Los Angeles, CA - March 10, 2008
--Material Technologies Inc. (OTCBB:
MTTG-News;
"MATECH") recently issued a newsletter updating
its shareholders on MATECH's business activities over the recent
past and expected near-term activities. To summarize, in recent
months interest in the Electrochemical Fatigue Sensor System
(EFS) has been tremendous. The EFS can detect very small growing
fatigue cracks on highway and railway bridges and similar structures
that are subjected to repetitive loads, and has been utilized
in over twenty field tests. The technology is well patented
worldwide.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) signed a contract
with MATECH, purchasing equipment and training as part of their
Steel Bridge Testing Program. They will use the EFS system
in the laboratory and on actual bridges to find growing fatigue
cracks. Following the completion of this program, the FHWA
will recommend technologies for use on bridges for specific
bridge problems. MATECH anticipates this will result in recommending
EFS to all bridge owners across the country for use on fatigue
cracks in steel bridges.
MATECH has an on-call contract with Pennsylvania, and is continuing
to produce good results. The EFS System has been used on twelve
bridges in that state to date. Further work orders are anticipated
to be issued for the next inspection season. Interest also has
been received from several inspection companies in Pennsylvania
that wish to purchase EFS equipment as well as training and licensing,
in order to execute these further work orders, with licensing
fees payable to MATECH for each bridge inspected. One such company
has already been trained at their own cost to help MATECH execute
their on-call contract in 2008.
MATECH has recently completed an inspection contract with Massachusetts,
and has met with officials at MassHighway to review the results
and to discuss the use of EFS throughout their entire highway
system. They have indicated a clear need for the EFS technology,
and will furnish a list of bridges to be inspected this inspection
season.
New York State has also recently contracted with MATECH to provide
EFS inspection services on a high profile fracture-critical bridge.
As a result of this initial inspection MATECH will be performing
a follow up inspection, and NYSDOT is evaluating purchase of
equipment, training for their engineers, and licensing in 2008.
MATECH completed an inspection of a fracture-critical bridge
in West Sacramento, California, and have met with several high-ranking
state and national officials including Lt. Governor Garamendi
and the staff of Senator Boxer; these discussions focused on
the use of EFS across the state and the country, respectively.
MATECH also formed a strategic alignment with a California-based
independent testing laboratory, the Smith Emery Company. This
company, over 100 years old, has 400 employees in California,
and an office in China. Their engineers and technicians have
already been trained at their cost to execute EFS inspection
contracts in the western U.S. region.
Work completed with the New Jersey DOT last year has been verified
by their engineers. As a result they want to continue using the
EFS System to verify fatigue crack repair effectiveness on additional
bridges in the state.
The Commonwealth of Virginia and State of Alabama have also
requested EFS inspections. These will be executed in the first
half of 2008. Several other states have requested inspections
that will occur in the second half of 2008. Initial inspection
contracts are expected this Spring with Ohio DOT and URS Engineers;
confirmation to proceed from each of these organizations has
been received. Additionally, MATECH is speaking with the several
entities in China and Europe, and the Association of American
Railroads plus the following state DOT's about setting up EFS
inspections: Maryland, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana,
Texas, and Wyoming,
Proposals have been requested by Union Pacific Railroad and
the Canadian National Railway. We will be proceeding with these
inspections in the summer. Also, Proposals for service and equipment
have been requested and subsequently submitted to several entities
in Australia, with plans to execute by the end of the year. The
contract would include training of their personnel, sale of EFS
equipment, as well as the associated licensing fees for each
bridge inspected using the EFS system.
Inspection service providers in other parts of the world are
now requesting proposals for equipment and training. We have
had interest from various countries including, most recently,
Vietnam. MATECH's Chief Engineer, Dr. Brent Phares, P.E., recently
returned from a trip to China to train representatives there
who will be meeting with Chinese government officials and private
company executives. Also, the company's COO, Marybeth Miceli,
has been asked to speak at the World Nondestructive Testing Conference
in Shanghai, China in August about EFS technology. Additionally,
papers detailing the work performed with the EFS system have
been accepted at numerous conferences worldwide for presentation
during 2008.
In light of last year's bridge tragedy in Minnesota, bridge
inspections have become a highly discussed and debated topic.
Media outlets have been covering MATECH and the EFS system technology.
Government officials in Washington, D.C. are actively discussing
the best way to approach improving the U.S. system for already-mandated
bridge inspections. All of the solutions involve using the limited
available funds in a more efficient way. It is estimated that
each state could save as much as $100M annually by making the
right maintenance decisions at the right time. MATECH will continue
to push the EFS system into the mainstream in order to promote
public safety and fiscal responsibility.
About Material Technologies (MTTG.OB)
MATECH is an engineering, research and development company specializing
in technologies to measure microscopic fractures and flaws in
metal structures and monitor metal fatigue in real time. The
company's leading edge metal fatigue detection, measurement and
monitoring solutions can accurately test the integrity of metal
structures and equipment including bridges, railroads, airplanes,
ships, cranes, power plants, mining equipment, piping systems
and heavy iron.
MATECH owns the only nondestructive testing technology able
to find growing cracks as minute as 0.01 inches. MATECH has exclusive
rights to seven patents along with $8.3 million in already completed
contracts from the US Government for research, testing and validation
of its innovative solutions.
Forward-Looking Statements:
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995: This document includes forward-looking
statements, as that term is defined in Sections 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933 as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 as amended, intended to qualify for the
safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements
generally can be identified by phrases such as Material Technologies
or its management "believes," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "foresees," "forecasts," "estimates" or
other words or phrases of similar import. Similarly, such statements
in this document that describe the company's business strategy,
outlook, objectives, plans, intentions, or goals also are forward-looking
statements. All such forward-looking statements are subject
to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those in forward-looking
statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other
things, product price volatility, product demand, market competition,
economic conditions, and risk inherent in the operations of
a company. Factors that could affect performance include, but
are not limited to, those factors that are discussed in the
company's most recent reports filed with the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") available
at http://www.sec.gov. We assume no obligation to update any
written or oral forward-looking statement made by us or on
our behalf as a result of new information, future events or
other factors.
Contact:
Robert M. Bernstein, President
Material Technologies, Inc.
11661 San Vicente Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049
1.310.208.5589
matech@matechcorp.com
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