Balzers, Inc. opened a new coating center in Houston, Texas. As of January 30, 2006, the Houston Center began coating production of cutting, forming, molding tools and precision components. Houston is the fourth center to open in the past twelve months with other locations opened in Bakersfield, CA, Nashville, TN and Toronto, Ontario. The Houston center will service the South Central region which includes the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. This area has a strong need for high quality coating services and fast turnaround of coated machine tools and components. In addition, the new facility will provide full service coating solutions not only for standard coatings like Titanium Nitride but also advanced, high performance coatings and pre- and post-treatment capabilities. "The call for quality PVD coatings has been in demand in this territory because companies are looking for opportunities to increase their productivity. Balzers can provide that service and we are ready to partner with companies to help them meet their goals," says John Zapalik, Sales Director for Balzers. "We are closer to our customers and we can provide them with excellent service and the coatings they need." The new Houston Center will service primarily the cutting tool industry as well as other markets such as die casting, stamping and forming and molds and dies for applications in oil field services, aerospace, machine tools and high-wear machine components. The new 16,000 sq. ft. building offers state-of-the-art production capabilitie.This full service coating center is equipped with Balzers state-of-the-art cleaning and coating equipment to ensure the highest quality results. Balzers Houston coating capabilities include: $B%-(B BALINIT$B%g(B A (TiN) $B%-(B BALINIT$B%g(B B (TiCN) $B%-(B BALINIT$B%g(B FUTURA NANO (TiAlN) $B%-(B BALINIT$B%g(B FUTURA NANO TOP (TiAlN) $B%-(B BALINIT$B%g(B X.CEED (TiAlN)* $B%-(B BALINIT$B%g(B ALCRONA (AlCrN)* * available soon. Coating Center Location: Balzers Inc. 9454 Kirby Drive Houston, TX 77054 Phone: (713) 660-6400 Fax: (713) 432-0006 www.bus.balzers.com Center Manager $B!&(BJoe Merriman Sales Engineer $B!&(BMary Lamb Director of Sales $B!&(BJohn Zapalik