Matthews International's Business Segments

Matthews, founded in 1850 and incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1902, is a provider principally of brand solutions, memorialization products and industrial technologies. Brand solutions include brand development, deployment and delivery (consisting of brand management, printing plates and cylinders, pre-media services and imaging services for consumer packaged goods and retail customers, merchandising display systems, and marketing and design services). Memorialization products consist primarily of bronze and granite memorials and other memorialization products, caskets and cremation equipment primarily for the cemetery and funeral home industries. Industrial technologies include marking and coding equipment and consumables, industrial automation products and order fulfillment systems for identifying, tracking, picking and conveying consumer and industrial products.

The Industrial Technologies segment designs, manufactures and distributes a wide range of marking, coding and industrial automation solutions, order fulfillment systems, and related consumables. Manufacturers, suppliers and distributors worldwide rely on Matthews integrated systems to identify, track, control and pick their products.

Marking systems range from mechanical marking solutions to microprocessor-based ink-jet printing systems that integrate into a customers manufacturing, inventory tracking and material handling control systems. The Company manufactures and markets products and systems that employ different marking technologies, including contact printing, indenting, etching, laser and ink-jet printing. Customers frequently use a combination of these methods to achieve an appropriate mark. These technologies apply product information required for identification and traceability, as well as to facilitate inventory and quality control, regulatory compliance and brand name communication.

Fulfillment systems complement the tracking and distribution of a customers products with automated order fulfillment technologies, motor-driven rollers for product conveyance, and controls for material handling systems. Material handling customers include some of the largest automated assembly and distribution companies in the United States. The Company also engineers innovative, custom solutions to address specific customer requirements in a variety of industries, including oil exploration and security scanning.

Memorialization:

The Memorialization segment manufactures and markets a full line of memorialization products used primarily in cemeteries, funeral homes and crematories. The segments products, which are sold principally in the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia, include cast bronze memorials, granite memorials, caskets, cremation equipment and other memorialization products. The segment also manufactures and markets architectural products that are used to identify or commemorate people, places, events and accomplishments.

Memorial products include flush bronze and granite memorials, upright granite memorials and monuments, cremation memorialization products, granite benches, flower vases, crypt plates and letters, cremation urns, niche units, cemetery features and statues, along with other related products and services. Flush memorials are bronze plaques or granite memorials which contain personal information about a deceased individual (such as name, birth date, and death date), photos and emblems. Flush bronze and granite memorials are even or "flush" with the ground and therefore are preferred by many cemeteries for easier lawn mowing and general maintenance. The segments memorial products also include community and family mausoleums within North America. In addition, the segments other memorial products include bronze plaques, letters, emblems, vases, lights and photo ceramics that can be affixed to granite monuments, mausoleums, crypts and flush memorials. Principal customers for memorial products are cemeteries and memorial parks, which in turn sell the Companys products to the consumer.

SGK Brand Solutions:

The SGK Brand Solutions segment provides brand development, deployment and delivery (consisting of brand management, printing plates and cylinders, pre-media services and imaging services for consumer packaged goods and retail customers, merchandising display systems, and marketing and design services). With the acquisition of Schawk, Inc. ("Schawk") in fiscal 2014, the Company significantly expanded its product offerings and capabilities related to brand development and brand management serving the consumer packaged goods and retail industries. The primary packaging industry consists of manufacturers of printed packaging materials such as boxes, flexible packaging, folding cartons and bags commonly displayed at retailers of consumer goods. The corrugated packaging industry consists of manufacturers of printed corrugated containers. Other major industries served include the wallpaper, flooring, automotive, and textile industries.

The principal products and services of this segment include brand development, deployment, delivery, brand management, pre-media graphics services, printing plates, gravure cylinders, steel bases, embossing tools, special purpose machinery, engineering assistance, print process assistance, print production management, digital asset management, content management, and package design. These products and services are used by brand owners and packaging manufacturers to develop and print packaging graphics that help identify and sell the product in the marketplace. Other packaging graphics can include nutritional information, directions for product use, consumer warning statements and UPC codes. The primary packaging manufacturer produces printed packaging from paper, film, foil and other composite materials used to display, protect and market the product. The corrugated packaging manufacturer produces printed containers from corrugated sheets. Using the Companys products, these sheets are printed and die cut to make finished containers.