Establishment of the Development Headquarters

As its Vision for 2030, the Star Micronics Group aims to achieve net sales of ¥100 billion and operating income of ¥20 billion through a tri-lateral business structure supported by a management base, human resource systems, and R&D capabilities founded on its corporate philosophy. In working to achieve this Vision, we have positioned “building a foundation for change” as the theme of the First Medium-Term Management Plan covering 2022 to 2024, and have included the strengthening of R&D structures and systems as a key issue for structural enhancement.

In light of the aforementioned, we established the new Development Headquarters that serves as the core for business creation and intellectual property strategies in 2023, and have since expanded our staff lineup. Currently, we are pioneering businesses under the themes of production DX, store DX, and logistics DX. As a result of these efforts, we have completed a processing work-hour estimation system for the Machine Tools Segment, and successfully welcomed Smart Solution Technology, Inc. (SST), into the Group.

SST Joins the Group,
Bringing with It Outstanding Technology Development Capabilities

Following the completion of acquisition procedures for all shares in April 2023, SST became a member of the Star Micronics Group. Guided by its corporate philosophy of Technology to Culture, SST pursues technologies that enrich the touch points of society and is engaged in the creation of solutions that integrate the virtual world of mobile communication and the Internet with the real world of businesses, stores, and users. In addition to the design and development of hardware, SST also boasts outstanding technology development capabilities across such wide-ranging fields as software development for control purposes, systems development for various services, and mobile application development.

By brining SST’s products and services together with our global supply chain, sales network, and solid quality assurance system, we foresee DX capability improvements throughout the Company, and aim to create and build new business segments with future potential. In this manner, we will contribute to the sustainable development of society through the mutual use of management resources that leverage the respective strengths of both companies.

Expected Synergies (Current assumption)

	Purpose	Action	Impact on business results
Short-term	Explore new sales channels for the Special Products Segment’s products and SST’s products	Understand each other’s products and services Plan for cross-selling Share product development technology and know-how	Acquire new customers (existing business)
Mid-term	Continue to promote collaboration with the Special Products Segment Accelerate efforts in the software and service sectors	Strengthen R&D capabilities Plan and develop new products and software/services in each DX business domain	Expand new customers Improve profitability through the stock business
Long-term	Build new business segments	Create new businesses that utilize technical development capabilities and core technologies Discover products and services that solve customers’ problems	Refine into a business that will become a promising third pillar

Smart Solution Technology, Inc., Corporate Profile

Company name	Smart Solution Technology, Inc.
Location	1-15 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Representative’s title and name	Susumu Yamakawa Representative Director, President
Business activities	Touch point solution business (1) Development and sale of the PitTouch series of proprietary Smart terminals (2) Development and sales of Zeetle CS, a sales promotion service for stores, and TrustSound, an authentication service using proprietary audio communication technology
Paid-in capital	¥52 million
Date of establishment	December 27, 2012

The PitTouch Series is used as a contactless IC card time clock terminal for attendance management systems and as a transit pass information reader for expense settlement systems. Moreover, it is also used as an authorization terminal for in-store sales promotion point services targeting smartphone users.