Brady Corporation to Begin Manufacturing Operations in

China Wuxi, China (PROTEXT) - Brady Corporation (NYSE: BRC), aninternational manufacturer of identification, specialty tapes,graphics and safety products, announced that it will beginmanufacturing operations in China at a new facility in Wuxi,Jiangsu Province, China. Brady will manufacture high-performance labels and precisiondie-cut materials for electronics, telecommunications, industrialand other markets at a facility at No. 229, Xingchuang Ba Lu,Wuxi-Singapore Industrial Park, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China, later thisyear. The company is now in the process of hiring productionemployees and setting up the operation in Wuxi. There Brady will manufacture products ranging from labels usedto identify printed circuit boards, wires, cables, patch panelsand outlets in telecommunication closets, to specialty die-cutparts for use in cellular phones, pagers and hard disk drives forcustomers including Seagate, Motorola, Ericsson, Nokia, ShanghaiBell and other electronic and telecommunication productmanufacturers. Brady (Wuxi) Co., Ltd. will be supported by Brady's offices inBeijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen which provide marketing, customerservice and technical support. Additional manufacturing, as wellas research and product development, will continue at BradyCorporation Asia Pte. Ltd. in Singapore, which serves as theregional headquarters supporting Brady's branch offices in HongKong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and China. Brady first began marketing identification and precision tapeproducts in China in the early 1990s through its Hong Kongoffice. Brady opened a representative office in Beijing in 1998to improve technical support and service for companies in theregion. Starting a manufacturing operation in Wuxi reflectsBrady's efforts to increase its presence in Asia. "China provides Brady with significant opportunities for long-term growth. As one of the world's fastest growing economies, ithas a strong industrial base and continues to attractmultinational companies in telecommunications, electronics,manufacturing and other Brady markets," said A.S. Hon, BradyCorporation managing director, Asia operations. "We chose Wuxi asour new manufacturing location in China because it is welllocated to serve the needs of our customers. It also has anexcellent infrastructure and industrial park management, and isreceptive to business investment." "Brady (Wuxi) Co., Ltd. will further strengthen Brady's globalIdentification Solutions and Specialty Tapes business byexpanding production beyond existing operations in Asia, UnitedStates, Europe, Canada and Brazil," said David Schroeder, BradyCorporation vice president, Identification Solutions andSpecialty Tapes Group. "As demand for Brady products in Chinacontinues to grow, we will be looking to expand even further toensure we provide our customers with exceptional service andvalue-adding products." Brady Corporation, founded in 1914 and headquartered inMilwaukee, Wis., USA, is an international provider ofidentification and safety solutions, graphic systems andspecialty tapes. It markets more than 30,000 products includinghigh-performance labels for wires, cables and circuit boards;data- collection systems and software; safety signs; narrow- andwide-format printing systems; and various die-cut products forhard disk drives, cellular phones and other devices. Brady servesindustrial, electrical, electronic, telecommunications,governmental, education, and many other markets. Brady has several operations in Asia including Singapore, HongKong, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, South Korea,Australia, and Japan. In addition to its operations in Asia,Brady has operations in the United States, Canada, Belgium,United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Mexico andBrazil. Brady employs more than 2,500 people worldwide. Withfiscal 1998 sales of $455 million (US), its stock is traded onthe New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BRC. More information is available on the Internet athttp://www.bradycorp.com ots Original Text Service: BradyCorporation Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: A.S.Hon, Singapore 65-775-2077 or Carole Herbstreit, US, 414-438-6882, both of Brady Corporation Company News On-Call:http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/952350.html or Fax: (USA) 800-758-5804, ext. 952350 Web site: http://www.bradycorp.com

Subscribers please note that material bearing the slug"PROTEXT" is not part of CTK's news service and is not to bepublished under the "CTK" slug. Protext is a commercial serviceproviding distribution of press releases from clients, who areidentified in the text of Protext reports and who bear fullresponsibility for their contents.

PROTEXT