Star Micronics Co., Ltd.(スター精密株式会社, Sutā Seimitsu Kabushiki-gaisha) is a Japanese multinational electronic components and printer manufacturing company headquartered in Shizuoka, Japan. It was founded in 1947 as a precision processor of miniature components, later expanding into automatic lathes, printers, micro audio components, and other fields.

Star Micronics employs around 2,500 staff in several countries and had total revenues of £267 million in 2010.

History

Star Manufacturing Co., Ltd. was established in 1950 with a capital of ¥ 500,000, in Tegoshi, Shizuoka, to manufacture and sell wristwatches and camera parts.

After introduction of their LC series dot matrix printer range in the 1980s they came to dominate the printer market for home computers. In the mid-1990s home computers became outcompeted by East Asia-manufactured IBM PC derivatives, and dot matrix printers were outcompeted by bubble jet printers. Star re-oriented their business to focus on the point-of-sale market only, manufacturing peripherals such as small thermal transfer receipt printers and cash drawers.

In May 2022, Star Micronics introduced its TSP100IV, a thermal POS receipt printer which offers features for omnichannel retailing. The features also extend to its TSP143IV UE model, which provides multi-connectivity for mobile, cloud, and traditional POS applications.

Products

The following is a partial list of products manufactured under the Star Micronics brand.

Printers

Dot Matrix Printers

  • Star NX-2420
  • Star LC-10
  • Star LC-10C (Colour)
  • Star LC-2410

Desktop Printers

  • TSP143IV
  • SP742
  • TSP743II
  • TSP847II

Label Printers

Kiosk & Portable Printers

  • SK1
  • SM-S230i
  • SM-T300i
  • SM-T400i

Further reading

  • Greenland, Paul R. (2017). Long, Steven; Derek Jacques; Paula Kepos (eds.). . St. James Press. pp. 425–428. ISBN 9781558629912 – via the Internet Archive.