OREANDA-NEWS. April 14, 2015. Seiko Epson Corporation (TSE: 6724, "Epson") on June 12, 2015, will mark the 40th anniversary of the Epson brand the company uses on many of its products and services. To commemorate this anniversary, we at Epson aim to show our appreciation to the stakeholders who have supported our brand over the years. We will also take a retrospective look at the meaning of the brand and reaffirm our commitment to continuing to provide our customers with products that surprise and delight.

Epson (then Daiwa Kogyo) was founded in 1942. Originally a developer and manufacturer of watches, Epson later leveraged its core technologies-which enable products that are compact, energy saving and high-precision-to enter and gradually expand in other business areas. As a vertically integrated enterprise with capabilities ranging from product development and manufacture to sales and marketing, Epson began moving into the information equipment business in 1968 with the release of the EP-101, the world's first compact, lightweight digital printer, and followed this in the 1970s with a succession of computer peripheral products. As the company went on to develop new markets and provide customers around the world with satisfying products and services in a broad range of categories, we decided to develop a unique, original brand.

The Epson brand name comes from the EP-101, the product that kicked off the company's expansion into the information equipment business. The "EP" stands for "electronic printer" and the "SON" represents our desire to follow the original electronic printer with many worthwhile descendants (products and services). The "Exceed Your Vision" global tagline that accompanies the Epson brand concisely states our promise to customers that Epson will continue to exceed their expectations.

We use Epson's unique core technologies to transform our businesses as customer and societal needs change. Under our current corporate vision, SE15, we are continuing to develop unique products and services in an effort to drive change in four areas: printing, visual communications, quality of life, and manufacturing. Going forward, we will refine these core technologies and will continue to pursue our corporate ethos of creativity and challenge in an effort to provide products and services that bring positive change to the lives of our customers around the world.