Mr. Hemer: Our company is about 20 years old. We are a supplier of equipment to the semiconductor industry. That industry has been in a trough for the last couple of years and so we have been working very hard to keep up our product development so that we're poised to take advantage of the upturn when it comes. We think we're just about at that point where the semiconductor industry is feeling the beginnings of its recovery, and we think that the equipment industry is not far behind.
TWST: What were the specific means that you took to survive during the
difficult times?
Mr. Hemer: We looked at our cost structures and reduced our costs
substantially. We cut over $16 million a year out of our operating costs
' that's out of $25 million. So we went from about $25 million a year,
down to $9 million. We looked at our manufacturing efficiencies and
worked very hard to maintain our gross margins at around 50%, which is
about where our industry likes to be if it can get there. We were able
to maintain that, even though our revenues dropped by 70% over that
period of time. That 70% sounds enormous, and it was, but it was the
average for our sector of the industry.
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