1960 The death of Ing. Adriano Olivetti was announced, his role of President was assumed by Dr G Pero. Dr Arrigo Olivetti and Ing. Dino Olivetti were both Vice- Presidents of the Company.
The Times reported that investors were for the first time being given the opportunity to invest in Europe’s largest manufacturer of business machines – C. Olivetti &C. S.p.A. The factory is described by the Company as not strictly “a place of work and centre of production but rather as a social organism”. The social services provided by the Company were designed to provide not merely good working conditions but also help the worker “in overcoming family and social difficulties”.
Selfridges in Oxford Street devoted one window for one week to a display of Olivetti portable typewriters. The theme was ‘back to school’ and the window designers wanted the phrase in as many languages as possible, in all 15 were obtained.
During 1960 Olivetti was seen not just as a typewriter company, but as an office machine company, this was demonstrated at the Business Efficiency Exhibition in October when fourteen types of office machine were demonstrated.
It was reported in the Falkirk Herald that the factory in Glasgow employed over 900 workers.
Questions were asked in the House of Lords if decimal currency was being considered the response was that it had been under consideration since 1799 when France introduced it.
Electronics Weekly reported that European manufacturers of data processing equipment were invading the USA. The Olivetti data capture system now marketed by Underwood sells for half the price of the American competition and is more versatile. The Americans admitted that the European designs were two years ahead of theirs!
1961 The February issue commenting on the possible introduction of decimal coinage said that if it was introduced it would be due to the pressure of the Olivetti newsletter and the Economist magazine.
March saw the introduction of the Elettrosumma 22CR a moving carriage selling for £160.
In June it was reported that HMSO had placed an order for 7,500 Diasprons, this was the largest single order ever received by BOL.
The new Summa Prima 20 was announced selling at £39 15s 0d. It was described as a ‘spot’ sales machine. Mondays being a quite day for shops, so this was campaign day. In with the machine. A memorised presentation. A sale. Or out to the next shop. The key selling points were P-A-V-I-E, Portable, Accurate, Versatile, Inexpensive and Easy to use.
In the September Olivetti flew 180 agents and their wives plus sales staff and their wives to a convention in Stresa. Included were presentations from Mr Fei the MD and David Maroni Provincial Sales Manager. A trip on the lake and dinner dance followed where Mr Camillo Olivetti, grandson of the founder, was guest of honour.
The 49th Business Efficiency Exhibition ran from the 2 to 11 October and the 2nd Electronic Computer show ran from the 3 to 12 October. There were 161 exhibitors at the first show and 57 at the second, naturally BOL were at both.
The Royal Society for Arts made an honorary appointment to Olivetti’s designer Marcello Nizzoli who has worked for the organisation since 1940. His designs not only cover office machines but factories, housing estates, offices and advertising.
Following the Electronic Computer Exhibition a permanent display room for the ‘hardware’ (newsletter editor’s quotes) was made in Head Office.
1962 Saw the continuation of lobbying to join the Common Market and introduce Decimal Currency. Mr Fei in his contribution to the newsletter put the case for the impossible.
The autumn saw the introduction of the Olivetti 84 electric typewriter. The basic version cost £148, which was about 30% of what a typist was paid per annum! A new feature of the Olivetti 84 was a dual action space bar that produced either a single space or on the second pressure repeated spacing.
In November BOL exhibited at the first Bookmakers and Betting Shops Exhibition at Westminster Old Horticultural Hall, it was also the first time that they had exhibited at an exhibition organised for a single trade body. There wasn’t a typewriter in sight. Prior to the exhibition Olivetti had already sold an RP60 for installation at the UK’s largest bookmakers head office in Liverpool. In January the FT noted an article entitled “ You Can’t win” where an Audit 512 special bookmakers programme could identify any account that was winning against the bookmaker.
1963 In March the BBC showed an eight and half minute film on the Olivetti factory in Ivrea and the social services provided by the company. The social services aspect interested Trevor Philpot the reporter the most and, from the telephone calls received, the viewers as well.
In May BOL held a press conference followed by a business conference to introduce M.I.C.R. (magnetic ink character recognition) equipment. A printer (encoder) and reader for the C.M.C 7 (coded magnetic character 7) set of symbols were demonstrated. The advantage of these symbols was that both machines and the human eye could read them.
Mr Loria in his end of year message noted that negotiations to take Britain into the Common Market had broken down, but this had not lead to any breakdown in trade with our European partners. The introduction of Decimal Currency moved a step nearer with the publication of the Halsbury report. The newsletter each month contained a section on decimalisation and how other Commonwealth Countries had adopted this coinage. BOL also provided speakers during the year to present the advantages of decimalisation at seminars across the country.
1964 By the end of January a re-organisation of the company had been completed. Underwood Business Machines continued to supply the retail trade with electric, standard and portable typewriters while its direct sales was integrated into BOL. The BOL sales structure comprised: Agents Division, Trade Division, Accounting Machines Division and a Direct Sales Division. Direct Sales was broken down into London Branch, Head Office Branch and 20 provincial branches.
Whilst 1964 was a quiet year for stories in the newsletter (the decimal lobby continued apace) July saw the publication of the 100th edition, with a message from Olivetti’s new President Professor Bruno Visentini.
BOL introduced the Lettera 32 to replace the Lettera 22 in the summer, following its successful launch in Italy the previous year. It was designed to meet the needs of the fast typing journalists and plodding schoolgirls. This mass-seller was priced at £27 10s 0d.
At the end of August a joint venture with General Electric of America was created. The new company Olivetti-General Electric was 40% owned by Olivetti and 60% by GE.
1965 In the April newsletter it was stated that BOL were not going to sell the TEKNE 3! They were going to persuade businessmen to make a modest investment in this new electric typewriter. It was claimed the Tekne 3 prevented all typing mistakes except those caused by hitting the wrong key. Spelling mistakes are invisibly corrected. All typewriter sales staff received either a two or three day training course on the new product.
The summer saw the release of the adding-listing machine the Summa Quanta 22 to compliment the three other machines available from Olivetti, Elettrosumma 22, Elettrosumma 22CR and Summa Prima 20.
The front page of the August edition was devoted to the importance of BOL’s service organisation with over 400 men based at HO and 22 branches.
1966 In February it was announced that BOL had been granted a “Warrant of Appointment” to the Duke of Edinburgh as Office Equipment Manufacturers.(By 1980 British Olivetti held further Royal Warrant for the supply of office equipment to Her Majesty the Queen and the Prince of Wales.)
The introduction of the Tekne 3 had helped increase sales of electric typewriters by 70% in the previous year. During the following year the range of electric typewriters comprised the Tekne 3 and 4, the Editor and Praxis 48.
It was reported that Australia went decimal on 14 February.
With the 120th edition of the newsletter the editorship passed from Personnel Department to Advertising and Sales Promotion Department.
April edition reported that the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced to a packed House that Decimal Currency would be introduced in February 1971!
On the 23 May Mr Fei took up a new position in Italy after 13 years in the UK and was replaced by Mr G Sacco. During his stay in the UK Mr Fei was married here and both his sons were born here.
Mr Sacco had worked for Olivetti for 36 years; his previous appointment was in Holland where he established Olivetti Nederland NV. Mr Sacco had also worked in South Africa and run the typewriter factory in Turin.
Programma 101 launch programme was under way by summer time, with a 14 day sales training course for members of the Calculator Division. Leaflets had been printed and selected journalist given special previews. An extensive library of ‘programmes’ (problems which had already been solved) was being proofed. It was reported that there was an air of excitement at 30 Berkeley Square.
1966 saw the launch of the new style newsletter with pictures to coincide with the launch of the “worlds first desk-top computer” the Programma 101. The British Press greeted the Programma 101 with rapturous praise. All the papers commented on its low cost of £1680 (the Daily Telegraph even called it cheap) and that it took six years to develop.
1967 In January the Systems Division was formed combining Accounting Machines and Calculator Divisions, plus the appointment of a Decimalisation Manager.
“Huge GPO Contract Ours” was the banner headline in February. A contract worth £250,000 was won by the new Systems Division to supply Encoders to GIRO centres.
A new division known as Olivetti Numerical Controlled Machine tools was established with offices and demonstration facilities at Cricklewood.
March issue was devoted to Decimalisation. Plans were in place so that machines provided after March could be upgraded in four years time. But the decimal debate was still raging, what would be the unit of currency the Pound (favoured by the City) or the 10/- as wanted by the realist. Olivetti did not mind they could cope with either.
The Systems Division opened a training centre at 142 Piccadilly overlooking the memorial at Hyde Park Corner.
A school in Dagenham was loaned seventeen Summa 20 and six Divisumma 24 in an experiment to teach maths. The Olivetti machines replaced log tables and slide rules for two groups of 11 to 15 year olds. The first group were given 2.5 hours tuition to learn multiplication. Whereas the second group were left to discover for themselves how to use the machines. The second group learned the quickest.
In July EMI purchased their 1000 Olivetti typewriter, the event was marked by a lunch at HO. A special Diaspron 82 was given to EMI’s Chief Purchasing Officer painted in eye catching red and inscribed on a chromium plated plaque.
A year after launching the world’s first desktop computer BOL announced the first Office Computer the Olivetti P203. The new computer was a combination of an electric typewriter and a digital computer! Both could be used independently, but normally the typewriter would be program controlled to print out tabulated columns. Programs could be held on magnetic cards. The cost of the P203 was £2,280.
Seventy-four journalists attended a seminar to learn about the Olivetti ’71 Range. The new range had been designed ready for decimalisation. Regional journalists who could not attend were sent press packs.