Over the 150 years since its inception, Konica Minolta hasn’t merely observed and witnessed change, but has spearheaded transformation. This period of a century and a half has been marked by remarkable and numerous innovations, and we remain committed to maintaining our leading role in the future ~ Nikola Pavlović
Creativity, ingenuity and adaptability, shown by people from the past, present and future – whether they are employees, partners or customers – have made Konica Minolta the brand it is today, and that it will continue to be tomorrow. While we take pride in our long history, we firmly believe that our greatest achievements lie ahead.
In a time when ever fewer companies are celebrating significant milestones, particularly companies with over 40,000 employees worldwide that are dedicated to preserving and advancing what was initiated in 1873, we can take pride in our first 150 years of progress, innovation and constant development.
Our company’s founder, Rokusaburo Sugiura, who later established the Konica Corporation, initially opened a small, specialised shop for photographs and lithography in Tokyo back in 1873, when the world was vastly different. Even though that was during the time prior to the emergence of automobiles, radios and televisions, his entrepreneurial spirit laid the foundations for what would become Konica Minolta.
Fifty-five years later, in 1928, Kazup Tashima founded Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shoten. That later became Minolta Co., a manufacturer of photocopiers and cameras, including the Minolta Hi-Matic, which is the camera that John Glenn would use to take the first photos of Earth from space.
Throughout its existence, Konica Minolta has transformed, evolved and innovated continuously, with imaging at its core
The merger of Konica and Minolta occurred at the beginning of the new century, or in 2003 precisely. Throughout its existence, Konica Minolta has transformed, evolved and innovated continuously, with imaging at its core. We have contributed to many groundbreaking innovations, as evidenced by our impressive list of approximately 20,000 patents registered worldwide. These innovations stemmed from versatility and the desire for development, all of which have contributed to our continuing success.
However, at Konica Minolta we don’t rely solely on our rich heritage. We today prioritise continuous research and development. Our focus is on intelligently connected workplaces, office devices, IT solutions and M-Files (a DMS system), Video surveillance systems (VSS) and Video Analytics System (VAS) solutions all of which represent smarter ways of working, as well as professional printing.
When it comes to the future, we at Konica Minolta see it in data, because we are current ly in the midst of the digital revolution. Digital transformation has led to an explosion of data that can provide insight and information, but only if communicated correctly. However, since the volume of data is often too large for humans to analyse manually, we require artificial intelligence (AI).
This vision was eloquently explained by Kiyo Suhara, President of Konica Minolta Europe, who stated that our goal is to combine our original imaging technologies with artificial intelligence to enable data processing and decisionmaking based on data. He explained that decisions that change the way we work, enhance security, improve product quality or enable progress in medicine are at the core of our vision.