MAYFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio, May 13, 2011 - With the first reports of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the thoughts of many Materion Corporation employees in the United States turned to their 38 Japanese colleagues at the Materion Brush Performance Alloys and Materion Beryllium & Composites sales office in Tokyo and production facility in Fukaya, Japan.
Within a few days, word arrived that all of the employees and their immediate families were safe. But clearly the crisis was far from over, and Materion's U. S. employees wanted to help - particularly those in the Company's Reading, Pennsylvania, and Mayfield Heights and Elmore, Ohio, and Buffalo, New York locations, who work most closely with the facilities and customers in Japan.
The Company quickly offered to provide lodging to any Japanese employees and their families who wanted to temporarily relocate to the United States. (None have chosen to move.) When concerns arose about the safety of the drinking water in Japan, two pallets holding a total 370 gallons of bottled water were air-freighted from Reading for distribution to the Tokyo and Fukaya facilities. Three more such shipments have since been delivered.
To further the assistance efforts, Materion has made a corporate donation to the AmeriCares - Japan Disaster Relief Fund, and set up a mechanism for employee contributions to the Fund. To date, the total corporate and employee gift has reached nearly $15,000.
"Most of us cannot imagine what it would be like to have our daily life turned upside down, but that is what has happened to the people of Japan," said W. Glenn Maxwell, President of Materion's Brush Performance Alloys business. "Our hearts went out to our colleagues there, and we are proud of how our U.S. employees have responded. We know from the messages and photos that we have received from our co-workers in Japan that the assistance is very much appreciated."
"We have been overwhelmed by the messages of goodwill and outpouring of support we have received from our Materion friends and co-workers," said Kazuhiko Sato, senior manager of Materion Brush (Japan) Ltd. "This has made all of us here in Tokyo and Fukaya very proud to be employees of Materion."
Materion Corporation (NYSE: MTRN), which recently changed its name from Brush Engineered Materials Inc, is headquartered in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. The Company, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, supplies highly engineered advanced enabling materials to global markets. Products include precious and non-precious specialty metals, inorganic chemicals and powders, specialty coatings, specialty engineered beryllium alloys, beryllium and beryllium composites, and engineered clad and plated metal systems.
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