AFTER 35 YEARS …… NEW C.E.O. AT PRINTRONIX INC

[Anonymous]

http://www.ocbj.com/industry_article_pay.asp?aID=199508.4439403.1815281.3231283.1957572.484&aID2=139628
Longtime Printer Maker Printronix Sees Executive Shift
Leadership
of Printronix Inc., an Irvine-based maker of industrial printers, has
changed hands after 35 years under the same executive.Randy Eisenbach,
58, was recently promoted to the top spot at Printronix, which went
private two years ago.Bob Kleist, who now is in his 80s, started
Printronix in 1974. He remains the company’s chairman and helps manage
some customer relationships.The transition marks the end of an era at
Printronix, which is one of Orange County’s oldest technology
companies.Kleist and business partner Gordon Barrus were the original
inventors of what’s known as the line matrix printer. This type of
printer creates text on a page by printing very closely spaced dots.The
two men tinkered in a garage in Playa del Rey until they had a
prototype of a printer that was faster and cheaper than the ones on the
market at the time.Line matrix printers since have become the industry
standard for box labels, barcodes, invoices and reports.Eisenbach was
brought in last year to handle business development and guide the
company through the tricky acquisition of assets from bankrupt
competitor TallyGenicom LP of Chantilly, Va.

In May, the company announced that Eisenbach would succeed Kleist.
He
officially was promoted from chief operating officer to chief executive
last month.Printronix bought the U.S.-based assets of TallyGenicom,
which makes printer supplies and parts, as well as toner, ink and
ribbons for use with other printer brands.

The TallyGenicom deal took the better part of a year and wasn’t a typical acquisition.
Printronix
had to bid for the bankrupt company’s assets in an auction, delaying
the deal for months.The auction turned out to be a sort of formality,
since Printronix was the sole bidder. Terms of the deal weren’t
disclosed.As part of the deal, Printronix got TallyGenicom’s brand
name, its line matrix printer business, intellectual property rights, a
service center in Renton, Wash., and a plant in Mexico.

TallyGenicom is now a reseller of Printronix gear and vice versa.
The
deal gave Printronix a near monopoly on industrial line matrix
printers.“With that acquisition, we essentially have 90%-plus market
share worldwide,” Eisenbach said.It also allowed Printronix to expand
in to fast-growing markets such as China, India, Africa and the Middle
East.“Ours is a very highly mature business in the developed markets,”
Eisenbach said. “It is much earlier in the product lifecycle curve in
emerging markets.”Like Printronix, TallyGenicom’s printers are used in
the healthcare, transportation, manufacturing and retail industries.One
of Printronix’s biggest customers is Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

The executive shifts cap two years of big changes at Printronix.
In
2007, the $108 million buyout by San Francisco private equity firm
Vector Capital took the company private after nearly 30 years of being
publicly
traded.

The move gave Printronix a bit of shelter:
The
high costs of regulatory compliance were eating into profits and the
company had put a lot on the line for a technology that didn’t take off
as fast as expected.“It took away the burden of costs and the burden of
making decisions based upon what that decision is going to do to a
short-term stock price, versus long-term shareholder value,” Eisenbach
said. “As a public company there was not a great deal of capital to do
acquisitions and fund external growth.”In March, the company sent the
last of its local manufacturing to factories in Nogales, Mexico, which
is on the Arizona border, and undertook a big restructuring.At its
peak, the company had some 500 workers here.These days, Printronix has
about 250 local workers and more than 500 in all.

The Business Journal estimates Printronix sees about $150 million in yearly sales.
Eisenbach
is a Texan through and through: He’s got the gravely-voiced drawl and
the raucous laugh.Before joining Printronix, he was chief operating
officer of Canadian software company Corel Corp., which was bought by
Vector in 2003.Corel went back to being publicly traded in 2006 after a
series of three acquisitions, which Eisenbach managed.

He has some tough shoes to fill.
Where
Kleist is known as an inventor and technology expert, Eisenbach is an
operations guy.“Bob is a great strategist and a great technologist,”
Eisenbach said. “I tend to be an organization guy. I grew up in
manufacturing. My leadership style tends to be much more picking a
direction and sticking to it.”Eisenbach said he’s “making no attempt”
to fill Kleist’s very big shoes.“I can’t be Bob,” he said. “We have
very different styles and a different mode of operation.”

[Author]

August 11, 2009 at 12:22 PM