Climax Portable Machine Tools Inc. Expands Successful Service Offerings to International Ship Repair and Nuclear Power Markets

NEWBERG, Oregon. August 24, 2004 — Due to the success of its strategic business unit (SBU) model in the United States, Climax today is announcing a new offering to serve the needs of international customers in the shipbuilding and repair, and nuclear power generation markets. The new SBU will help Climax better support its overseas clients’ needs for engineering consulting and on-site maintenance, repair, and training services, and help their clients improve profitability and gain market advantage in increasingly competitive industries.

Climax’s service model has fostered stronger, more seamless relationships with its clients, to help them attain improved profitability and market advantage. Coupled with the company’s focus on quality, reliability and excellent customer service, the business model led to 25 percent growth since last year, when it was introduced.

"Our SBU model has helped us meet our vision to advance our world’s industries by creating powerful and precise portable machining solutions and offering the consulting and engineering services that our customers need in these demanding economic times," said Climax CEO Geoff Gilmore, Ph.D., P.E. "Internationally, we are already working in China with one of the largest shipyards in the country, providing ship repair tools as well as the engineering and training services they need to help them compete on a global level. In Sweden, our engineers helped a nuclear power service organization develop a maintenance and repair offering that will extend the reactor’s life by 20 to 40 years." During its first year, the new international SBU will focus primarily on serving the shipyard maintenance needs in Japan, Korea, and China, and nuclear power needs in Japan, Sweden, Canada, and Taiwan. Climax will also continue its work in North America in these industries.

Climax provides unique, onsite, comprehensive, single-source machining solutions for the nuclear power industry and for shipbuilders who would like to lower their operating costs and improve overall productivity. The portable machine tools company also works to extend the life of aging nuclear power plants, while minimizing plant down time. It has particular expertise in providing stern tube and rudder shaft boring tools to meet shipbuilding and repair needs. The company also designs and builds advanced computer numerically controlled (CNC) machines to provide on-site repair of complex nuclear reactor components.

For the past 40 years, Climax Portable Machine Tools has provided portable machine tool solutions in a number of industries, including power generation, shipbuilding and repair, and service and engineering. These industries look to Climax’s consulting engineers for innovative new approaches to project development and maintenance management programs. Climax trains machinists to help organizations add more skilled workers, and provides machining tools to meet maintenance demands where it is impossible or impractical to move or dismantle heavy equipment in order to service or re-tool it.

About Climax® Portable Machine Tools, Inc.

Based in Oregon, Climax Portable Machine Tools, Inc. is a strategic world-class provider of comprehensive, on-site machining solutions. The company offers specialized engineering consulting services, customized training programs and a full line of portable machine tools enabling customers to efficiently perform on-site machining for applications in the shipbuilding, power generation, and service and engineering sectors. Climax Portable Machine Tools pioneered the portable machine tools concept. As the world’s largest supplier of portable machine tools, it offers standard and custom-built solutions and serves the domestic and international markets through its own international offices and licensed representatives in 23 countries. More information about the company is available at www.cpmt.com.