Minebea's Thai and Singapore Subsidiaries Receive OHSAS 18001 Certification, Standard for Occupational Health and Safety Systems

On September 30 and October 11, 2004, Minebea Co., Ltd. ("Minebea")'s Thai and Singapore subsidiaries, under-mentioned, received OHSAS ("Occupational Health and Safety Assessment") 18001 certification, respectively, a standard for occupational health and safety ("OH&S") management systems created to enable an organization to control its OH&S risks and improve its business performance. Although OHSAS 18001 does not become an international standard yet, plans for globalizing it in the future are now under consideration. In addition, reflecting a growing worldwide interest in OH&S management systems, there has been a growth in the number of companies requesting suppliers to earn OHSAS 18001 certification. Thailand is the Minebea Group's largest production base, which accounts for about 60% of Group output. Singapore also contributes around 10% of that output. In addition to the above subsidiaries, Minebea's Chinese subsidiaries--Minebea Electronics & Hi-Tech Components (Shanghai) Ltd. and Shanghai Shun Ding Technologies Ltd.--plan to obtain OHSAS 18001 certification by the end of March 2005. The following are details of the recently awarded certification: Thailand Certificate-Awarded Subsidiaries: NMB Thai Ltd.Minebea Thai Ltd.Pelmec Thai Ltd.NMB Hi-Tech Bearing Ltd.NMB Precision Balls Ltd.Thai Minebea-Matsushita Motor Co., Ltd.Minebea Electronics (Thailand) Co., Ltd.Power Electronics of Minebea Co., Ltd. Date of Certification: September 30, 2004 Singapore Certificate-Awarded Subsidiaries: NMB Singapore Ltd.Minebea Technologies PTE Ltd.Pelmec Industries (PTE.) Ltd. Date of Certification: October 11, 2004