New China Plant Fully Completed

|   Press Release

Production of reagents for hematology analyzer to be newly undertaken

Existing plants to be consolidated into this core plant

Production of reagents for hematology analyzer to be newly undertaken
Existing plants to be consolidated into this core plant

Begun in April of last year, construction of our new plant in Shanghai, China has been now been fully completed.
The new plant comprises two buildings. The Phase 1 building was completed in August of last year, after which certain production operations were shifted from existing plants to this building. With the completion of the second building in Phase 2, all of the production functions of the two previous production sites in Shanghai and environs will be transferred to the new plant, which will also newly undertake local production of reagents for hematology analyzer.

Our company began construction of this new plant in April 2010 to enable local production of products for the Chinese market. Consolidating the functions of the two previous plants into one location (with two buildings) will increase logistics and purchasing efficiency. Some of these functions - the production of environmental measuring instruments, automotive drive-train measuring devices, etc. - were transferred to the Phase 1 building completed last August, enhancing responsiveness to local needs and cost performance. The now-finished Phase 2 building will not only produce semiconductor parts and pH meters as did the previous plants but will also produce reagents for blood cell counter to serve anticipated market growth. Reagents are presently supplied by a plant in southern France (HORIBA ABX S.A.S.), and this switch to local production will allow us to substantially reduce lead time and establish a supply system capable of responding promptly to the needs of customers. Proper inventory control of reagents, a key earnings source, will lay the foundations for expanded sales of our mainstay blood cell counters.

Profile of new plant

Lot area:12,600m2/ Building area: 6,400m2/ Total floor area: 9,400m2/ Flat-roofed, two-story ferroconcrete structure
West Building 
         1F: Medical reagent production area, server room, changing room, shower room, reception, cafeteria, meeting room
         2F: pH meters production area, semiconductor parts production area, office
East Building  
         1F: Large automotive measuring instruments and water quality measuring analyzer production areas, stack gas analyzer production area, consumables/sensor production area
Address: No. 200 Taitao Rd., Anting Town, Jiading District, Shanghai