As 2011 draws to a close, it is time to reflect on the year and look at the forecast for 2012. Several factors in 2011 had a tremendous amount of impact on our customer base -- from natural disasters from Tsunami in Japan to floods in Thailand, gridlock in Washington and budget cuts, and economic turmoil in Europe. All these factors increased the raw material costs and decreased the demand from our customers, especially in the defenseindustry.
Also, acquiring new customers in these turbulent times has been one of the biggest challenges. However, our quoting activity has remained very strong throughout 2011 due to support from our loyal customer base. We are looking forward to many of the projects getting started in 2012.
Flex Interconnect Technologies (FIT) is very optimistic about solid growth in 2012. With Washington passing a huge defense spending bill, we believe our military and aerospace customers will again have funding to develop new products as well as increase the demand for existing products. Several of our medical customers whom we have worked with throughout product development stages have completed 510(k) submission and are expecting increased sale of their products in 2012.
In order to support the expected growth in 2012 and become more competitive, FIT has made our operations more efficient by reducing waste and reducing manufacturing costs. We are ready to support our customers for their quick turnaround needs and increase in demand in 2012.
FIT plans to continue investing in capital equipment in 2012 and hire more staff to support our customers' demand as well as improve our technology level and capabilities. FIT also plans to use social media tools to connect more with our customer base as well as increase our sales force to reach out to new potential clients.
