5 years ago our business was on the verge of bankruptcy. A major U.S. retailer that accounted for a third of our sales changed its source of supply from FPI to a Chinese supplier. Since our sales had plummeted literally overnight and without warning we were in dire financial circumstances. We began to lose money and our cash flow was hemorrhaging. Shortly thereafter our bank placed us in the work out group and we were heading down a path to liquidation.

We are a successful enterprise today primarily due to NJMEP, the New Jersey unit of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) of NIST. In our hour of need we were introduced to NJMEP by the Morris County Chamber of Commerce.

Together with Robert Loderstedt, President of NJMEP, we implemented a multi pronged turnaround strategy to revitalize FPI including;

1. Acquisitions – NJMEP worked with us to roll up and acquire 2 smaller plastic injection molding companies to replace lost sales and to diversify our customer base.

2. Inventory Management and Control- NJMEP suggested we close an outside warehouse, which we did that saved us the $40,000 dollar monthly operating costs which resulted in a $480,000 annual savings which we used to implement the other phases of the turnaround strategy. Additionally, we sold excess inventory totaling approximately $1,000,000 improving cash flow. Plus we implemented an MRP/MPS system and cycle counts to improve inventory management and control.

3. Lean Manufacturing-We engaged NJMEP to implement lean manufacturing techniques which lower our costs of production and increased our manufacturing efficiencies through the use process changes and automation, using robotics. Consequently we have raised our sales per employee from $80,000 in 2000 to $125,000 in 2005. Our goal for 2006 is $150,000 per employee. 4. Banking Relationship – NJMEP worked with us to refinance our debt by changing banks and lowering our interest expense with reduced rates and an extended term.

Today FPI is profitable and growing. Our sales volume is over 30% ahead of last year. In 2006 we expect our sales to exceed $25,000,000 an increase of 60% over 2005.

We are no longer intimidated by Asian competition. We have used this threat to spur FPI to become a global low cost producer. None of this would have been attainable without MEP.

MEP is an essential asset and lifeline for American manufacturing. It is vitally important that the U.S. Senate continues its support of programs such as MEP that aid and strengthen American manufacturing companies.

Thank you for your time.

Very truly yours,

Sebastian Murray President and CEO