Lexmark hiring people, buying firms

After shutting down its inkjet manufacturing plant at the Mactan Export Processing Zone last year, Lexmark is focusing on expanding to become an information technology solutions company.

They are hiring people needed in their operations from hardware, software, firmware and shared services, said RL Bandy, Lexmark Research and Development Corp. president and chief executive officer, yesterday.

Bandy said the expansion was in line with the company’s thrust to offer multifunction printers allowing companies to achieve efficiency and sustainability.

He said their new printers can scan documents and handle e-mail.

These printers are being marketed to 170 countries worldwide. Two Lexmark departments at the Cebu Business Park play a big role in the production.

Cebu offices

Bandy said Lexmark Research and its Cebu Shared Services Center had a combined employee base of 1,800 direct employees and another close to 2,000 contract workers.

“We mainly have engineers in LRDC (Lexmark Research) and in the shared services we have accountants, administrative staff and those who are basically helping us with managing our operations,” said Cebu Shared Services director Christophe Calligaro.

According to Bandy, Cebu is the second largest Lexmark facility in the world and occupies three buildings in Cebu Business Park.

“In terms of employee population, Cebu is also one of the biggest we have,” said Bandy.

Since 2010 Lexmark International, the mother company, has been acquiring companies that will complement their thrust toward moving into mixed hardware-and-software.

Their first acquisition was Perceptive Software in May of 2010. The firm that develops enterprise content management, business process management and document output management applications.

“Since then we have been acquiring companies that will complement our direction. We have acquired a total of eight companies,” said Bandy.

Their latest acquision was AccessVia in March this year, which is a developer of a software platform for digital and paper signages used by retail companies like Best Buy and Office Depot based in Seattle, Washington.

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