The story
Unicomp was founded in Lexington, Kentucky, in April 1996 by Neil Muyskens (1956–2021), a former employee of IBM Information Products division in Lexington, which manufactured IBM's typewriters, printers, and computer keyboards and mice. In 1991, as part of a massive restructuring effort, IBM divested its Information Products division to the investment firm Clayton & Dubilier as part of a leveraged buyout. Clayton & Dubilier subsequently founded Lexmark, a spin-off also headquartered in Lexington which, on top of selling its own branded products, continued to operate as a contract manufacturer for IBM. One of the products Lexmark manufactured for IBM was the Model M keyboard. Introduced by IBM in 1985, the Model M was the progenitor of the modern English keyboard layout (as codified by ANSI and ISO) and was famed for the tactile and audible feedback of its buckling spring key switches. On the company's foundation, Lexmark named Muyskens product manager of its keyboard division, overseeing production of the Model M.
Following the expiration of a five-year supply agreement with IBM in March 1996, Lexmark left the keyboard market to focus on its more successful printer business. Lexmark subsequently divested its keyboard assets, selling them to both IBM and Maxi Switch. IBM afterwards transitioned to cheaper rubber dome keyboards manufactured overseas in East Asia while continuing production of the Model M at its Scotland facility for IBM's premium customers until 1999. Lexmark had initially tasked Muyskens with locating an external buyer for the division, but despite sustaining a high production volume driven by IBM's procurement, Muyskens was unable to secure a purchaser. He ultimately proposed buying out the assets himself to Lexmark, who agreed to sell the division along with its associated designs, tooling, patents, and machinery. To manage these newly acquired assets and continue production, Muyskens established Unicomp the following April. Muyskens settled on a 100,000-square-foot facility originally built by a furniture manufacturer in the 1940s in the neighborhood of Liberty Heights as Unicomp's headquarters.
Within eight months of its foundation, Unicomp had 14 employees, most of them ex-workers from Lexmark and IBM. At its peak in the 2000s, Unicomp employed over 120 workers from its Liberty Heights facility. By 2011, Unicomp was down to 25 employees, this following a layoff in early 2009 during the Great Recession. In the 2000s and early 2010s, Unicomp's primary clientele included banks, hospitals, and retail establishments, with computer enthusiasts being only a periphery market for the company. Some of Unicomp's large commercial accounts included USPS, Chrysler, and Bed Bath & Beyond. A large portion of its customer base included the financial services, an industry which faced heavy losses during the Great Recession and which led to a contraction of Unicomp's sales by 25 percent. By 2012, the company had managed to recover this loss of clientele by half. Unicomp reportedly shipped 20–30 keyboards per day that year.
Towards the end of the decade, the market for high-quality computer keyboards had increased heavily since its nadir in the early 2000s, concurrent with the growth of the enthusiast computing market, and Unicomp began updating their product roster to keep apace while also maintaining contracts with its large commercial accounts. Additionally, in 2020, Unicomp replaced the worn-out tooling for its keyboards that it had inherited from Lexmark in 1996, leading to improvements in fit and finish and reliability. In early 2024, Unicomp relocated its headquarters from Liberty Heights to the Northside neighborhood of Lexington.
From Wikipedia’s article on Unicomp, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4