Corporate
History

1946
  • Manufactures of shutter started as a small scale business
1949
  • Operation became reorganized as the Copal Koki Company Limited, specializing in the manufacturing of camera shutters. Capitalization: 600,000YEN.
1954
  • Head office and main plant moved to Itabashi-ku, Tokyo.
1955
  • Belt conveyor system was employed for assembling shutters.
1956
  • Received Japan Industrial Standard (JIS) certification for self-timers.
1957
  • Copal Employees Union was established.
1958
  • Osaka Office was opened.
1959
  • Received JIS certification for lens shutters.
1960
  • Received Okochi Award for improvements in camera lens shutters and for mass production of ultra-precision products.
1961
  • Listed on Second Section, Tokyo Stock Exchange.
  • Received Big Ten New Products Award from Nikkan Kogyo Shinbun (Nikkan Industrial News) for Copal Square Shutter.
  • Received Akashi Memorial Reward from Precision Machinery Institute for development, design, and manufacture of Copal Square Shutter.
  • Received Practical Invention Award from Japan Invention Association for shutter speed control device.
  • Received award from Ministry of International Trade and Industry for industrial standardization.

    Focal plane shutter 

    Audio equipment

1962
  • Changed company name to Copal Company Limited.
1963
  • Participated in 8th Photokina for the first time.
  • Copal Precision Co., Ltd., (currently Koriyama Technical Center) began operations in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture.
  • Camera mission from USSR visited company.
1964
  • Camera industry representatives from France visited company.
  • Contract was signed for export of shutter technology to USSR.
1967
  • Received award from Mainichi Newspapers for digital clock design.
  • Copal Optical Co., Ltd., (currently Shiojiri Factory) was established in Shiojiri, Nagano Prefecture.

    Digital clock


1969
  • Muikamachi Precision Co., Ltd., (currently Nidec Copal Precision Parts Corp., Muikamachi Plant) was established in Muikamachi, Niigata Prefecture.
1970
  • Emperor Hirohito and Empress Nagako visited Copal Precision Co., Ltd. (currently Nidec Copal Corp., Koriyama Technical Center).
  • Copal R&D Laboratory Co., Ltd. was established.

    8 mm projector


1971
  • Listed on First Section, Tokyo Stock Exchange.
1972
  • Ichinoseki Copal Co., Ltd., (currently Nidec Copal Corp., Ichinoseki Plant) was established in Ichinoseki, Iwate Prefecture.
1974
  • Electronic Industry Observation Group from PRC visited company.
1977
  • CP element technology introduced from NEI (U.S.A.).
1978
  • Merged Copal Precision Co., Ltd.
1979
  • Copal Labor Union Hall was completed.
1981
  • M. C. Engineering Co., Ltd., was established.

    Minilab system


1984
  • Merged five manufacturing subsidiaries (Copal Opto-sonic Co., Copal Optical Co., Muikamachi Copal Co., Ichinoseki Copal Co., and Musashino Copal Co.).
1987
  • Copal Precision Parts Co., Ltd., (currently Nidec Copal Precision Parts Corp.) was established.

Floppy disk drive  

Laser printer

1988
  • Entered into capital participation arrangement with Fujitsu (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (Copal Division).
1991
  • Copal Precision (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., (currently Nidec Copal (Malaysia) Sdn. Bnd.) was established in Malaysia.
  • New machinery plant was completed at Shiojiri Factory.
1993
  • Fukushima Precision Co., Ltd., was established in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture.
1994
  • Shanghai Copal New Asia Photographic Developing & Printing Co., Ltd., joint venture with Shanghai New Asia (Group) Co., Ltd., was established.
1995
  • Manufacturing Equipment Division acquired ISO 9002 certification. Optical Electronic Components Division acquired ISO 9001 certification.
1996
  • Ichinoseki Plant and Muikamachi Plant acquired ISO 9002 certification.
1997
  • Photo Lab System Division acquired ISO 9001 certification.
  • Participated in management of Precision Engineered Components Corp. in the Philippines(currently Nidec Copal Philippines Corp.)
1998
  • Electronic Components Division acquired ISO 9001 certification.
  • Nidec Corp. became the largest stockholder of company and joined the Nidec Group.
  • Received Director of the Science and Technology Agency Award for long years of contribution to the camera industry by developing focal plane shutters for cameras.
  • Copal Optical and Electronic Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., was established in Shanghai.
1999
  • Nidec Copal (Vietnam) Co., Ltd., was established in Vietnam.
  • Adopted an organizational structure based on business headquarters' concept.
  • Changed name to Nidec Copal Corp.
2000
  • Fujitsu (Thailand) Copal Division, becoming independent as Nidec Copal (Thailand) Co., Ltd., built a new plant and started operations.
  • Nidec Copal (U.S.A.) Corp. was estsblished as the sales company of electronic and precision components.
2001
  • Nidec Copal GmbH was established as the sales company of electronic and precision components in†Europe.
  • Purple Ribbon Medal in Spring for contribution to the development of focal plane shutters for cameras.
  • Koriyama Technical Center, Ichinoseki Plant, Muikamachi Plant, Nidec Copal Precision Parts Corp. acquired ISO14001 certification.
  • LED/SMD Dept., Nidec Copal Philippines Corp. acquired QS9000 certification.
  • Nidec Copal (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd. established in China.
2002
  • Entered into capital participation arrangement with Nidec System Engineering (Zhejiang) Corp. in China.
  • Head Office Area acquired ISO14001 certification.
  • Shiojiri Factory acquired ISO9001-2000 edition certification.
2003
  • Copal Yamada Corp. was established.

 

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