Background

In 1900, four people with entrepreneurial spirit and Erhört letterpress technology, the most advanced printing technology of the day, began Japan’s modern printing industry when they established Toppan.  Toppan, which literally means letterpress in Japanese, went on to expand its business by developing and opening new frontiers in printing technology.  (For a detailed chronology of Toppan Printing Company, click here.) Now our business activities span the areas of commercial printing, securities printing, packaging, publications printing, electronics and IC business, but all of these divisions find their roots in the original letterpress printing of 1900.  Toppan has grown to become a leader in the information communications industry, which is like no other in the world.

Toppan’s Global Network

As well as over 80 domestic locations, which include plants, sales offices and research centres, Toppan also has a presence in over 42 overseas locations.  Group employees total more than 32,000, and group turnover last year exceeded ￡6.7billion.

Toppan’s Global Presence

Toppan has had a continuous presence in the UK since the early 1970’s, initially in the form of a representative office, when Toppan was acutely aware of the growing importance of Europe as a potential market, and had the foresight to establish roots here.The Toppan UK entity was incorporated in 1983 and has grown into an organisation that now mirrors the parent organisation in many ways.  All of the main divisions of Toppan in Japan, such as Book Printing, Securities Printing, Packaging and Electronics, are represented in London and direct links exist between Toppan Japan and the UK. 

The Toppan UK team comprises 15 staff from 6 different countries.  The 7 different divisions of the parent company are represented in the London office, although our industrial materials team belong to Toppan Cosmo, the head office of which is in Germany. We work closely with European partner companies and serve an ever-increasing European, Middle Eastern and African client base

The UK entity is a very significant window on the UK and EU markets for Japan, and similarly through our parent company in Japan, we are acutely aware of the subtleties of the Japanese market. This pivotal role places Toppan UK in a unique and advantageous position.