ATS receives US $10.7 million in orders from one of the world's largest medical device companies

Aug 5 2004

ATS Automation Tooling Systems has announced it has recently received a total of US $10.7 million (CDN $14.2 million) in orders from one of the world's largest manufacturers of self-use medical diagnostic systems. This brings the value of orders for automation systems ATS has won over the past year from this particular customer to more than US $21 million.

These latest assignments will see ATS deliver a number of fully automated production lines that the customer will use to manufacture and package multi- use handheld diagnostic devices. Most of the production lines to be supplied by ATS will be used by the customer for high volume manufacture of a new diagnostic device. Under the orders, ATS will also provide upgrades to the customer's manufacturing systems for an already existing diagnostic device and supply one new system that will be dedicated to highly flexible production of small specialized production lots. The new system will take advantage of ATS's proprietary programmable conveyance system technology, called Supertrak(TM). The various orders, all received by ATS during the Company's recently completed first quarter, are scheduled to be delivered over the next 16 months.

"The medical device industry, and more particularly the self-use diagnostics market, is growing rapidly and because of our specialized single- source capabilities, ATS is a direct beneficiary of this rapid expansion," said Klaus Woerner, ATS President and Chief Executive Officer. "What's particularly gratifying about these particular assignments is they are with a repeat customer. Not only is this a strong endorsement of ATS's capabilities by a customer that knows us well, it's further evidence that we are seeing increasing benefits from our entrenched relationships in the healthcare sector. A cornerstone of our strategy continues to be the development of long- term customers who repeatedly use ATS for their automation needs."

"A key highlight of these projects is that the customer has entrusted ATS with a plant-wide automation assignment, and has made us a single point of contact to reduce their technical risk and accelerate implementation," said Mr. Woerner. "ATS excels at these types of large assignments. In this case, we will be responsible for equipping a large part of one of the customer's existing manufacturing facilities. These orders represent just the latest example of ATS's recent success in penetrating high-growth areas of the healthcare industry."