The Remarkable History of Kyocera

Kyocera Logo
Today, when they discover the convenient Copystar/Kyocera Printer Repair services available through Reach Technologies, many people automatically think of the high quality color printing equipment manufactured by Kyocera. Yet the firm actually began offering printer repair and service assistance comparatively recently. Its background offers insights into the development of the modern ceramics industry! This brief article showcases some of the most significant events in the company’s history:

An Innovative Startup

Dr. Kazuo Inamori helped co-found Kyocera in 1959 as Kyoto Ceramic Company, Limited. This startup firm began producing a component called a “kelcima”. The device functioned as a ceramic insulator for television picture tubes. Dr. Inamori helped pioneer the emerging field of engineered ceramics. Now widely known for his efforts to help Japan Airlines re-surge from bankruptcy, Dr. Inamori during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s developed numerous applications for ceramic products. The Kyoto Ceramic Company frequently created specialized parts for IBM and NASA. It also contributed to the development of rapid mass transit bullet trains in Japan. The firm eventually became “Kyocera”, adopting this name in 1982.

Kyocera helped create some innovative ceramic products for the consumer marketplace. For example, it helped engineer kitchen knives containing durable ceramic cutting blades. It also began developing laboratory-manufactured gemstones. These products possess the same hardness and brilliance as natural gems. Kyocera also created surgical implants, and produced solar cell components.

Kyocera Enters The Photocopying Field

Kyocera gained a prominent presence within the photocopying industry when it obtained ownership of the Mita Industrial Company in January, 2000. Just a few years later, it formed the Kyocera Documents Solution Corporation based in Osaka. This enterprise manufactures lines of printers and toner cartridges, products it markets internationally. It uses the name “Copystar” for many of its goods and services sold in the Western Hemisphere.

Kyocera Document Solutions serves as a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. Its printers function seamlessly with the software firm’s brands. It has developed particular acclaim in the creation of high quality color printing and copying equipment for a variety of office uses.

From Solar Cells to Color Printing Cartridges

The fascinating history of Kyocera demonstrates how research in one industry sometimes spurs developments in several other seemingly unrelated fields. Modern office printing equipment owes much to innovations which occurred within the computer industry (progress made possible, in part, by significant advances in ceramics).