Company profile: Okidata
Nearly 130 years ago, a visionary named Kibataro Oki laid the foundation of a company called Meikosha. This company was to become the origins of the market leader in printing and communications technology; OKI. The company transformed itself into an electronics company from the second half of sixties and well into the seventies. In 1972 a Japan-US joint venture was set up in Philadelphia, to develop and manufacture the DP100 impact printer. The company started as a dream to become a leader in communications technology and fanned out into a computer hardware manufacturer that specialized in the production of printers with a turnover of over $5.0 billion. Today it is ranked as number one by market share as it dominates over 55% of the impact printer market. For more information on this, please check out the listing provided in Wikipedia.
Oki Data has sold more than 16 million printers since the company opened its doors in the United States and is now recognized as a leader among computer peripheral companies. Okidata manufactures digital color printers, monochrome printers, impact (dot matrix) printers, thermal label printers, Point of Sale printers, fax machines and a comprehensive range of accessories and consumables. Workflow management and optimization of business performance are catered for in its business printing products line. The company produces an entire range of printers for the professional print industry. These machines are very well suited for graphic arts and print production markets. Consistently delivering on-demand printing for color-critical applications, these printers can print on diverse types of media.
OKI is noted for its production of printer products in some specific areas. They continue to manufacture dot-matrix printers. These 9-pin and 24-pin printers are capable of printing multi-part tractor forms. Printers of this type remain in demand due to the fact that they are the fastest duplicate printing solution available commercially. In another segment, OKI manufactures xerographic printers. In these printers, an optical image is formed by an array of LEDs in contrast to a scanning laser. These machines have fewer moving parts and offer a straighter print path which is useful in commercial printing.