Eng Tic Lee Achieve invests S$12 million in new facility to raise manufacturing space and capacity by more than 50% - Expansion to cater to growing demand for CEM solutions and new products.

Singapore, 13 June 2007 - Home-grown Eng Tic Lee Achieve Pte Ltd (ETLA), a contract equipment manufacturing (CEM) solutions provider today marked a significant milestone in its growth roadmap with the opening of a new factory building in Singapore.

The new extension raises the company's current manufacturing space and production capacity at its Changi North premises by more than 50 per cent and costs some S$12 million in total investments.

The new building was officially declared open by Mr Philip Yeo, Chairman of SPRING Singapore the enterprise development agency, this morning.  Also present at the event was Mr Tobias Uhlmann, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Uhlmann Group, a leading German pharmaceutical packaging equipment maker, as well as guests from the local business community.

With the extension adding some 52,000 square feet of manufacturing space, the combined production space at ETLA's Singapore location has been increased to about 130,000 square feet. Construction was fast-track, taking about 15 months from ground-breaking in November 2005. Construction costs came up to S$6.0 million, and the remaining S$6 million were for plant and machinery. An additional 200 staff were employed, taking total current staff strength in Singapore to 540.

Besides catering to an expanding business and consolidating the ETLA's precision machining activities previously located in two locations at Changi North, the extension will also house activities for the Group's pharmaceutical and medical equipment customers, including German pharmaceutical packaging equipment maker Uhlmann Pac-Systeme which has appointed ETLA as its Asian manufacturing partner in November 2005.

"This building is strategic to our Company's vision of becoming the partner of choice in providing world-class manufacturing solutions to technology leaders.  With all our CEM, precision machining and sheet metal fabrication facilities in one location, we are better positioned to extend our vertically integrated manufacturing solutions to customers. However, expanding the physical space and production capacity is just one part of our growth strategy," said Mr Derrick Tan, Executive Chairman of ETLA.

ETLA-Uhlmann partnership strengthens

"By establishing strategic partnerships with our customers such as Uhlmann, we are better able to support their business needs and to keep abreast of their technology advancements. This is the second pillar of our growth plan," said Mr Tan.
 
Indeed, the partnership with Uhlmann deepened beyond the memorandum of understanding signed in November 2005 for the transfer of technology to being a substantial shareholder. Uhlmann demonstrated its commitment to its Singapore partner by taking a 6.8 per cent equity stake in ETLA in March this year.

From manufacturing machines used for pharmaceutical packaging, the partnership with Uhlmann progressed further with a second product - the manufacturing of a cartoning machine - to be transferred for production by ETLA at the end of 2007.

SPRING Chairman Mr Philip Yeo, who was Guest-of-Honour at the opening ceremony, commended ETLA for constantly strengthening its innovative process capabilities. "The key to a company's growth is the quantity and quality of its people. ETLA puts great emphasis on building up the professional expertise of its management team," he said. "ETLA's growth can be attributed to its moving up the value chain by leveraging on technology and know-how. Throughout its years of growth, ETLA has constantly built up its innovative process capabilities to achieve competitive advantage."

Signs MOU with SIMTech on R&D applications

"Technology is the third supporting pillar of our growth. Technology is an enabler to enhance our competitiveness and operational efficiency.  This is where collaborations with research institutes such as the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) will play a role in helping us fulfill our vision," Mr Tan added.

In this respect, ETLA has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with SIMTech, a research institute of the Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), to promote research and development (R&D) collaborations in the areas of laser fabrication technology and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) applications.  The MOU signing was part of the morning's Opening Ceremony's programme.


About Eng Tic Lee Achieve (ETLA)
Set up in 1985, ETLA is a vertically integrated solutions specialist for contract equipment manufacturing, precision machining and sheet metal components manufacturing. For more than two decades, it has been assisting its customers to transform engineering innovations into product/system realities by bridging the gap between Technology and Solutions. The Company has its headquarters in Singapore and has manufacturing facilities in Malaysia and the People's Republic of China.

For more information on ETLA, please visit www.etla.com.sg
 
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Seah Mei Kiang, NRA Capital, Tel: 62366885 / 97305816; Email:
meikiang.seah@nracapital.com

Rebekah Goh, NRA Capital, Tel: 62366895 / 97805498; Email:
rebekah.goh@nracapital.com