Our legacy
of innovation

Our legacy of innovation

Ricoh was formed in 1936 in Tokyo, Japan. Our founder, Kiyoshi Ichimura, was a remarkable visionary who championed a responsible, progressive and people-first approach to doing business.

Mr Ichimura recognised the importance of embracing human potential to create a better future for our people and planet. This idea has inspired our focus for more than 80 years on developing solutions that empower creativity and help individuals achieve Fulfilment through Work.

Over the decades, our company has gone from strength to strength, with several world firsts in workplace innovation.
Some of our defining moments include:

1973
Introducing the first high-speed facsimile

1975
Developing the world’s top-selling copier

1994
Pioneering a circular economy model, the Comet Circle™

2013
Launching the RICOH Theta – the world’s first imaging device that captures fully spherical views

We’re proud of our reputation as a market-leading hardware manufacturer and, in recent years, we have been transforming as a leading partner of choice in workplace experience and process automation, with global recognition from experts across our industry.