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Winland Electronics, Inc. Announces Initiative to Enhance Engineering Services Offering


* Greg Burneske, 17-year industry veteran, joins Winland as Director of
Engineering Services

MANKATO, Minn., Jan. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Winland Electronics, Inc. (Amex: WEX), a leading provider of product development and contract manufacturing services, announced today that it has strengthened its engineering services offering with the addition of a proven industry veteran and a revised engineering structure. Greg Burneske joins Winland as Director of Engineering Services. Mr. Burneske will oversee the Winland team responsible for design, development and prototyping of customers' products.

Burneske joins Winland with 17 years of new product development experience. His most recent service was with Plexus, a notable Tier 1 contract manufacturer, with product development capability. During his tenure at Plexus, he was responsible for managing new product development with an emphasis on wireless medical device development, as well as design process quality, operations and new business development efforts. His product development experience includes industrial, consumer, automotive, wireless and medical devices.

"Adding an industry veteran like Mr. Burneske to the Winland team strengthens our ability to deliver the best possible engineering services to our customers," said Winland's Chief Executive Officer, Lorin Krueger. "He has extensive experience in our industry and understands what our customers want and deserve from an EMS partner. It is that kind of experience and customer-focused philosophy that sets Winland apart from other contract manufactures. Our new structure creates a product realization service offering unparalleled in a middle market EMS company."

"It is a great opportunity to take the product development experience I gained over the past 17 and focus it on building world class engineering services with a company of Winland's caliber," commented Mr. Burneske. "It will be great to help expand Winland's operations and customer base by leading with world class engineering services," said Burneske."

Winland's new product development structure will be scalable. In consumer and industrial markets nothing matters more than time-to-market. But, in medical markets, using an FDA compliant process is as important as technology and schedule. Winland's ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 development process is scalable so each product development program is tailored to the specific needs of the customer's market within the rigid regulatory structure of FDA processes.

Dale Nordquist Winland VP of Sales and Marketing commented, "Our scalable engineering services model is a key advantage in doing business with Winland Electronics. With our new development process we can match our service offering to the customer's needs. Our enhanced engineering services combined with our manufacturing capabilities will allows us to bring high reliability products to market fast."

About Winland Electronics, Inc.
Winland Electronics is a full service product realization firm that has provided product development and manufacturing services for over 20 years.

Winland's product development offering includes program management, analog circuit design, digital circuit design, printed circuit board design and embedded software design. Winland differentiates itself from the contract manufacturer competition with its integrated product development and manufacturing services to offer end-to-end product launch capability, including design for manufacturability, design for testability, transition to manufacturing and order fulfillment. Winland's core competency is delivering time-to-market through superior program management, experience, integrated development processes, and cross-functional teams. Winland Electronics is based in Mankato, Minnesota.

CONTACT:
Lorin E. Krueger
Chief Executive Officer
(507) 625-7231

Brett Maas
Hayden Communications
(212) 988-2206
http://www.winland.com/

SOURCE Winland Electronics, Inc.
Web Site: http://www.winland.com

Viasystems to Close PCB Plants in Canada, Netherlands

By Mike Buetow
Monday, 28 February 2005
ST. LOUIS -- Viasystems Group, once the largest PCB maker in North America, will shutter its remaining circuit board plants outside Asia while adding even more capacity in China.

The company will spend $60 million toward expanding its China operations. These funds will primarily be used to further expand its Chinese PCB production capabilities and enhance its technological capabilities.

Viasystems spent $75 million in China in 2003 and 2004. When the latest expansion comes online, Viasystems will have increased its production capacity in China by 70% over the past three years.

In 2004, Viasystems was the largest manufacturer of PCBs in China, with sales of approximately $343 million, the company said.

"This expansion of our capacity and manufacturing capabilities in China responds to the increasing demands of our customers for high-tech, high-quality, low-cost products and services," said chief executive David M. Sindelar, in a statement.

Viasystems will close its remaining board facilities in Canada and the Netherlands.

"The continued shift of the printed circuit board industry to more cost-efficient regions, coupled with the technological advancement of our Chinese facilities has led to the underutilization of our facilities in Canada and the Netherlands," said Timothy L. Conlon, president and chief operating officer. The plants generated less than 9% of its total revenue in 2004, Conlon said.

Viasystems purchased the plant in Canada as part of its acquisition of Circo Craft. Cisco Systems is believed to be a customer of Viasystems' Netherlands plant, known as Mommers.

"We believe that due to the advanced technological capabilities that exist in our Chinese facilities today, a significant portion of these revenues can be produced in our Chinese operations. The closures will allow Viasystems to focus our efforts and capital investments on the fastest growing region in the printed circuit board market."

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