"It is with extreme pleasure and excitement that we announce our new China manufacturing facility," beamed Peter Scott, CIPI Chairman and CEO. "This is the largest investment in company history, which by the way, spans 40 years, and realizes a major step in our corporate growth strategy," he emphasized. "Another industryleading decision keeps CIPI in a leadership position with the tremendous potential of granting us access to sell into the domestic China market," Mr. Scott highlighted.
"CIPI began its business dealings with China manufacturers back in the 1980s and eventually purchased our own primary manufacturing complex in 1998," Scott explained.
The company has grown its China manufacturing output over the past eight years, tripling production in the last five years, and now employs over 700 workers who produce nearly 1000 SKUs and 300,000,00 units annually. This first factory is located in the Panyu district of Guangdong Province and has supplemented
U.S. production facilities in Burlington, MA, where quick-turn custom products and assembly work are performed.
"Several years ago based on our growth and market projections, we saw the need to find additional factory capacity. After an exhaustive search by our senior management team who possesses in-depth experience in setting up businesses and
manufacturing plants in China, we selected Xiamen because of its strategic location and impressive development plans," he added. China's ambitious industrialization programs include many enterprise zones, which are expanding at a phenomenal rate.
Xiamen is one of these areas designated for large-scale capital investment designed to supply the tremendous need for new jobs. Dell and Kodak are among the well-known companies that have located in the Xiamen area.
Bill Kieckhafer, CIPI President and COO added, "It's an exciting time to be involved in this kind of expansion because, clearly, the world is both relying on the production efficiencies that China manufacturing delivers and benefiting from the modernization
that drives the China economy." Located in Fujian Province along the coast of Mainland China, Xiamen offers very attractive features:
• a modern city of 1,400,000 people
• large local work force with competitive wages
• a seaport with global logistics available
• multi-national investment
• local government investment in infrastructure
• burgeoning industrial park
• recently completed building ready for occupancy

"CIPI is in the forefront of this industrial expansion; we're the only American-owned company in this massive new complex," he continued. "We have a free-standing building with five floors, totaling more than 150,000 square feet, which will give us
the ability to triple our China manufacturing capacity. Two important features of our new business license are: we have been granted the right to expand our line to produce high tech products and we now have expanded domestic sales rights opening up significant opportunities to sell into China," Mr. Kieckhafer noted.
Operations begun April 1. A team of experienced individuals with multi-national company backgrounds, such as Kodak, has been assembled to manage and operate the new complex. As expected market demand increases, CIPI ID attachment products, currently manufactured in the original China factory, will be also be made in this new facility including: badge holders, badge reels, lanyards, badge clips, strap clips, and many other related items including OEM work.