Setting New Standards in the Pursuit of Manufacturing Perfection

Fremont, CA - May 10, 2012. AMAX, a leading innovator of High Performance Computing (HPC), dynamic Enterprise IT and custom Appliance Manufacturing solutions, continues its commitment to quality as a differentiator by announcing the addition of ISO:14001 Certification for its US Manufacturing Operations, as well as China Compulsory Certified (CCC) and TL9000 Certifications for its AMAX China Manufacturing Operations, and Flexstar solid state drive (SSD) / hard disk drive (HDD) equipment, the de facto industry standard for storage drive testing, for both.  AMAX manufacturing facilities have already been UL approved and held ISO:9001 certification, the highest quality standard in manufacturing, for nearly 2 decades.  The new certifications and equipment bolster AMAX's already industry-leading manufacturing capabilities and truly raise the bar for manufacturing excellence.

AMAX has committed to implementing the ISO:14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) standard as part of its "Green Initiative" in an aim to continually improve environmental performance applied to all levels of the business from an organizational level to the product and service level.  AMAX has already planned, identified and implemented the necessary resources, procedures and processes to comply with the ISO:14001 certification standard and vows to continue to check, measure and monitor the processes and report results.  Additionally, AMAX has committed to a continual improvement process (CIP) for the EMS which involves expansion (additional BUs covered by the EMS), enrichment (additional activities, processes, etc are managed by the EMS) and upgrading (an improvement to the actual framework of the EMS).

"As a vision shared by the entire company, AMAX has always focused on the Kaizen philosophy of constant, never-ending improvement, " said Jean Shih, President, AMAX. "With the addition of ISO:14001 Certification for our US manufacturing location, we show that we are a Green company that truly cares about the environment and its sustenance.  With the addition of CCC and TL9000 certifications for our manufacturing plant in China, AMAX is continually showing its commitment to raising the bar in quality x86 appliance and server manufacturing, and setting new standards for excellence. "

AMAX's US manufacturing facilities have also been China Compulsory Certified (CCC) since 2009 and the certification has now been extended to the APAC region.  The certification, granted by the China Quality Certification Centre, demonstrates AMAX's firm commitment to all safety and quality requirements set forth by the Chinese government. 

Similarly, AMAX has implemented TL9000, which is a quality management system built upon ISO:9001 and the eight quality principles, but designed specifically for the communications industry.  TL9000 provides value and benefits across the total spectrum of business disciplines, including buyers, suppliers, & service providers, by providing a consistent set of quality expectations that parallel rapid technology changes and customer expectations.  The certification will serve to enhance and improve the mature set of processes AMAX has in place for design, development, production, delivery and service.

The addition of Flexstar SSD and HDD test equipment demonstrates the extra mile that AMAX pledges in its unwavering commitment to the highest quality in manufacturing.  The new tools & test processes enable AMAX to conduct quality and reliability testing of storage related devices with consistently reproducible results.  AMAX now has the capacity to implement storage specific Reliability Demonstration Testing (RDT), which is performed at the system level to determine whether devices will attain a specified life based on the calculated Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF), and Ongoing Reliability Testing (ORT) to ensure that the quality of each storage device are of the same specifications as the day they first went into production.

"Earlier this year, AMAX announced the immediate availability of its multi-region manufacturing operations with the ability to service the APAC region, " said Allen Lee, Vice President of Operations, AMAX.  "Our APAC region operations mirror the quality and attention to detail that our US manufacturing operations has held to the highest standard for decades.  It's within our core philosophy that  our customers demand only the highest quality manufacturing partner, which is why we dedicate so much of our time, energy and resources to continuously push ourselves towards the highest level of quality with an aim at constant improvement. "

About AMAX

Founded in 1979, AMAX is a leading innovator of High Performance Computing (HPC) server, storage and cluster solutions, Enterprise IT and Appliance Manufacturing solutions. The company applies a unique combination of hardware and software engineering expertise with an open standards-based approach to dramatically increase performance and ROI for the most demanding applications. Global organizations, including some of the world's best-known brands, use AMAX offerings to solve complex computing challenges, meet product development demands, reduce energy consumption and stay competitive. AMAX is proud to be ISO 9001 Certified and China Compulsory Certified. The company headquarters is in Fremont, CA with offices in Richardson, TX, and Suzhou and Shanghai, China. For more information on products and services, visit http://www.amax.com.