SAN RAMON, CA - July 16, 2008 - The first San Joaquin County Manufacturing Summit, hosted by Manex in conjunction with the San Joaquin Partnership, Moss Adams and Perry Johnson Registrars was held on July 22nd at Moss Adams in Stockton. More than 30 San Joaquin County manufacturers attended the half-day Summit.

The Summit began with an in-depth update on the newly designated San Joaquin County Enterprise Zone. It then focused on opportunities for state funding for employee training, lean manufacturing methods, research and development tax credits, and ISO certification information. Attendees said the information was extremely valuable and many had no idea of the number of manufacturing benefits and resources available to them.

From the participants:

• "Very informative and motivational."
• "Great networking opportunity. Good sense of community in promoting growth in a bad economy."
• "Great event. Encourage continuation of program."

Klein Bros was the winner of the Benchmark Assessment which provides benchmarking data comparing company performance against peers in 12 key best-in-class metrics.

A second Manufacturing Summit is tentatively planned for early October. Please contact Nana Cho, ncho@manexconsulting.com for more information.

About Manex
Founded in 1995, The Corporation for Manufacturing Excellence (Manex) (www.manexconsulting.com) provides a broad array of proven advisory and implementation solutions exclusively to manufacturers, distributors and their supply chains, enabling them to increase growth, productivity, quality and profitability. Manex delivers high-impact solutions in four key areas: strategy, people, process and performance. Meaningful, rapid impact and ROI are achieved through a modular-yet-holistic approach encompassing corporate strategy and planning, marketing strategy, training and development, lean manufacturing, supply chain and logistics, Six Sigma, ISO and performance management systems.