APW Enclosure Systems Receives Supplier of the Year Award.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 26, 1999--

APW Enclosure Systems announced today that it received two awards from Qualcomm Incorporated, a major manufacturer of advanced communications systems using digital wireless technologies, during Qualcomm's Key Supplier Conference held in March 1999.

Qualcomm awarded APW Enclosure Systems - Anaheim "The 1998 Supplier of the Year Award." This award is presented to the supplier demonstrating the highest combined delivery, quality and customer service performance in their category throughout 1998.

Susan Rile-Strauss, Vice President of Strategic Supply Management for Qualcomm commented, "Once again, we are pleased to have the opportunity to recognize the outstanding contributions of our supply base. We are fortunate to have developed very strong relationships with our key suppliers, and we are proud to publicly acknowledge the strategic importance and impact these companies have on Qualcomm and QPE." Ms. Rile-Strauss congratulated APW Enclosure Systems - Anaheim for winning the Supplier of the Year award for a second consecutive year and for making Qualcomm aware of APW's commitment to World Class Manufacturing with importance to Kanban and JIT.

APW Enclosure Systems Global Sales and Marketing Leader, Kris Holla, commented, "Anaheim's production and quality operations demonstrates APW's ability to bring service and quality to its customers on a World Class level."

Additionally, Qualcomm presented APW's McLean Engineering with the Pursuit of Excellence Award for demonstrating the highest percentage improvement in delivery, quality, and customer performance throughout the year. McLean Engineering provides thermal management for enclosed electronics in industries including telecom, machine tools/robotics and medical.

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ - QCOM) is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and systems based on the Company's CDMA digital technology. The Company's major business areas include CDMA phones, integrated CDMA chipsets and system software, wireless infrastructure, technology licensing and satellite based systems including OmniTRACS(TM) and portions of the Globalstar(TM) system. Qualcomm is headquartered in San Diego, California and its fiscal 1998 revenues exceeded $3 billion. More information can be found at www.qualcomm.com.

APW Enclosure Systems designs, manufactures and integrates electronic enclosures, racks, chassis, backplanes, power supplies, thermal management products and related services for the computer, networking, medical, telecom, semiconductor and embedded computer device industries. Headquartered in San Jose, California, APW Enclosure Systems is a world-class manufacturing company with 44 facilities throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. The Company emphasizes building long-term relationships with both customers and suppliers through implementation of JIT, Kanban and Kaizen manufacturing technologies.

APW Enclosures Systems has received many other quality and recognition awards from its customers including IBM's number one supplier award, Gold Seal Suppliers Award from HP in Europe, NET's only Gold Supplier Award ever given to any commodity, the Xerox Word Certificate Award, Granite State Quality award and SGI's Preferred Supplier.

APW Enclosure Products and Systems is a business segment of Applied Power Inc. (NYSE - APW), headquartered in Butler, Wisconsin.

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