Alliance Medical Corp. Opens New State-of-the-Art Medical Reprocessing Facility With Industry's Most Advanced Features.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

PHOENIX--(BW HealthWire)--March 6, 2000

Arizona Rep. John Shadegg and Medical Reprocessing Industry

Luminaries Host Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Alliance Medical Corp. (Alliance) today officially opened its new state-of-the-art reprocessing facility at a ribbon cutting ceremony that welcomed honored guest Arizona Rep. John Shadegg, key clinical and medical reprocessing industry executives and representatives from health care facilities from across the country and nearly all Arizona hospitals.

Unlike any other reprocessing construction, the 41,000 plus square foot Alliance facility, which rivals the most sophisticated medical device manufacturing operations, was designed by top national clinical consultants and built specifically for the most advanced reprocessing of specifically validated medical devices.

More than 150 guests from all major clinical and health care support associations were expected to attend the opening with live jazz, cocktails and hors d'oeuvres.

"We are honored to welcome Congressman Shadegg and medical and healthcare representatives to the opening of our new leading-edge facility on this most auspicious day," said Alliance Chief Executive Officer Rick Ferreira.

"This is an industry first where such a concerted effort was made to build a state-of-the-art reprocessing facility with only the most advanced design and equipment. Alliance has raised the bar for the reprocessing industry as we seek to expand our service offerings by applying only the highest of standards in the most advanced reprocessing procedures."

Among other features, the Alliance facility maintains two certified Class 10,000 clean rooms, a full-time facilities maintenance engineer with more than 20 years experience with industrial facilities management and a great deal of custom designed processing equipment, such as a pressurized automated laparoscopic lumen and biopsy forceps cleaners, as well as a German technology laser etching and scanning mechanism for individual device serialization and performance data capture.

The new facility was also built to house all of the processing operations as well as administrative offices.

Early in 1999, Alliance Medical Corp. assembled a small facilities improvement team to identify the physical requirements of a reprocessing operation significantly larger than Alliance's current capacity and to select an appropriate site.

Once the team selected a site, Alliance contracted with Deutsch Associates, one of Arizona's top architectural and design firms, to begin the initial design phase of the project. Alliance requested clinical experts from across the country to participate in the design process and the Alliance Facility Planning Group (AFPG) officially took shape.

The AFPG carefully examined and incorporated Alliance's best-of-breed practices, regulatory requirements and advanced operational needs in the planning and design. Linthicom Contractors was then selected to build the new facility.

The culmination of this process has resulted in a state-of-the-art facility with the most sophisticated reprocessing features in the industry such as:

-- Pressurized Automated Laparoscopic Lumen Cleaner (designed and manufactured
by the Alliance Engineering Group);

-- Pressurized Automated Biopsy Forceps/Snare Irrigation Cleaning Device
(designed and manufactured by the Alliance Engineering Group);

-- Comco Pressurized Sodium Bicarbonate Micro Blaster;

-- Pressure Decay SCD Testers (designed and manufactured exclusively for
Alliance by GTI);

-- AP Robotics Inc. Automated Suture Packaging System;

-- Fuji Packaging Systems with automated temperature, pressure and dwell time
controls; and

-- German technology laser etching and scanning equipment for individual device
serialization and performance data capture.

Some of the featured cleaning and test equipment at the new facility include:

-- Pressurized Automated Laparoscopic Lumen Cleaner (designed and manufactured
by the Alliance Engineering Group);

-- Pressurized Automated Biopsy Forceps/Snare Irrigation Cleaning Device
(designed and manufactured by the Alliance Engineering Group);

-- Comco Pressurized Sodium Bicarbonate Micro Blaster;

-- Pressure Decay SCD Testers (designed and manufactured exclusively for
Alliance by GTI);

-- AP Robotics Inc. Automated Suture Packaging System;

-- Fuji Packaging Systems with automated temperature, pressure and dwell time
controls; and

-- German technology laser etching and scanning equipment for individual device
serialization and performance data capture.

About Alliance Medical

Alliance Medical Corp. is the leading full-service disposable medical device reprocessing company in North America. Alliance was formed in 1998 through the amalgamation of three of the industry's most distinguished reprocessing companies, each of which supplied services to the market without incident for a combined span of 20 years.

Operating separately as Sterile Reprocessing Services, ORRIS, and Applied Medical Technologies, the Alliance companies joined together under a common mission: Assist health care providers with the delivery of high quality patient care.

Alliance customers include many of the country's top health care facilities as identified by U.S. News & World Report magazine, as well as large health systems, community based providers and regional and national GPOs and IDNs.

For more information on Alliance call 888/888-3433 or visit www.alliance-medical.com