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.
2006 New factory for processing and assembling large parts at the Shiojiri Factory site.
2007 Fourth new factory established at the Nidec Copal (Thailand) Co.,Ltd.site.
2008 Copal Yamada Vietnam Corporation established.
Technical Center for Machining built on Niigata Nidec Copal Corp.
2010 Nidec Copal Precision（Vietnam） Corporation was established.
2011 Nidec Copal (Hong kong) Co., Ltd. Taiwan　Representative office was established.
2012 Nidec Copal Precision Parts Corporation
changed name to Niigata Nidec Copal Corp.
2013 The new company building completed.
Became a wholly owned