Brady Corporation Begins Manufacturing in Malaysia and Expands Operations in China.

Business Editors

MILWAUKEE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 16, 2002

Brady Corporation (NYSE:BRC), a world leader in identification solutions, announced that it has begun manufacturing operations in Malaysia at its facility in the Bayan Lepas Industrial Park in Penang, and is expanding its operations in China to include manufacturing in Beijing. Building upon the company's existing presence in the region, these expansions are part of an ongoing initiative to further grow Brady's Asian business in order to best serve multi-national and local customers in the robust telecommunications and electronics markets there.

Brady has maintained a sales and marketing office in Penang since 1996 to meet the needs of its customers in the electronics and disc drive markets. New manufacturing there includes high-performance labels used to identify printed circuit boards, wires, cables, patch panels and outlets in telecommunication closets, for customers including Selectron, Motorola, and other electronic and telecommunication product manufacturers in the region.

In China, Brady first began marketing identification and precision tape products in the early 1990s through its Hong Kong office, and opened a representative office in Beijing in 1998 to improve technical support and service for companies in the region. The new expanded Beijing site in the Beijing Development Area (BDA) Industrial Park adds manufacturing capabilities, with special emphasis on die-cut components for use in cellular phones, pagers and other telecommunication devices. The location will also serve as Brady's laser-cutting prototype center for the region. Brady also manufactures high-performance label products at its Wuxi facility which opened in 2000 in the Jiangsu Province.

Additional manufacturing, as well as research and product development, will continue at Brady Corporation Asia Pte. Ltd. in Singapore, which serves as the regional headquarters supporting Brady's branch offices in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and China.

"The Asia/Pacific region provides Brady with significant opportunities for long-term growth, and continues to attract multinational companies in telecommunications, electronics, manufacturing and other Brady markets. China alone expects to produce more than 110 million mobile telephones this year," said Frank Jaehnert, Brady Corporation senior vice president and president of Brady's Identification Solutions & Specialty Tapes group. "Our focus, as always, is to provide our customers, wherever they are located, with exceptional service and value-adding products. As demand for Brady products in the region continues to grow, we will be looking to expand even further with a third manufacturing operation in southern China by the end of this fiscal year."

Brady is an international manufacturer and marketer of identification and materials solutions, with products including labels, signs, precision die-cut materials, printing systems, software, and label-application and data-collection systems for electronics, telecommunications, manufacturing, electrical, and a variety of other markets. Brady has several operations in Asia including Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, Australia, and Japan. In addition to its operations in Asia, Brady has operations in the United States, Europe, Latin America and Canada. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Brady employs about 3,200 people worldwide and reported sales of $517 million in fiscal 2002.

More information is available on the Internet at www.bradycorp.com.

This news release contains forward-looking information, as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking information in this release involves risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, domestic and international economic conditions and growth rates; fluctuations in currency exchange rates for international currencies versus the U.S. dollar; the successful implementation of a new enterprise-resource-planning system; the ability of the company to acquire, integrate and achieve anticipated synergies from new businesses; the ability of the company to adjust its cost structure to changes in levels of sales and product mix in a timely manner; variations in the economic or political conditions in the countries in which the company does business; technology changes; and the continued availability of sources of supply. Brady cautions that forward-looking statements are not guarantees, since there are inherent difficulties in predicting future results, and that actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements.