Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 7, 1995 TAG: 9511070033
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK JEWELL ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SPOKANE, WASH. LENGTH: Long
The unconventional keyboards - which separate the keys into two clusters, one for each hand - are designed to accommodate the human physique and encourage natural typing positions that reduce stress on the hands and wrists.
The keyboards have helped Key Tronic climb out of a financial slump that reached its lowest point in late 1991. They're also big business for competitors including NMB, Chicony, Alps and other East Asian firms.
``I think they'll become a larger portion of just about everybody's business,'' Craig Gates, Key Tronic's vice president of engineering, said in a recent interview.
The keyboards look radically different from the models most users are familiar with:
One of Key Tronic's newest models, the Microsoft Natural, designed for the Windows 95 operating system, has 104 keys, a layout Gates expects will eventually replace the industry-standard 101-key design. Two of the Natural's extra keys are designed to make Windows 95 easier to use, while the third is a programmable applications key that can be assigned to a particular task in another software application.
The board's left- and right-hand groups of letter keys are split and angled to encourage a more natural typing position. A built-in palm support offers a resting place for the hands when not typing.
While ergonomic keyboards are touted as being more comfortable, it's not yet known whether the new designs actually help prevent repetitive stress injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome, Gates said.
Microsoft, mindful of the hundreds of lawsuits filed against computer equipment makers including Key Tronic in recent years, said it's affixing warning labels on the Natural advising users that the keyboards don't cure RSI.
``Microsoft wants to be very, very clear in not positioning this as a medical device and not promoting this as a cure,'' said Sue Barnes of Microsoft's public-relations firm, Waggener Edstrom.
``The claims that are made is that it's ergonomic and more comfortable to use.''
Repetitive-motion injuries have proliferated with the rise of a service economy in which the number of U.S. workers using computers has risen from 25 percent in 1983 to 47 percent in 1993, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That has created the market for ergonomic keyboards.
Besides the Natural, Key Tronic has ergonomic keyboards that Gates said are good sellers. But its most radical design didn't fare nearly as well as the other boards.
Production of the FlexPro, which retailed for about $400, was halted recently because of sluggish sales. The board, introduced a year and a half ago, features adjustable wrist rests and twin letter-key sections that rise from the base and can be adjusted vertically and horizontally.
Surveys indicated consumers were unsure where to position the adjustable keypads and feared they might become more susceptible to repetitive-motion injuries if they adjusted them incorrectly, Gates said.
Other manufacturers have had comparable experiences.
Key Tronic won't say how much of the company's business comes from sales of keyboards with ergonomic features, but financial analyst Bob Toomey estimated the figure at about 15 percent.
Toomey, a regional vice president of research for Piper Jaffray Inc., said, ``Ergonomic keyboards are making an important contribution to the company's return to health.''
Fortunes plummeted in 1990 as founder Lewis Zirkle retired and handed over leadership to his son Alfred. Competitors began offering new products at lower costs, eating into Key Tronic's market share.
Stanley Hiller of The Hiller Group, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based corporate trouble-shooter, took over Key Tronic in 1992 and began a restructuring that returned the company to profitability. Hiller stepped down as chief executive officer in September but remains chairman.
During the restructuring, the company closed a plant southwest of Spokane and shifted the manufacture of some of its product lines to a Juarez, Mexico, plant.
Key Tronic now has 2,925 employees, with additional production facilities in Spokane; Dundalk, Ireland; and Las Cruces, N.M.
Fiscal 1995 net sales reached $208 million, the first time sales have exceeded $200 million. In hopes of maintaining its growth, the company is increasing research into new keyboard designs.
The company is betting that mainstream computer users will eventually want ergonomic products.
Much of the current demand is from the comparatively small group of hard-core users who are always first in line for the latest development, whether it's Windows 95 or ergonomic keyboards, Gates said.
``If it's a good idea, it will catch on among the broader segment of society,'' he said.
by CNB