In 1991, an impressive success story began that has continued to the present day. It started when our parent company, Taiwan Semiconductor Co., Ltd. set up the Thermal Printer Division to work with Eltron to develop a line of desktop barcode printers and to establish production lines at the Yilan Plant. What followed was nothing less than an impressive performance from humble origins to a successful and global company with a strong network of partners, distributors and value added resellers. And today, we not only celebrate 25 years, but have become one of the Top-5 manufacturers of reliable and innovative thermal barcode printers worldwide, including being a longtime OEM manufacturer for well-known brands.
As one of the first Taiwan-based manufacturers to supply label printers, TSC recognized the potential of Auto ID for industry. From the beginning we were part of this booming and fast-growing market. Our first 15 years were marked by technological ingenuity, innovative performance and the creative power of our engineers. We developed and applied new technologies and manufactured high-quality products in a short period of time and grew at an incredible speed - and that remains so to this day. In 1995, just four years after our founding, TSCs first private brand direct thermal printer, the TDP-522 was launched to the market, followed by our first thermal transfer printer TTP-242 in 1996, our first 8-ips industrial printer TTP-248M in 2001 and our first direct thermal portable printer M23 in 2005, to name just a few.
In January 2006, to keep pace with increasing demand, TSC moved from the Yilan Plant to the Li Ze Plant located in the high-volume manufacturing center in Yilan County, Taiwan. This area produces more than 200,000 printers annually. Within a year, TSC Auto ID Technology Co., Ltd. was well-established as an independent manufacturer – an important milestone in our history. From an international perspective, the company has expanded worldwide through subsidiaries TSC Auto ID Technology America Inc. in Pomona, CA. and Orlando, FL., U.S.A. The European headquarters initially operated under the name TSC Printer Europe GmbH and then was rebranded as TSC Auto ID Technology EMEA GmbH in January 2010. That same year saw the founding of a Canadian branch, and additional distribution offices were opened in Moscow and Dubai in 2011. The move into the EMEA region has been very successful and underscores the growing acceptance and success of the TSC strategy. To keep pace with this success, a new office and administrative building with a warehouse was built near Munich in 2013 as the new European Headquarters. The facility doubles the previous floor area and houses management, administrative, sales and marketing, customer service, and technical personnel. And we are pleased to announce that on February 1st the U.S. headquarters moved to a newly designed, more spacious office in Brea, CA.
Since 2007, the company has grown and expanded. We have a stronger presence in more countries with localized marketing materials and events; more employees, qualified distributors and partners; and better products incorporating innovative technologies. When we started we were extremely encouraged about our prospects in a new era given our knowledge and excellent level of service coupled with our innovative ideas and marketing strategy.
2011 was an exceptionally good year. In addition to unveiling a new logo and tagline, “The Smarter Choice”, we also won a number of prestigious awards including the Deloitte Technology Fast500™ Asia Pacific 2010 Award, Germany’s Industriepreis Award, Taiwan’s Excellence Award and Forbes Asia 200 Best Under a Billion Award. The Forbes Asia 200 Award was a great privilege because candidate companies must show annual revenues between $5 million and $1 billion and must be publicly traded for at least a year to qualify for the list. Each candidate is screened for earnings growth, sales growth and return on equity during the past 12 months and over the last three years. We are particularly proud of the fact that only 25 Taiwan companies made the list at that time, with TSC being the only label printer company. Just one year later, our reliable, compact, bestselling thermal transfer desktop printer TTP-225 won the Taiwan Excellence Award. And last but not least, in our industrial product line, it was the innovative ME240 Series with its small footprint and high-performance feature set that received this prize in 2013. As an important next step, the MX240 series set a new standard in barcode label printing and really became a highlight in our entire product line, being recognized by Germany´s Industriepreis. The fact that TSC’s products are regularly distinguished by so many awards verifies the quality of our printers and that we are on the right path, today and in the future.
Our success includes many more highlights such as the cooperation with Cipherlab, solution packages with Datalogic and, certification from SAP, Cerner, GS1, GK Software and Energy Star. In January 2016, we finished the transaction of acquiring the Printronix’ Thermal/AIDC Business which is focused on mission-critical, high-volume industrial printing applications, with a strong global network of partners and premium end-users.
Today, TSC offers a wide range of quality-built, smartly designed thermal label printers that optimize marking processes in transportation, manufacturing and logistics, postal/parcel, retail, healthcare, government and the public sector. It is one of the most varied portfolios in the global AIDC industry with a strategic focus on barcodes. TSC is tailoring its auto ID solutions to specific applications for a number of different industries and customers, and is well on the way to becoming a market leader. Regardless of the application, TSC has the right printer for the right job or, as reflected in our tagline, TSC is “The Smarter Choice”.
The complete product line is formed by innovative, rugged and competitively priced thermal label printers of which we have already sold more than 3 million units in over 90 countries as of today. Over these 25 years, TSC has become very experienced in the development, production, marketing and support of label printers. From budget-friendly starter models, to high-performance platforms for industry, to portable units, our printers are among the most reliable and durable on the market - all backed with a two-year warranty. They can be used as stand-alone solutions or as part of a network. The processing speed ranges from 2 to 14 ips. The maximum print length of our industrial models is up to 1.000”, the maximum print width of the new wide format printers is up to 8.64". Regarding new interface requirements and memory capacities, we are also top of the class – the new MT series has an increased memory of 512 MB Flash and 256 MB SDRAM! Furthermore, in the last few months, we equipped our industrial and desktop printers with upgraded firmware, high-contrast 4.3” color touch LCD panels and TSC’s innovative print technology “Thermal Smart Control™”. It tracks and precisely calculates the duration that each pixel needs to be heated to provide accurate, crisp and clear labels. It is the best available technology on the market today and we are, of course, very proud of it. Our product range also includes accessories such as keyboards, label rewinder, Bluetooth, WiFi, ribbons and label software (BarTender) as well as customized services. State-of-the-art production facilities in Taiwan and China ensure high quality standards, documented by the certification DIN EN ISO 9001 and 14001.
Our leading-edge printers are loaded with standard features that our competitors often price as options – or don’t offer at all. Customers and partners enjoy the benefits of a printer that is not only rugged, dependable and economical, but also easy to set up, load and operate. If cus-tomers compare our printers with any other brand, they will discover what hundreds of thousands of others have already learned: TSC offers the best price-performance value in the marketplace, an industry-best two-year warranty, and the best product features, all supported by a flexible, enthusiastic and professional team– and that´s the basis of our success and value leadership.
(TSC Auto ID Technology EMEA GmbH)