DNP HISTORY
1876 - Shueisha, predecessor to Dai Nippon Printing, established in Tokyo, Japan
1881 - Integrated letterpress printing system inaugurated
1886 - First plant opened in Ichigaya section of Tokyo
1894 - Shueisha incorporated following the enactment of Japan’s first commercial code
1923 - Headquarters relocated to present site, following the Kanto earthquake
1928 - Japan’s first four-color gravure printing system inaugurated
1932 - Multi-color offset printing technology (Neotone) developed
1935 - Corporate name changed to Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. following merger with Nisshin Printing Co., Ltd.
1946 - Enokicho Plant designated by Ministry of Finance to print 100-yen notes Central Research Institute (CRI) established
1949 - DNP listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange
1951 - Operations expanded into packaging field, with opening of Osaki Plant specializing in paper containers Technology developed for production of woodgrain printed decorative sheets, and operations in decorative interiors inaugurated
1957 - Operations expand into Flexible Packaging with opening of Oji Plant
1958 - DNP ranked as Japan’s largest printing company based on sales Japan’s first prototype shadowmasks for color TVs developed
1959 - Dai Nippon Photomechanical (forerunner of present Micro Products Plant) established
1960 - Electronic platemaking system introduced in Japan
1963 - Technique for direct color printing on steel plates (ELL10 Sheets) developed
1964 - Dai Nippon Printing Company International, Ltd. (forerunner of present Dai Nippon Printing Co. (Hong Kong) Ltd.) established in Hong Kong
1965 - Technique for gravure printing on cloth developed
1967 - Yokohama Plant, specializing in paper containers, established
1968 - Creative Design Center inaugurated (forerunner of current Planning Division of CDC) Representative office opened in New York
1970 - Dai Nippon Printing (Europa) GmbH established in Duesseldorf, Germany
1972 - Joint venture Dai Nippon Gitakarya (forerunner of present P.T. Dai Nippon Printing Indonesia) established in Indonesia Akabane Plant, specializing in commercial printing, established CTS Dai Nippon Co. established and computer-typesetting system inaugurated Warabi Plant, specializing in business forms, established
1973 - DNP surpasses R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co., to become the world’s largest comprehensive printing company in terms of sales Sayama Plant, specializing in paper carton operations, established Tsuruse Plant, specializing in printing of decorative materials, established Nara Plant, specializing in business forms, established
1974 - DNP (America) Inc., established in the United States
1975 - Engineering research Laboratory (forerunner of present Manufacturing Technology Integration Laboratory) established
1976 - DNP (Australia) Pty. Ltd., established in Sydney
1978 - Large-scale three-dimensional hologram developed "Curlfit" technology developed enabling multicolor printing on three - dimensional surfaces
1980 - Packaging Research Laboratory, Business Forms Research Laboratory, and Decorative Interiors Research Laboratory established
1981 - Investigation into Thermal Transfer Ribbons begins
"DEMIA", a device for measuring an image area of printing plate, developed
1982 - Test production of Thermal Transfer Ribbons begins
Investigation into Dye-sublimation Thermal Transfer Ribbons begins
DNP was first printing company to participate in world’s largest exhibition of printing materials
Micro Products Research Laboratory and Image and Information Research (forerunner of present Communication & Information Technology Laboratory) established
1983 - Black monochrome ribbon for fax machines launches into the market
Integrated circuit (IC) card developed
1984 - Process color ribbons for color printer launches into the market
Thermal Transfer Ribbon project enters mass production
Large projection screen for Hi-Vision TVs (Japanese HDTV standard) developed
Plant established for production of fine-pitch shadowmasks
Hologram transfer technology developed for mass production of holograms
1985 - Dye-sublimation project enters mass production
Plant established in Kyoto for production of electronic components
Large-memory capacity optical card developed
Central Research Institute (CRI) Kashiwa Laboratory established
World’s first electronically published software on CD-ROM, Trilingual Dictionary of Science and Engineering, jointly developed with Sanshusha Co., Ltd.
1986 - Ribbon for automatic ticket boarding (boarding pass) printer released
Digital color proof system exhibited in DRUPA show
Transparent hologram developed
Ginza Graphic Gallery (ggg) opened
1987 - Digital color proof printer released
Technology developed for direct printing of Hi-Vision image data
Rewritable optical memory cards developed
1988 - New Sayama plant starts which is dedicated to Thermal Transfer Ribbon production
1989 - Information Media Supply operations established for Thermal Transfer and Dye-sublimation ribbons
ID card system released taking advantage of Dye-sublimation technology
Operations in satellite communications inaugurate
Hi-Vision gallery at Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu established, in collaboration with NHK Enterprises, et al.
DNP Denmark A/S established to manufacture and market screens for projection-type TVs
SPOM JAPAN Co., Ltd., dedicated to the manufacture of IC cards, jointly established with Bull CP-8 of France
1990 - Advanced Dye-sublimation media developed
Multi-use Thermal Transfer Ribbon developed
Acquired controlling shares in Tien Wah Press in Singapore
Johor Bahru Plant of Tien Wah Press established in Malaysia
Optical Memory Card Business Corporation founded as joint venture with Olympus Optical Co., Ltd., Omron Corp., and Nippon Conlux Co., Ltd.
1991 - Advanced bar-code ribbon released
New Okayama plant started which is dedicated to Dye-sublimation media production
Dai Nippon Printing Co. (Sinapore) Pte. Ltd. established
Electronics design Research Laboratory established for IC design
Dai Nippon Printing Co. (UK) Ltd. established
1992 - Overhead projection film for color copier produced in Information Media Supply division
High quality color picture transmitting developed in Barcelona Olympics
Development of multi-panel Dye-sublimation ribbon featuring topcoat panel
World’s first electronically published software for Hi-Vision TVs developed
Purchased Archive Collection of contemporary prints from Tyler Graphics of the United States
DNP Group Corporate Pledge established
1993 - Development of 3rd generation of Dye-sublimation media
Began mass production of Lippmann holograms First-phase construction of Mihara Plant, specializing in electronic components, completed
1994 - Information Media Supply (IMS) established in the United Sates
Sayama plant qualified for ISO 9001 certification
Development of advanced high durability topcoat Dye-sublimation
Announced development of virtual reality entertainment system
DNP website created on the Internet
First-phase construction of Otone Plant, specializing in color filters for LCD, completed
1995 - DNP IMS America Corporation. plant in Concord, NC begins operations for bar code printing and fax machines
Received MITI Award during Fourth Global Environment Awards
Center for Contemporary Graphic Art established in Fukushima Prefecture
1996 - Construction begins on expansion of DNP IMS America Corporation. plant
Okayama plant qualified for ISO 9001 certification
Celebrated tenth anniversary of Ginza Graphic Gallery. Gallery received Special Prize during 1995 Mainichi Design Awards
Izumizaki Plant established
"DNP Photo Collection" donated to European photography gallery
Second-phase construction of Okayama Plant, specializing in decorative materials and information media supplies, completed
Hi-Vision system donated to Shanghai Museum
Received Mecenat Award for Outstanding Popularization of the Arts
1997 - DNP IMS America Corporation. becomes ISO 9002 certified
Okayama Plant qualifies for ISO 14001 certification
Established "EC Galaxy", an online shopping mall
President Kitajima received the 17th Mainichi Business Person Award
1998 - DNP IMS America Corporation. opens its bar code Thermal Transfer Ribbon production to the reseller market
First-phase construction of Utsunomiya Plant, specializing in general and commercial printing, completed
President Kitajima received the French National Order of the Legion of Honor
1999 - A second Okayama plant is dedicated to Thermal Transfer Ribbon production for fax
machines and is fully automated
2001 - www.dnpribbons.com successfully launched as first e-business website for
DNP IMS America Corporation.
Clean Print Heads campaign launches as part of nine month global research study
on Thermal Transfer Ribbon backcoating properties
DNP IMS America Corporation. releases W160 Ultra Durable Wax, a new wax Thermal
Transfer Ribbon, at Frontline Solutions Expo 2001
2002 - DNP IMS America Corporation. publishes the R510 Release Kit.
After extensive testing, R510 Ultra Durable Resin remains the industry's
toughest resin ribbon for nearly 10 years running.
Brett Cameron attends and speaks at both the 8th Annual ACT Color Conference
and the 12th Annual Thermal Printing Conference.
DNP IMS America Corporation. releases new near edge flexible packaging
ribbon, M295 Specialty Near Edge Wax/Resin at Label Expo 2002.
Became the first company to acquire certification for a smart ATM card
application from the IC Cashcard Type Approval Council (CTAC).
Announced the development of Ecofit Smart Card I-Type, a smart card produced
with injection molding, realizing small-lot production, expedient deliveries,
environmental friendliness and enhanced heat resistance.
DNP announced that it will launch Dplats, a digital, Japanese-based, content
distribution business platform.
Developed low-cost, Light Edition, of the customer loyalty card-management
system for smaller businesses by selecting minimum requirement functions for CRM.
DNP launched a licensing business called Artist Touch, developing digital
design by extracting portions of world-renowned paintings. |
