LEXMARK @ 15 :A HISTORY OF PRINTING

[Anonymous]

LEXMARK AT 15: PRINTING A HISTORY
They’ve come a long way from typewriters
Jan.
24: Lexmark announces it will eliminate or transfer 1,350 jobs
worldwide, including as many as 200 in Lexington, as part of a
restructuring to reduce costs.
1990
Aug.
1: IBM announces it will sell at least 80 percent of its Information
Products operation, including its Lexington plant, to buyout firm
Clayton & Dubilier. Marvin Mann, far right, an IBM vice president
who oversaw the Lexington plant in the mid-1980s, is selected as CEO.

1991
March
27: Clayton & Dubilier completes the $1.5 billion purchase of IBM’s
Information Products subsidiary. The company is named Lexmark
International. (“Lex” was inspired by “lexicon,” meaning vocabulary or
words. “Mark” referred to “marks on paper,” IBM’s internal nickname for
its typewriter and printer operations.) Lexmark gains IBM’s Lexington
plant, which produced typewriters, printers, keyboards and office
supplies, as well as plants in OrlŽans, France, and Boulder, Colo.
Lexmark retains the right to use the IBM brand through 1996.

1994
Oct. 24: Lexmark unveils the Optra series, left, the first printers marketed solely under the Lexmark brand.
1993
Nov. 4: President Bill Clinton, left, speaks about the North American Free Trade Agreement at Lexmark.

1992
March
27: On the company’s first anniversary, left, Mann leads a ceremony
with 1,500 employees to unveil a street sign on company property.
1995
1996
Feb.
20: Lexmark announces it will move its headquarters from Greenwich,
Conn., to Lexington. The move involves fewer than a dozen employees. In
the same quarter, Lexmark breaks ground for an ink-cartridge plant in
Ciudad Ju‡rez, Mexico. About the same time, Lexmark stops producing
keyboards, below. Keyboards, sold primarily to IBM, accounted for
$40-$50 million in sales each quarter.
Sept. 25: Mann announces
Lexmark will invest $80 million in an expansion to add more than 1,000
jobs at its plant in Lexington, increasing its local work force to more
than 5,500, to boost production of inkjet printer cartridges.
Oct.
3: Lexmark announces it will open a $42 million plant in Rosyth,
Scotland, to produce ink cartridges. (Lexmark announces in January 2006
it will close the plant.)
Nov. 15: Lexmark goes public, selling 17.1
million shares priced at $20 each. Shares trade under the symbol LXK on
the New York Stock Exchange, which is opened with a call to post by
Keeneland bugler George “Bucky” Sallee.
1998
1997
May 1: Paul Curlander is promoted to chief executive officer, replacing Mann, who remains chairman.
May
19: Lexmark announces a partnership with Compaq to manufacture printers
for the then-PC giant, which sells them under the Compaq brand. The
arrangement ends after Hewlett-Packard acquires Compaq in 2002.
Feb.
17: Mann announces that future CEO Curlander, left, has been named to
the newly created positions of president and chief operating officer.
Curlander also joins the board of directors.
1999
April 29:
Lexmark, which earlier in the month has joined the Fortune 500 at No.
486, announces its stock will split in the next two months. The company
also announces that Mann will retire as chairman, although he will
remain on the board. Curlander replaces Mann as chairman.
May 27:
Lexmark announces it will build a new R&D facility in Lexington and
add 700 jobs, mostly in engineering. The company does not add all 700
by a specified time, preventing it from receiving more than $3 million
in state incentives.
Aug. 31: Lexmark announces it has broken ground
on an inkjet products plant in Chihuahua, Mexico. The company also says
it is expanding its inkjet plant in Ciudad Ju‡rez.
Oct. 8: Lexmark
and Eastman Kodak announce a long-term development and marketing
relationship for digital photography inkjet printers. In September, the
companies launch the Kodak Personal Picture Maker by Lexmark, above.

2002
Sept. 24: Dell says it will partner with Lexmark, who will make printers sold under Dell’s brand.
Nov. 7: Lexmark gets out of the typewriter business.
Dec.
30: Lexmark sues Static Control Components, which makes and sells
computer chips that enable remanufactured toner cartridges to work in
Lexmark printers.

2001
Oct. 22: Lexmark announces it will eliminate 1,600 jobs worldwide, including 625 in the United States, largely in Lexington.
Oct.
29: Lexmark unveils the C750 color laser printer, above. The model is
the first to use Lexmark’s own internally developed color laser
printing engine.

2000
May 1: Lexmark introduces the Z52 Color
Jetprinter, right, the first inkjet to deliver 2,400-by-1,200 dpi (dots
per inch) in both black and color on all paper types. The printer
retails for less than $200.
Oct. 23: Lexmark says 600 Lexington
employees will be offered buyouts or be laid off as it shifts
production of its Optra line of laser printers to plants in Mexico and
China.
Oct. 18: Lexmark announces it will add 100 jobs, mostly in engineering, in Lexington.
Oct.
26: The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifts an injunction barring
Static Control Components from selling computer chips that allow the
refilling of toner cartridges for Lexmark printers.
2003
April 29: Lexmark unveils the PrinTrio X1150, right, the company’s first all-in-one priced less than $100.
2004
2005
Oct.
4: Lexmark cuts its earnings forecast by more than half. The company’s
stock falls more than 28 percent, dropping $17.44 to close at $43.50.

2006
BUYS A FEW CONGRESSMEN & SENATORS SO THEY CAN MONOPOLY OUR INDUSTRY….

[Author]

March 29, 2006 at 11:59 AM