Page 45 - Countertrade

• furniture accessories (door hinges)
1

• low voltage micro circuit switches
2

• fishing lines and weights
3

• circular knitting needles
4

In the previous five years roughly 45 per cent of output had consisted of
products developed within that five-year period. Until 1993 the primary
product was a micro switch. The Annual Plan called for 3.5 million of
output. As government orders, particularly the special orders of the
military, dried up new customers were sought. This proved difficult to
achieve and stocks began to rise. By 1994 stocks were between
700,000 and 800,000 switches. Alexander continued to seek new outlets
and also to explore other applications. Some success was achieved by
developing a new elevator switch to be used on old elevators still in
service. New outlets were found for furniture accessories, such as door
hinges. This latter item became the dominant product for the enterprise
in 1993 and resources were moved from micro switch production to door
hinge production.

The output was, in 1994, about 6,000 hinges per day with a maximum
possible output of 9,000 per day. In all of that year 2 million hinges were
produced. In the first half of 1995 the output was 3 million hinges.