- GENICOM
Infobox Defunct Company
company_name = GENICOM
company_
slogan =
fate = merged
successor =TallyGenicom
foundation = 1982
defunct = 2003
location =Chantilly, Virginia
industry = computer printers
key_people =
products =
num_employees =
parent =General Electric
subsid = From 1982 to 2003, GENICOM was a leading American manufacturer ofcomputer printer s, based inChantilly, Virginia .__TOC__The GE years
In
1954 ,General Electric (GE) decided to decentralize the company into separate business units. After reorganizing the motors and controls groups, several products remained that did not fit into the new groups- these 'leftovers' were formed into the Specialty Control Department. A decision was made to build a new plant inWaynesboro, Virginia for Specialty Control with Dr. Louis T. Rader as General Manager. $3.5 million was used to purchase 75 acres and build the plant on the site of the original 1927 Waynesboro airport. The seminal managers and engineers consisted of 145 families moved fromSchenectady, New York and the initial workforce consisted of about 400 local residents were hired in the first year.GENICOM
In 1982, GE sold the printer and relays groups and the company was formed as the GENICOM Corporation in 1983. In the 1980's, the GENICOM headquarters was moved to
Chantilly, Virginia . The 1987 purchase of the printer business assets ofCentronics added the 350 series dot matrix printers and the LineWriter series of band printers to their product line.1988-1990
During these years Genicom leased offices in Calabasas, California. At this facility development was being conducted on a 400 dot per inch monochrome laser printer.
1990
1996
The
Texas Instruments printer business was purchased, giving GENICOM a line of airline ticket, boarding pass and baggage tag printers. Printer System Corporation (PSC), a small developer of IBM interfaces inGaithersburg, Maryland , was purchased and President Art Gallo joined GENICOM as a vice president. PSC became GENICOM 's laser development group and began producing GENICOM printers usingLexmark and Kentek engines.1997
In August 1997, GENICOM purchased the printer division of
Digital Equipment Corporation for $27 million and produced printers under both the GENICOM and Digital logos.Compaq purchased Digital in February 1998 and new products were then branded with the Compaq logo. A new 320,000-square-foot repair facility was built inLouisville, Kentucky and operations were moved from Waynesboro. The relays group was sold to CII Technologies (since acquired byTyco International ) and soon moved to North Carolina.GENICOM upgraded their old ASK/CA Manman database to Oracle; the project was budgeted for $6 million but cost $20 million by 1999.
1999
The Louisville operation proved unprofitable and was closed in December.
2000
GENICOM's stock was delisted from the
NASDAQ in January when stock price went below $1. CEO Paul Winn and Chief Financial Officer James Gale were relieved of their positions in March as the company went intochapter 11 and Shaun Donnellan was brought in as CEO. The Canadian operations were sold for $6.22 million and the airline printer business was sold to IER for $3.5 million. The ongoing lawsuit with Compaq was settled for $12.6 million. GENICOM International was spun off as a separate corporation, selling and marketing GENICOM products. [http://www.stockhouse.ca/bullboards/viewmessage.asp?no=1616632&tableid=2]In August,
Sun Capital Partners and Art Gallo purchased the remaining assets of GENICOM, including the operations in Chantilly, Waynesboro and McAllen. [http://www.tallygenicom.com/company/press/2000/PR20000804.htm]The Datacom manufacturing operation was purchased in 2001 and operated as a sister company. [http://www.tallygenicom.com/company/press/2001/PR20011106.htm]
TallyGenicom
In 2003, GENICOM and Tally merged to form
TallyGenicom (TG).References
* [http://www.egr.vcu.edu/egr/rader_paper/egr-rader_pub.html Louis T Rader papers at VCU]
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