Park announces new facility in China

Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE: PKE) announced that it is establishing a new manufacturing facility in the People's Republic of China to support the growing customer demand for advanced multilayer printed circuitry materials in China. The facility will operate under the name Nelco Technology (Zhuhai FTZ) Ltd. ("Nelco Zhuhai").Nelco Zhuhai will be located approximately 50 miles west of Hong Kong in the Zhuhai Free Trade Zone in Zhuhai, China and will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Park's Nelco Products Pte. Ltd. business unit located in Singapore. Nelco Zhuhai will provide advanced multilayer circuitry laminate materials, as well as customer and technical support services, to leading electronics manufacturing customers throughout China. These advanced laminate materials will be produced by Nelco Zhuhai. Park expects the Nelco Zhuhai facility to be operational in the 2006 fiscal year third quarter ending November 27, 2005. Park intends to invest approximately U.S. $5 million to U.S. $7 million in the facility, which will consist of approximately 40,000 square feet and will ultimately employ approximately 100 employees.Brian Shore, Park's President and CEO, stated, "Our strategy for China is consistent with our overall company strategy, which is to do everything we can to help our customers succeed. We already do a significant amount of business in China and we currently have a significant customer base of leadinghigh-tech circuit board manufacturers in China. Our Zhuhai facility and our expanded presence in China will enable us to provide our full array of advanced technology products to the China market with better lead-times and enhanced customer and technical support. We are establishing new manufacturing operations in China in order to better serve and support our customers rather than to "chase" low-cost manufacturing. Customers and technology have always been the cornerstones of our business, and our business in China has been, and will continue to be, conducted consistent with those principles."Source: PCBnewsline