This December issue features an interview excerpt with CEO Tom Wei, as well as reviews of the SCAN China show and the Invex show in East Europe. Also included is a summary of September's reader survey.

NCNA: Argox has really started promoting itself in China over the past year and is attracting a lot of attention in the industry. We are seeing the Argox name in media promotions, at national dealer conferences, technology certifications, and supporting SCAN China with an information and registration system. Could you please tell us Argox's future plans and goals in China?

Tom Wei: First, I would like to thank SCAN China for giving us the opportunity to provide the information and registration system for this year's show and demonstrate the level of our technology. This year was great, next year will be even better.

In 2005, we invested a lot of resources promoting our products, both in China and the rest of the world. And the response has been terrific. Our marketing activities have included the internet, magazines, a newsletter, an annual national distributor convention, as well as technical certifications. We don't have any special plan for development, except to continue to insist on one unchanging principle, which is to serve our customers. This is our most basic operating principle.

Next year we will continue to get closer to our customers and will offer direct, unobstructed communications. Whatever customers require, they can just pick up the phone or send us an email, and Argox will be there to help them.

NCNA: Recently, RFID has become a hot topic in the AIDC industry. How does it affect Argox? How will Argox's strategy and planning include both barcode and RFID technologies?

Tom Wei: For the development of the global RFID industry, you can analyze it through a supply chain perspective. There are three main sectors: RFID chips, RFID equipment, and RFID systems. If you talk about applications, the major areas are logistics, inventory management, retail products, and others. RFID is a trend for the 21st century, and Argox will be there. Our first product will be an RFID reader. You asked if Argox is ready. The answer is yes, we are definitely ready. When the time is right, Argox will meet the challenges of the new era. We are ready.

Argox Shanghai provided technical support in partnership with the show, contributing the hardware, software and system integration capabilities for registering the 20,000 visitors over the 3-day event. This included setting up the exhibition database system and providing X-2000 label printers and PT-10 portable data terminals. At the registration booth Argox printers produced name tags, while each company booth at the show had a PT-10 for scanning the information of each visitor to their booth. At the end of the show, each company could download information from the PT-10 and receive a CD with information such as visitor name, industry, company and time, as well as an analysis of show-goers.

For Argox the show provided an excellent opportunity to demonstrate our system integration capabilities for handling large events. The Argox name was also seen everywhere it counted, at the registration booth on our X-2000 printers, and at every company booth where our PT-10 terminals scanned in visitor information.

At the Argox booth, our representatives demonstrated our complete solutions such as "barcode fixed asset management," "order and inventory management systems" and "supply chain management systems." There were many professionals in attendance who expressed a high level of interest in these Argox solutions. Visitors came from all parts of the globe, including Germany, America, Egypt, and Japan.

Although SCAN China lasted for only 3 days, Argox Shanghai was able to demonstrate the strength of our products, R&D, and brand, as well as earn further acknowledgement from barcode industry professionals. For future SCAN China events, Argox will continue to represent innovation and service, as we assist customers with complete barcode solutions.

Our first INVEX show in 2003 allowed us to make contact with a few potential customers from the Czech Republic and Hungary. Up until now, none of our initial contacts turned into business opportunities. But this year was the time to push and make them customers. Within two weeks of the show, we had sent samples to two Czech dealers, and were in contact with companies in Hungary and Russia. After three years of development, the East European market is beginning to show its potential.

Poland is a market where the "Z" brand is popular. However, Argox has an opportunity based on a significant cost/performance advantage. We met with one company who has ordered a sample, and we found their engineering and other capabilities to be very good. The country is more expensive than other areas of East Europe, but the economy is fine. We noticed that German, French, and Russian companies are all making factory investments in Poland.

In Russia our major concern was whether people understood barcode technology and if the market was mature. Are there financial resources that would allow importing our products? We also had to watch out for PC industry companies that would buy our products to resell, but could not offer proper support. But we did manage to contact a firm specializing in AIDC and distributing name brand products.

Overall our road show to Poland and Russia was a success. We look forward to following up soon when we travel to Russia for a label show in the first quarter of next year.