October 31, 2000

Yih Cheng Factory Co., Ltd. a Taiwan manufacturer specializing in the production of screwdrivers and related tools for both DIY users and professional purposes, has announced that it will open its brand-new office building in Nantou county, central Taiwan, next month.

"Yih Cheng's original office and factory in Nantou county were heavily damaged during the devastating earthquake that hit the island on September 21, 1999. The quake toppled both the company's factory and three-floor office building, with the ground floor of the office building actually ending up underground.

Following the quake, the power supply to the region was effectively shut down for one month says Jack Lin, president of Yih Cheng. He estimates that the company's total losses from the disaster were approximately US$1.7 million.

However, drawing on nearly half a century of experience in the business, the company was able to bounce back quickly. "To take care of our customers'orders, we built a temporary plant, recovered all the machinery and installed new computers-all within two weeks," recounts Lin."One month later, all production was back to normal,"he added. Meanwhile, the company has spent the past year constructing the new office building.

Using high-performance automatic machinery, Yih Cheng has a monthly production capacity of more than five million screwdrivers and six million units of related screwdriver tools. Annual revenue for 2000 is expected to total US$33 million.

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