More about History

The company opened Sunshine Starlight Dome “Manten” (currently named Konica Minolta Planetarium “Manten” in Sunshine City) in March 2004 as the world’s first planetarium theater directly operated by the manufacturer after taking over the business of Sunshine Planetarium in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, which had closed down in June 2003. The programs, which combines a state-of-the-art optical planetarium system with full-color high-quality computer-graphics movies projected on the entire dome proved very popular, and the cumulative number of visitors surpassed one million in 2007. The company currently operates five owned planetarium theaters in Japan.

Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are widely used for LCD TVs, personal computers, and mobile phones. The company developed VA-TAC, a highly functional film with a viewing angle widening function added to TAC film, which had been sold as a protective film for LCD polarizers. The number of films required was reduced from two to one, helping to reduce the thickness of displays as well as the number of parts and production processes.

With medical X-ray imaging shifting from films to digital, the company marketed the AeroDR, a cassette-type digital X-ray system. When marketed, the AeroDR, which weighed 2.9 kg, was the lightest wireless type cassette-type digital radiography with the capability to wirelessly transmit the image data.

To expand the scope of the light source color and object color measurement, the company acquired Instrument Systems GmbH, a major light measurement equipment manufacturer in Germany, in 2012. The company also acquired Radiant Vision Systems, LLC in the U.S. in 2015, Eines Systems S.L. in Spain in 2019, and Specim, Spectral Imaging Oy Ltd. in Finland in 2020. These group companies are engaged in the hyperspectral imaging business of measuring the appearance and the invisible light range.

While the company had maintained a holding company system after its inception in 2003, seven companies in the group were merged in April 2013 as part of reorganization of the management system. Under this new structure, the company name was changed to Konica Minolta, Inc. from Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc.

In January 2014, the company integrated the ultrasound division of Panasonic Healthcare Co., Ltd. In July 2014, the SONIMAGE HS1, a diagnostic ultrasound system which was under joint development before the business integration, was marketed. It was newly developed by combining the company’s material technology and image processing technology refined in the X-ray diagnostic imaging field with Panasonic Healthcare’s diagnostic ultrasound system technology, which had a track record of over 30 years. The hand-carry type product achieved high resolution and captured a high market share in the field of orthopedics in particular.

In 2016, the company marketed the AccurioJet KM-1, a B2 digital inkjet press that achieved excellent image quality comparable to that of offset printing and supported various types of printing paper. This was a long-awaited product in commercial printing. Concurrently, Accurio, a new brand for professional printing, was launched for differentiation from office products. In 2018, the AccurioJet KM-1 was chosen as the press for reproducing the art collection of the National Museum of Western Art, Japan.

The company developed the Intelligent Quality Optimizer IQ-501, an automatic quality optimization unit capable of automatic color and positon adjustment by incorporating a colorimeter owned in the Sensing Business into a digital press. After the release, the product was enthusiastically welcomed by global customers. Subsequently, the industry’s first automatic recovery printing function and automatic inspection function were added. The product has continuously contributed to improving productivity, saving manpower in operation, and cutting costs at printing field.

The company developed the SANUQI, a cyclo olefin polymer (COP) film, as a new material to replace conventional TAC films. The SANUQI is used for LCD TVs and touch panels because of its superb water resistance and processing suitability. Its applications have been increasing thanks to its thickness of only 0.04 mm and the industry-first production of super-ultra-wide films (2.5 m) for expanding the viewing angle of VA panels.