Development News From Southwest Indiana

Kimball to open plant in China
August 3, 2005
JASPER, Ind. — Kimball Electronics Group, a subsidiary of Kimball International, Inc.. said it plans to establish a manufacturing facility in Nanjing, China.

Construction is planned to start in the last three months of 2005, with operations slated to begin in the fall of 2006.
Kimball Electronics Group is a global contract electronics manufacturing services company that specializes in durable electronics.

Kimball said it made the decision to develop the China operation to strengthen its global responsiveness to customers and to add manufacturing capabilities for the automotive and industrial equipment industries.

Nanjing, a city of more than 6.4 million people, is located near the Yangtze River at the intersection of the Coastal and Riverside economic belts. It is the capital of the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu.

Kimball officials said the location of the operation takes advantage of a highly qualified work force, well established logistics for export products, and close proximity to the industries served.

"The engineering and manufacturing expertise of the Nanjing facility will enable us to better serve our growing base of customers," said Don Charron, president of the Kimball Electronics Group.

"While we continue to focus on our unique core capabilities... we are also committed to further diversification of those industries we serve," Charron said.

"We are very excited about the China team becoming a part of Kimball, and we are confident this new operation will become a strong complement to our existing operations in the U.S., Mexico, Thailand and Poland."

Kimball International, Inc., which trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol KBALB, provides a wide array of products from its two business segments: the Furniture and Cabinets segment and the Electronic Contract Assemblies segment. The Electronic Contract Assemblies segment provides engineering and manufacturing services which utilize common production and support capabilities to a variety of industries globally.

The Furniture and Cabinets segment provides furniture for the office and hospitality industries, sold under the Company's family of brand names. The Furniture and Cabinets segment also provides engineering and manufacturing services which utilize common production and support capabilities on a contract basis to customers in the residential furniture and cabinets, office furniture, and retail infrastructure industries, as well as forest products.

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