80 Year Journey Chapter 2

Epson emerged from nature's magnificence along the shores of Lake Suwa.

Our connection to this ecosystem drives our business. Technologies that propel the development of innovative new products must contribute to a thriving environment. Epson's unique, efficient, compact, and precision technologies represent this philosophy. It's in our DNA. Our history of creativity and challenges originated from assembling watch components, leading to the development of technologies responsible for many world-first products.

From printers and projectors to robots and wearables, our technologies improve life worldwide. In 2022, we at Epson celebrate our 80th anniversary. We promise to continue to serve society and our planet, creating a sustainable future that enriches people's lives everywhere.

Yasunori Ogawa

President and CEO

Seiko Epson Corporation

Seiko Epson Corporation celebrates its 80th anniversary in 2022. We would like to express sincere gratitude to our many customers and stakeholders for their support.

Located near the shore of Lake Suwa, Epson embarked on its journey as a watch parts manufacturer. The company's founder pledged never to pollute Lake Suwa, and we continue to honor his pledge to this day.

We at Epson have always exercised creativity and challenged ourselves to deliver products and services that https://hybris.ea.epson.net/cmscockpit/cockpit/images/icon_func_inlinetext_openwysiwyg.pngexceed the expectations of our customers around the world by drawing on the efficient, compact, and precision technologies we have developed and refined since the company was founded in 1942.

In March 2021, we updated our corporate vision, Epson 25, and are now operating under Epson 25 Renewed, which defines "achieving sustainability and enriching communities" as our aspirational goal. In the past, we sought to use our strong technologies to create innovative products. Going forward, we will also look to wield our technologies to solve societal issues, focusing particularly on overcoming global environmental challenges.

I believe that our purpose as a company is to contribute to society and to employee happiness. I also believe that the two are inseparable. Taking care of our employees and contributing to society will generate confidence and pride internally that will drive us to further contribute to society.

We will continue to work together with our many stakeholders to solve societal issues, achieve sustainability, and improve the quality of life around the world.

It's the promise we made to Suwa.

We were born from a land surrounded by nature's magnificence, with a lake spreading out before us. Even we who knew only this place easily understood the beauty of the environment. The company founder, Hisao Yamazaki, pledged never to pollute Lake Suwa. We must preserve its beauty. Nature, despite its majesty, is delicate and vulnerable. Regardless of how masterfully we create, our value diminishes if we destroy nature.

Fortunately, we were born in harmony with our community and nature. Lake Suwa emerged from tectonic activity as a portion of the Earth lifted and split away Millions of years ago. Naturally, Suwa has its past and a present. Yamazaki made his promise to Lake Suwa in exchange for the ability to manufacture in the area. As a result, his vision has survived generations and produced our values. Without nature, our business would not be possible.

When we look around, we see stately trees reaching high into the sky. Listen carefully, and life is all around. Even today, Lake Suwa is brilliant. Nature's bounty in the right place and the right time. Our craftsmanship has reached every corner of the world, and we continue to create while tackling the toughest global issues.

Since our founding, our mission has been to contribute to our environment, manufacturing in harmony with nature.

“We must never pollute Lake Suwa.” These are the words of our founder, Hisao Yamazaki. To develop our business on these shores nestled in nature, we developed a harmonious relationship with the local community and work to preserve the environment — our mission from the beginning.

We clean our wastewater to preserve Lake Suwa, and in the 1970s, we set in-house, voluntary environmental standards that were stricter than the legal and regulatory limits to prevent pollution.

As a manufacturer, creating and delivering new products alone often negatively affects the environment. However, balancing environmental preservation with operations has always been the heart of our business at Seiko Epson. It's a culture passed down from generations that has remained intact as our global business developed and expanded.

Technology and information have little value without humanity and creativity.

In the 1980s, as awareness of risks to the ozone layer became an issue, Seiko Epson became the first company in the world to pledge to go CFC-free. Tsuneya Nakamura, the former CEO, said, “We cannot use something that we know is hurting the environment. Technology and information have no value in themselves but only become useful and valuable through humanity and creativity in the hands of people who use them.” In 1992, the company achieved a complete elimination of specified CFCs for cleaning in Japan, and the following year achieved it worldwide.

Nakamura said, "In the absence of effective substitutes, our CFC-free activities, which went forward without clear prospects for success, challenged the possibilities. We received the US Environmental Protection Agency's Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award, which I accepted in Washington on behalf of all our employees. This was a memorable experience."

Eighty years after our establishment, our beliefs and values remain unwavering. In 2016, we launched the Paper Lab A-8000, an office papermaking system that destroys confidential documents and recycles paper in a dry process, thus conserving a precious resource, water.

Also, we have included co-creation and sustainability in our long-term vision statement. Our Environmental Vision 2050 states that we will become carbon negative and underground resource free — a lofty goal that we intend to accomplish.

What social issues can we solve through our technology?

A small company born from an area rich with nature has grown through coexisting with its local community, continuing to work toward solving social issues today, in 2022.

The ideas that have guided our company since its founding remain steadfast within our current management philosophy, which we express as “The Earth is Our Friend.”

Yasunori Ogawa

The Epson Journey

Chapter 2 - At Seiko Epson, we dedicate ourselves to contributing to the environment while manufacturing our products.

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