History
On October 1 2018 Kyocera Corporation announced the merger with Kyocera Optec Corporation, previously a wholly owned subsidiary of the Kyocera Group. Kyocera Optec will continue to operate as the Optical Components Division of Kyocera Corporation.
On this page we will introduce the corporate business development history of Kyocera Optec Corporation up until the time of the merger.
| 1949 | Incorporated as Tomioka Optical Co., Ltd in Ome City, Tokyo, Japan |
| 1960 | Commenced production of SLR camera lenses & copier lenses |
| 1968 | Corporate capital source changed from Japan Film Machines Co., Ltd to Yashica |
| 1969 | Company renamed Tomioka Optical Co., Ltd. |
| 1974 | Started technical alliance with Carl Zeiss Foundation and commenced consigned mass production |
| 1983 | Became a member of the Kyocera Group with merger of Kyocera & Yashica |
| 1986 | Commenced series production of laser printer lenses |
| 1990 | Commenced production of video microscope lenses (machine vision lenses) |
| 1991 | Company renamed Kyocera Optec Co., Ltd. |
| 1992 | Established Kansai Sales Office (Osaka, Japan) |
| 1996 | Commenced manufacturing of aspherical lenses |
| 1996 | Established Tokyo Sales Office (Tokyo, Japan) |
| 1997 | Developed "high-durability lens unit" (zoom endurance exceeding 10 million times) |
| 1999 | Established North America Sales Office (San Diego, CA, U.S.A.) |
| 2000 | Commenced series production of projection lenses |
| 2000 | Developed IR lenses |
| 2001 | Started operation of Chigase Plant (Japan) & Shilong Plant (China) |
| 2003 | Established mass-production technology for aspherical lenses |
| 2009 | Established depth-expanding optical technology (co-developed with Kyocera Corporation) |
| 2015 | Acquired ISO/TS16949 (Automotive) and ISO13485 (Medical Devices) |
| 2016 | Merged Melles Griot KK (Now: Saitama Tokigawa Office) |
| 2018 | KYOCERA OPTEC Co., Ltd. was merged with KYOCERA Corporation and renamed as Optical Components Division |