MDC Vacuum Products, LLC Announces New Vice President of Marketing And Sales

Hayward, CA, April 12, 2010 – MDC Vacuum Products, LLC (“MDC” or the “Company”) today announced the appointment of Maarten Kramer as Vice President of Sales and Marketing effective today.

“Our growth plans require that our customer-facing capabilities be outstanding,” said Nigel Wenden, MDC Chief Executive Officer. “We will be launching a series of initiatives in 2010 that leverage our well known brands. Utilizing his significant business management expertise, Mr. Kramer will help to build long-term advantage for the Company through our commercial operations both in the North America as well as internationally.

Prior to joining MDC, Mr. Kramer worked for Vistec Semiconductor Systems, Inc (formerly Leica Semiconductor Systems) where he held a number of significant leadership roles in the semiconductor technology space. He served as Global Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Service, US Vice President Business Relations, and US Vice President.

Mr. Kramer also served as General Manager of the Micro Electronics and Inspection equipment Division in Germany. Mr. Kramer has also held a number of senior leadership positions at Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology including Regional Sales Manager, General Manager of Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology, BV in the Netherlands and Chief Operating Officer of Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology, AG in Germany.

Mr. Kramer received a B.S. Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.

MDC Vacuum Products, LLC Announces New Chief Executive Officer

Hayward, CA, March 22, 2010 – MDC Vacuum Products, LLC (“MDC” or the “Company”) today announced the appointment of Nigel Wenden as Chief Executive Officer and member of its Board of Managers, effective today.

“We are very excited to have a senior executive of Nigel’s caliber join MDC Vacuum Products, LLC,” said Sary Awad, a member of the company’s Board of Managers.  “Nigel’s energetic leadership skills, together with his customer and operations centric approach, will allow MDC Vacuum Products, LLC to strengthen its leadership position in the high and ultra-high vacuum components market as well as accelerate its growth into new product and service offerings.”

Prior to joining MDC, Mr. Wenden was Executive Vice President and Director of the U.S. division of Edwards Limited (formerly BOC Edwards), a leading supplier of vacuum solutions, subsystems and exhaust management products to the research, semiconductor, renewable energy and industrial vacuum industries.

Mr. Wenden has also held a number of senior vacuum industry leadership positions including Executive Vice President of Strategic Alliances at the OEM Group, a privately held global leader in the remanufacturing of wafer processing equipment, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Global Business Operations and Director of Mattson Technology, Inc. (NASD:MTSN), a publicly traded semiconductor wafer processing equipment manufacturer, and Vice President of the Gas Products Business Unit of Mykrolis Corporation, formerly the Microelectronics Division of Millipore Corp. (NYSE:MIL), a leading supplier of vacuum and flow control, pressure measurement and fluid purification solutions for semiconductor manufacturing, where he held and number progressively senior positions over a period of nearly 20 years.

Mr. Wenden holds a Degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from Coventry University, England; and received a Diploma in Manufacturing and Production Engineering from the Chelmer Institute of Technology, Chelmsford, England. He attended the Harvard Business School Strategic Marketing Executive Education Program.  Mr. Wenden has served as Chair of SEMI's Sales and Marketing Executive Council.

MDC Announces Separation Of UK Sales and Manufacturing Businesses
Sale Of UK Manufacturing Operations To Management

HASTINGS, UNITED KINGDOM – October 12, 2009 – MDC Vacuum Products, LLC (“MDC”) a leading manufacturer, designer and distributor of engineered high vacuum systems and components, today announced the separation of its European sales and manufacturing businesses and the sale of its UK manufacturing operations to a group led by management.  The manufacturing business has been renamed Instrument Technology Limited (“ITL”).  MDC will retain its European sales operations, which will operate as MDC Vacuum Limited (“MDC Europe”).
As a part of the transaction, management has (i) recapitalized ITL’s balance sheet with a combination of direct cash investment and third party financing and (ii) obtained a release of all historical obligations due to MDC, significantly improving ITL’s trading position.

“We are very excited about this transaction, as it will allow us to refocus our efforts on direct sales and servicing our European customers” said Sylvie Bouhier, Director of MDC Europe.  “This is an important step in the growth of ITL, which will allow the company to leverage its significant manufacturing expertise.  We look forward to continuing to serve Sylvie’s team going forward, as well as working with our valued distribution partners in the vacuum hardware industry,” added David Barlow, Managing Director of ITL.

About MDC
Based in Hayward, California, MDC is a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of engineered high vacuum systems and components, with over 4,000 customers in a diverse set of industries.  MDC has a reputation for quality, continuous process improvement and reliability.  The Company is positioned in its industry as a “one-stop” branded leader of engineered vacuum product solutions including chambers, valves, feed-throughs, flanges, high purity gas weldments, roughing components, viewports and other components critical to the high vacuum industry.

About ITL

Based in Hastings, United Kingdom, ITL is a leading manufacturer of vacuum hardware, serving the re-seller and large OEM’s. ITL’s speciality is in the production of high volume, low price, superior quality flanges and fittings combined with the fabrication of non-standard product variants in response to its customers’ designs.

Contact:

Sylvie Bouhier
Director
MDC Vacuum Limited
Tel             +44 (0) 2071 928307
Mobile:       +44 (0) 7990 571405
e-mail:        sbouhier@mdcvacuum.co.uk

David Barlow
Managing Director
Instrument Technology Limited
Tel:            +44 (0) 1424 458700
Mobile:       +44 (0) 7710 069584
e-mail:        dbarlow@itl-vacuum.com

MDC Vacuum Products, LLC Announces New Chief Operating Officer

Hayward, CA, November 17, 2008 – MDC Vacuum Products, LLC (“MDC” or the “Company”) today announced the appointment of Robert Malley as Chief Operations Officer effective today.

Prior to joining MDC, Bob served as Vice President of Global Materials and Manufacturing at Intevac where he led the global materials, manufacturing, logistics, and new product operations groups. He also successfully developed and implemented volume manufacturing, materials/supply chain, and logistics operations in Singapore and supervised field logistics operations in five other countries.

Prior to Intevac, Bob spent 13 years at Applied Materials where he served in executive and management roles in IT, Product Operations, Materials, Pilot Manufacturing, Manufacturing Engineering, and Volume Manufacturing. Bob also served as an Engineer Officer in the US Army with roles as Professor of Mechanical Engineering at West Point, Company Commander in the 82nd Airborne Division, and junior officer leadership roles in the 24th Infantry Division. He is a graduate of West Point and holds a Masters of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.