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Construction Begins on Milestone LED Plant

Barrie, Ontario. North America s first full-line surface mount LED manufacturing plant began construction today, shortening supply lines to key domestic OEM markets and demonstrating that LEDs can be manufactured competitively in North America.

The $20 million state-of-the-art facility is being built by SLI OPTO, a 70-30 joint venture between SLI, Inc. (NYSE: SLI), Canton, MA, and Stanley Electric Co., Ltd. Tokyo. Scheduled to begin production in Q4, 2000, the fully automated facility will utilize Stanley Electric s leading edge manufacturing technologies, recognized as the industry standard. Die attach and wire bonding will be performed within a class 10,000 clean room. Surface mount LEDs will be packaged in sizes ranging over 1608.

Initially, the Barrie plant will produce 120 million units per year and then ramp up to 600 million/year by Q4, 2003. The facility will manufacture surface mount LEDs in various sizes and colors. Output will go mainly into OEM miniature lighting systems manufactured under the brand name Chicago Miniature Lamps, which is part of SLI Lighting Systems.

"This new LED plant is truly the first of its kind in North America," says Frank M. Ward, SLI, Inc. Chairman and CEO. "With this capability in the Western Hemisphere, we re better poised to lead the transition of surface mount LEDs into larger scale OEM applications. Furthermore, it s consistent with our vertical integration strategy and will reinforce our #1 position in the LED lighting assembly business."

SLI Gains Manufacturing Control Through Global Expansion

According to Mr. Ward, the plant also will help SLI, Inc. gain greater manufacturing control over the fastest growing, most profitable segment of their lighting business. "And it will also gives us better control over product quality, surety of supply and technical support for our North American OEM customers," adds Mr. Ward. The Barrie facility will serve all of SLI s global miniature lighting factories and complement their existing LED lighting plant, OSA in Berlin, Germany. OSA, acquired in 1997, produces 72 million LEDs/year. "When the Barrie plant reaches full capacity, we will increase our total global capacity for finished LED lighting assemblies by 15%," adds Mr. Ward. "We will also save $6 million a year in procurements and manufacturing costs.

The LED operation will be housed inside SLI s existing 70,000 sq. ft. Barrie miniature lighting assembly plant, but will operate as a separate entity. The LED facility will employ about 28 new workers.

SLI Inc., a billion dollar corporation, based in Canton, MA, is a vertically integrated designer, manufacturer and seller of lighting systems, which are comprised of lamps, fixtures and ballasts. The company offers a complete range of lamps (incandescent, fluorescent, compact fluorescent, high intensity discharge, halogen, miniature incandescent, neon, LED and special lamps). They also offer a comprehensive range of fixtures, ballasts and fiber-optic lighting systems. The company serves a diverse international customer base and markets, has 31 major plants in 30 countries and operates throughout the world. SLI, Inc. operates one of the US s three largest contract lighting maintenance companies serving retail chains, commercial, industrial and institutional buildings. It is also the #1 global supplier of miniature lighting products for automotive instrumentation.

Except for historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect assumptions and involve risks and uncertainties that may affect SLI s business and prospects and cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements. For more information, contact SLI, Inc., 500 Chapman Street, Canton, MA 02021, phone (781) 828-2948, fax (781) 828-2021, website: www.sli-lighting.com.

Contact: Frank M. Ward, Chairman and CEO of SLI, Inc., Tel: 781-828-2948

 

Frank M. Ward, Chairman and CEO of SLI, Inc.,
Tel: 781-828-2948
 
Web site: http://www.sli-lighting.com
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