Maxwell Ultracapacitor Production Facility Earns ISO/TS Certification

Company driving multi-disciplinary initiatives for organizational excellence

San Diego -- Maxwell Technologies announced today that its BOOSTCAP ultracapacitor production facility in Rossens, Switzerland, has been certified to the rigorous, auto industry-specific, International Organization for Standardization (ISO) TS 16949 standard, confirming the company's competence as an automotive supplier.

Dr. Richard Balanson, Maxwell's president and CEO, said that, in addition to being critical to the company's goal of becoming a preferred ultracapacitor supplier for high-volume automotive applications, the ISO/TS certification represents further validation of Maxwell's ongoing multi-disciplinary initiatives for organizational excellence.

"The essence of ISO standards is strong, thoroughly documented controls and processes that provide a high level of confidence in the consistency and predictability of the company's performance," Balanson said. "Maxwell views process control as a core competence and we are committed to that level of rigor and professionalism in everything we do."

The ISO/TS standard is a globally recognized pre-requisite for qualification as a regular supplier to major automakers that was developed with extensive input from the International Automotive Task Force (IATF). It demands significantly higher levels of design and development controls and manufacturing process discipline than the more general ISO standards and incorporates common criteria for evaluating automotive parts suppliers' compliance.

Balanson said that the company's ultracapacitor production facility in San Diego recently earned ISO 9001:2000 certification, and expects to become TS certified in 2005. He noted that, in addition to being ISO certified, Maxwell's microelectronics product line qualified in October 2003, for inclusion in the Qualified Manufacturers Listing (QML) by earning the QML class "Q" certification granted by the Defense Supply Center, Columbus, Ohio. The QML certification and listing confirm that the company's microelectronics products meet demanding military specifications (MIL-PRF-38535), and that its process controls are sufficient to ensure consistent product quality and reliability.

Source: Maxwell Technologies