. fotointern.ch März 2016, Epson SureColor SC-P10000 schneller grossformatiger Fotodrucker (German), retrieved 21 November 2020.
  23. Nick Holt (2008-11-01). "Driven to automation". automotivemanufacturingsolutions.com. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
  24. "Epson Faces Consumer Suits". PC World. 2003-10-24. Archived from the original on 2006-04-23. Retrieved 2009-07-30.
  25. "XO(R) Web Site Hosting". Epsonsettlement.com. Archived from the original on December 14, 2007. Retrieved 2009-07-30.
  26. "Epson wins preliminary ruling against aftermarket cartridge manufacturers". Ars Technica. 9 April 2007. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  27. Zhang, Michael (11 September 2015). "This is How Much Ink the Epson 9900 Printer Wastes". PetaPixel. Retrieved 13 December 2016.