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Diebold's Story
Diebold - Continuing a tradition of quality
and leadership
Quality, innovation and customer satisfaction are the foundation
of Diebold, Incorporated. From the strength and security of the safes and
vaults first manufactured by Charles Diebold in 1859, to the technology-based
integrated systems, software and service that the Company provides today,
Diebold's commitment has always been to develop practical solutions for
customer needs.
Diebold
Timeline
OVER THE DECADES,
DIEBOLD
has provided some intriguing products and services in the effort to satisfy
those needs. For example, during the 1880s and 1890s, the Company also
made jails, jail corridor doors, hangman trap doors and padded cells for
asylums. Diebold worked with the Lake Erie Chemical Company in the 1930s
to develop a system to discharge tear gas in bank lobbies to assist in
deterring the notorious John Dillinger and his gang. In the 1960s, its
product line included checks and check printing.
The Company's move into automated teller
machines (ATMs) in the late 1960s was one of a series of logical progressions
in Diebold's evolution. Another was its expansion into electronic security
products earlier in the century. The ATM was a natural extension for Diebold,
a long-time leader in delivery systems such as drive-up banking and teller
counters, which enabled financial institutions to serve their own customers
better.
Diebold went on to record countless firsts
in ATM technology in the decades of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Diebold's
progress has taken many turns from 1859 to the present, but the Company
has never swayed from its dedication toward technology leadership and customer
satisfaction. Diebold has been especially successful at understanding market
needs and harnessing technology to serve those needs.
The early years: Quality and strength
Charles Diebold, a German immigrant, founded the Company
in 1859. The business soon established a national reputation for
high-quality safes and vaults. The Company held the patents on at least
67 different safes by 1870.
When disaster struck one of the nation's
major cities in 1871, it turned into opportunity for Diebold. Following
the Great Chicago Fire, 878 Diebold safes were discovered with their contents
unharmed.
The middle years:
Growth and innovation
By the turn of the century, Diebold Safe &
Lock Company's commitment to customer needs was well-established. To further
its goal of providing the highest-quality products and services to its
customers, Diebold founded the industry's first nationwide service division
in 1915.
Diebold's service organization remains the
largest and best in the financial industry today, with 2,300 professionals
in 400 locations maintaining products and systems for 50,000 customers
nationwide.
Technology leadership has been a common Diebold trait throughout the years.
Eighty-two patents were issued to Diebold between 1921 and 1957 for such
products as vault doors and frames, safes, money chests, locks, lockers,
delayed time locks and various protective devices. In 1954, for example,
Diebold introduced a radical new design for bank vault doors. The new rectangular
door embraced the clean, uncluttered look that was the trend in bank architecture
after World War II, replacing the elaborate locking mechanisms, operating
wheels and levers that were visible on the previous generations of doors.
Diebold's progression in the development
of bank protection equipment was largely driven by the need to find materials
that would withstand the inventiveness of the modern-day bank robber. Diebold
developed metal combinations and equipment designs to stave off the criminals'
use of increasingly sophisticated materials, tools and techniques over
the years.
Following
World War II, the American lifestyle became faster-paced, with the automobile
playing an ever-increasing role of importance. Diebold responded with the
purchase of O.B. McClintock Company, an early leader in drive-up banking
systems and electronic burglar alarms. In the years following that purchase,
Diebold developed a host of sophisticated electronic security solutions.
These ranged from systems capable of monitoring thousands of financial
and commercial locations, to the alarms, video surveillance and access
control systems used within these monitoring systems.
The modern era: Solutions for a changing
world
In the late 1960s, Diebold President Raymond
Koontz made a bold move that would further strengthen Diebold's leadership
in customer delivery systems for the financial industry.
By entering the
new ATM market, Koontz realized, Diebold could combine its security expertise
and delivery system leadership with its metal construction and electromechanical
device skills.
Through its innovations in features
and technology applications, Diebold has continued to be a pioneer in the
growing ATM market, which today totals almost $3 billion in annual sales
worldwide.
In 1967, Diebold showed a prototype
of the first multi-function ATM at the American Bankers Association Automation
Conference. Diebold was a distributor of automatic banking systems from
1970 until 1973, when it introduced its own TABS 500 Total Automatic Banking
System.
Throughout
the 1970s and the 1980s, Diebold remained a leader in applying new technology
to meet customer needs.
In 1990, Diebold and International Business
Machines Corporation (IBM) formed InterBold, a joint venture which combines
Diebold's ATM expertise with IBM's global marketing and technical resources.
A year later, InterBold introduced the i Series, a fourth-generation
line of ATMs with improved flexibility and user availability.
The i Series achieved unparalleled
success during its first year. InterBold's share of the domestic market
rose dramatically, from 45 percent in 1991 to 54 percent in 1992. The i
Series ATMs currently rank at the top in market share in the United States
and in many other countries around the world.
Another
wave of the future is the Integrated Campus Access Management (ICAM) system,
which links electronic security with self-service transaction systems at
college campuses and other campus-like settings.
Diebold's
MedSelect products apply ATM technology to help the healthcare industry
improve efficiency and maintain quality of service, and Diebold is progressing
into the growing field of electronic payment systems.
Diebold's service staff is increasingly becoming the one source for all
customer service needs. Self-directed teams of employee associates are
empowered to do their jobs the best way they know how in Diebold's state-of-the-art
focus factories.
Beyond today and into the future, Diebold's strategic vision is to partner
with customers and employ its unique combination of capabilities (in self-service,
security, software, systems integration, advanced card systems and customer
service) to develop total solutions that are both innovative and practical.
Diebold believes this vision will enable the Company to prosper and maximize
shareholder value well into the next century.
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Copyright © 1997, Diebold Incorporated, all rights reserved.
Last Modified: May 16, 1997