Oki Electric Completes Chromium-free Steel Plating Framework for its Plant in China

Tokyo, Japan, March 24, 2005 -- Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (TSE: 6703) today announced Oki Electric Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (OSZ), Oki's ATM and printer production plant in China, has completed the framework to shift to chromium-free plating for steel plating used in its mechatronic products. OSZ became Oki's first overseas plant to complete its framework to respond to chromium-free plating, starting the switch over from April 2005. By shifting to chromium-free steel plating, OSZ is expected to reduce 2.7 kilograms of chrome acid compound used in its 800 tons of steel plating per year.

"In March 2003 we completed the shift to chromium-free plating for our products in Japan, and we are proud to announce the establishment of our first overseas chrome-free steel plating framework in the China plant. " said Harushige Sugimoto, Chairman and President of Manufacturing Service Company at Oki Electric. "As Oki's EMS business is known to be environment-friendly, we plan to offer chromium-free steel plating service to companies that are preparing to provide ecological products, in which we target a net sales of 15 billion yen in the fiscal year ending March 2006."

Conventional steel plating used hexavalent chromium, which is included as one of the chemical substances in the RoHS Directive, which bans products with six chemical substances to be sold in the EU member countries after July 2006. Because of its advantages to prevent rust, Oki has been adopting chromium-free steel plating. It had been a challenge to change the production process and improve the quality, until companies began providing chromium-free steel plating, which helped to develop thin coat steel plates with the same quality, production process, and price as conventional steel plates. Oki was able to complete the evaluation of chromium-free steel plating from major manufactures and implemented the switch over in its China plant. Going forward, Oki plans to restrain from discharging environmental pollutant by reducing substances with chrome and lead in coat paintings.

About Oki Electric Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.

Established on July 5, 2001 in Shenzhen, China, OSZ is a 100% subsidiary of Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. With over 600 employees, OSZ takes charge of manufacturing and sales of ATMs, banking terminals, and printers in China.

About Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.

Founded more than a century ago in 1881, Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. is Japan's first telecommunications manufacturer, with its headquarter in Tokyo, Japan. With the corporate vision, "Oki, Network Solutions for a Global Society," Oki Electric provides top-quality products, technologies and solutions to its customers through its telecommunications systems, information systems and electronic devices segments. All three segments are integrated into one effective organization that functions as a collective force to create exciting new products and technologies, including information and telecom converged solutions. Through its business activities, Oki Electric satisfies a spectrum of customer needs in various markets. Visit Oki's global web site at http://www.oki.com/.

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[Reference] Structure of chromium-free steel plate

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