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The History of Canon 1962 - 1975
First five-year plan

History of Enterprise
year
History of Products
1962
  • Canon develops its first five-year plan in preparation for full-fledged entry into the business machine market.
  • Canon Latin America, the company's sole distributor for Latin America, is established in Panama.
1962
1963
  • Canon SA Geneva is established. By abolishing the sole-distributor system, Canon moves to a new sales system, with outlets under the direct control of the headquarters in Tokyo.
1963
  • Canon starts work on optical fiber development.
  • An X-ray mirror camera is introduced.
1964
  • Tamagawa factory (today, the Tamagawa Office) opens, producing 8 mm movie cameras and lenses.
1964
  • The Canola 130, the world's first 10-key electronic calculator, is introduced.
    Canola 130

    Canola 130

1965
  • Canon U.S.A., Inc., is established.
1965
  • Canon enters the copying machine field with the introduction of the Canofax 1000.
1967
  • The 30th anniversary slogan -"Cameras in the Right Hand, Business Machines in the Left"- is announced.
  • The ratio of exports to net sales surpasses 50%.
  • Canon Latin America, Inc., is established.
1967
1968
  • Canon Business Machines Sales, Inc. (today, Canon Marketing Japan) is established in Japan.
  • Canon Amsterdam N.V. (today, Canon Europa N.V.) is established.
1968
  • The Canon NP System, the original electro-photography technology, is introduced and Canon enters the plain-paper copier (PPC) market.
  • Canon Electronics is successful in the mass production of four-track, four-channel stereo recording heads.
1969
  • The company's name is changed to Canon Inc.
  • Canon Camera Sales Co., Inc., is founded for Japanese marketing.
  • The Canon Research Center is established in Meguro, Tokyo.
  • Fukushima Canon Inc. is established as a camera manufacturing plant.
1969
  • The world's first lens employing fluorite is introduced.
1970
  • Canon Inc., Taiwan, Canon’s first manufacturing facility outside of Japan, is established.
  • Canon enters the market for personal calculators.
1970
  • The NP-1100, Japan's first PPC, is introduced.
    NP-1100

    NP-1100

  • The PPC-1, Japan's first mask aligner, is introduced.
    PPC-1

    PPC-1

1971
  • Canon Business Machines Sales, Inc., and Canon Camera Sales Co., Ltd., merge to form Canon Sales Co., Inc.
1971
  • The Canon F-1, a top-end SLR camera, and FD lenses are introduced.
  • The BP-1000 billing machine is introduced. Canon enters the field of office computers.
1972
  • Canon Giessen GmbH, Canon’s first European manufacturing site, is established in Germany.
1972
  • The NP-70, the world's first PPC with the liquid-dry system, is introduced.
1973
  • Canon Deutschland GmbH is established.
1973
  • Japan's first full-color PPC is introduced.
  • A macro zoom lens for cinematography wins an Academy Award in the science and technology category from the U.S. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
1974
  • Takeo Maeda is appointed president of Canon Inc.
    Takeo Maeda

    Takeo Maeda

  • Canon Business Machines, Inc., is established in California, U.S.A.
  • Optron, Inc. (today, Canon Optron, Inc.) is established.
1974
  • The Canonac 100 and 500 office computers are introduced.
  • The Communicator, a portable "tape-writer" for the speech impaired, is announced.
  • Canon initiates sales of the Optacon, an electronic reader for the blind.
1975
  • Canon France S.A.S. is established.
1975
  • Canon succeeds in developing a laser printer.