The name of the company came from the surname of Uhyoue Tamura who was instrumental in developing Tamron's optical technologies.
At that time, the consolidated company had 4,640 employees and five production plants: in Hirosaki, Namioka and Owani in Japan, and one in China and Viet Nam, respectively.
Subsidiary companies were located in the U.S., Germany, France, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Moscow and Haryana, India.
Taisei Optical made a strategic decision to specialize in developing telephoto lenses, releasing its first lens, 135 mm f/4.5 (Model #280), in 1958.
The lens was branded Tamron, to honor its designer (Tamura Uhyoue),[7] and used the T mount system, making it adaptable to bodies from multiple camera manufacturers.