THREAD ALERT
Tuesday May 11, 9:09 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Pacific International Enterprises Inc.:
Equity Working Capital Raised to
Manufacture National and
International OEM Hard Orders
LOS ALAMITOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 11, 1999--Pacific International Enterprises Inc. (OTC BB:PCIE) and its division, ''The France Group'' is comprised of France Sports Mfg. and the in-house brands: Wake Tech, Rift, Corporate, Microski, Spry and Twenty Four Seven Snowboards.
24/7 is a snowboard company whose racing program is acclaimed worldwide. Gold Medalist Ross Rebagliati is signed to an exclusive snowboard promotional contract through the 2002 Olympics.
''Keeping the factory producing is not only important to the PCIE shareholders and the people of Goldendale, Wash., it is important to the industry that board sports companies have access to an American factory dedicated to building a high quality OEM product,'' stated Binks A. Graval, chairman and chief executive officer of PCIE.
Gavin Myers, director of R&D at France Sports Mfg. stated, ''The France Group (TFG) factory was custom built in 1995 specifically for OEM snowboard manufacturing and is state of the art with technological advantages unequaled in North America. As far as I know, it is the only OEM board sports manufacturing facility in the U.S. with complete climate control maintaining the optimum temperature and humidity. This results in unparalleled consistency in product components due to the
environmental sensitiveness of the materials used in production. This factor, among a long list of other advantages, helped TFG to maintain less than 1/10th of 1% warranty returns last year.''
''This positively affects resort conglomerates like: American International Group (NYSE: AIG - news), Intrawest (NYSE: IDR - news), Kennedy - Wilson (NASDAQ: KWIC - news), Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN - news), Winter Sports Inc. (NASDAQ: WSKI - news), etc. that own or
work in conjunction with snow/wake board rental shops. Everyone benefits from product life longevity,'' stated Graval.
Myers continued, ''The diversity of our manufacturing equipment is unequaled in the U.S. We have a low pressure RIM (Reaction Injection Molding) machine, a high pressure RIM machine and full internal design capabilities all linked to CNC (computer numerically controlled) machining capabilities. We also manufacture products using Sheet Molding Compounds (SMC), wet lay up (using a computer contolled impregnator) and prepeg or precure glasses. The factory has twenty-two
(22) hydraulic presses on-line, including several large platen area presses suited to any large composite parts such as automotive bumpers or body parts, sailboat parts, etc.
''Our destructive and constructive testing capabilities are also state of the art and a key element in overall quality control. TFG is one of few board sports design and manufacturing OEM facilities world-wide that owns and operates a computer controlled Universal Testing Machine. This machine is used for break strength tests, cyclic flex testing, short beam shear testing, insert tensile testing, peel
testing as well as incoming material tensile/compressive tests for QC (quality control) purposes.
''In all available areas, ASTM standards are used. If not, specific tests are designed to specifically target the data desired. In addition to the UTM tests, we have frozen slap testing, nose and tail
impact testing and a separate wakeboard break strength testing machine.''
''PCIE welcomes the opportunity for other snow sports industry manufacturers like, Amer Group (Helsinki: AMER - news), Bennetton (NYSE: BNG - news ), California Pro Sports (NASDAQ smcap: CALP - news), K2 (NYSE: KTO - news), Marker International (NASDAQ: MRKR -
news), Morrow Snowboards (NASDAQ: MRRW - news), Ride, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIDE - news ), Rossignol (Paris: SR - news), Salomon & Taylor Made (Tokyo: SLN - news), Vans (NASDAQ: VANS - news), Variflex (NASDAQ: VFLX - news), etc. to tour our factory and see if their is a
way we can develop equitable alliances where the end result is to bring a higher quality product to the consumer,'' stated Anthony Broughton, PCIE's chief financial officer.
Myers continued, ''A factory tour, where you meet the production team, is the only way to truly understand our capabilities. The personnel at TFG are all seasoned industry veterans led by two engineers, myself and Dave France, who have over twenty-one (21) years of combined snowboard design and manufacturing experience. Our Product Manager, Chris Karol, is a three time national champion and our testing team includes Mike Jacoby, Anton Pogue, Sondra Von Ert and Ross Rebagliati who have won numerous World and U.S. Championships with Ross winning the first ever snowboarding Gold Medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympic Games. The TFG factory is located only two hours from Mt. Hood, which operates glacier lifts until early September. Mt. Hood is the North
American epicenter of on-snow product testing and the summer training grounds for the U.S. Snowboard Team. Our team riders, enhanced by the easy access to Mt. Hood, provides us with phenomenal product feedback that our OEM customers can only benefit from.''
The France Group, a division of Pacific International Enterprises Inc., develops and manufactures sports related products for rapidly growing markets, including snowboarding, wakeboarding, mini-skiing and skateboarding. The France Group brand names are a leader in their category by providing superior levels of performance and quality.
For other 1999 PCIE publicity releases, reference the Internet; businesswire.com, yahoo.com (NASDAQ: YHOO - news), go.com, excite.com (NASDAQ: XCIT - news), microsoft.com (NASDAQ: MSFT - news), aol.com (NYSE: AOL - news), and most sports sites.
(PR No. 1) January 20, 1999 - Pacific International Enterprises,
Inc. acquired the assets of France Sports Mfg. and Twenty Four Seven
Snowboards.
(PR No. 2) January 26, 1999 - Pacific International Enterprises, Inc.
acquired the assets of Durham Molding Corp's (DMC) Wake Technology
Wakeboards and Rift Snowboards.
(PR No. 3) January 27, 1999 - Pacific International Enterprises Inc.
Acquires $ 3.5 Million in Assets of France Sports Mfg., Twenty-Four
Seven and Wake Tech.
(PR No. 4) February 4, 1999 - Pacific International Enterprises, Inc.
signs Nagano Olympic Gold Medalist Ross Rebagliati.
(PR No. 5) February 16, 1999 - Pacific International Enterprises,
Inc.; World Champion Snowboarder, Sondra Van Ert, having Best Season
ever on 24/7 Snowboards.
(PR No. 6) February 23, 1999 - Pacific International Enterprises,
Inc.; The France Group; OEM Order Entry Rate Running Ahead of
Projections.
(PR No. 7) April 12, 1999 - Pacific International Enterprises, Inc.;
launches Sony designed Web site.
(PR No. 8) April 13, 1999 - (Sony correction) Pacific
International Enterprises, Inc.; launches Web site.
(PR No. 9) April 30, 1999 - Pacific International Enterprises, Inc.;
Announces new Internet and E-Commerce Division.
(PR No. 10) May 7, 1999 - Pacific International Enterprises, Inc.;
Letter to the Shareholders from Chairman & CEO Binks A. Graval.
-- For More Information --
Ph: 714/816-0200 Web: www.247snow.com Fax: 714/816-0594
Statements in this release are made pursuant to the ''safe harbor'' provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward looking statements involve
risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, continued acceptance of the company's products,
increased levels of competition for the company, and dependence on third party suppliers.
Contact:
Pacific International Enterprises Inc., Los Alamitos
714/816-0200
Fax: 714/816-0594
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