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Off-premise ATM manufacturer Tranax Technologies Inc. Friday moved into smaller offices, reflecting a shift in more key operations to its new South Korean owner, Jeffrey Lee, Tranax director of product management, tells ATM&Debit News.
Tranax moved its headquarters to offices in Hayward, Calif., from
a larger facility in Newark, Calif., Lee says. Tranax relocated to Newark, a 79,000 square-foot assembly plant and offices, in April 2007 from a 42,000 square-foot facility in Fremont, Calif.
At the time, Tranax's management said the company needed more
room to accommodate its booming business. "We've simply run out of space," said Mike Sedrel, vice president of manufacturing. "Our business is growing. We need additional space to accommodate that growth."
Since then the market has changed dramatically. Over the weekend, Tranax moved into a 30,000 square-foot office because its new owner, Seoul, South Korea-based Eltna Corp., shifted more of Tranax's logistical and support operations and assembly work to Korea.
Tranax now employs 30 workers, down from more than 60 several months ago, Lee says. The new facility's services will include quality control, final configuration and software upgrade, Lee says. Tranax also has a sales office in Dallas.
Tranax also hired Carol Sanders as acting chief financial officer, replacing Jim McCannon, a move Eltna demanded as part of its purchase agreement. Eltna, Tranax's original equipment manufacturer, purchased Tranax earlier this month for an undisclosed price.
It is one of two key changes that have affected Tranax. The other involved Tranax's split in 2006 with its partner,Seoul, South Korea-based Nautilus Hyosung Inc.
Nautilus Hyosung, an off-premise ATM manufacturer, cut prices
up to 40% to gain market share, radically changing the market.
"The move [to smaller offices] makes sense," says Leon Majors, president
of Salisbury, Md.-based Phoenix ESP Payments Research Group. "We were wondering how long they could hold on. Tranax and Triton lasted six months longer than we expected, and within a month of each other they change owners. With its new owner, Tranax is running as lean and as mean as possible, so its breakeven point is much lower."
Last year, Nautilus Hyosung shipped 14,433 ATMs compared with
9,000 shipped by Tranax. That was sharply down from 14,550
machines Tranax shipped in 2006, according to ATM&Debit News surveys.
