Express Manufacturing Inc. (EMI), was founded in 1982 fueled by the American Dream. The Chin family took a great interest in electronics when they first came to the United States. Immigrating from Macau with little to no technical knowledge, they pursued the American Dream. After studying circuitry and assembly, the Chins began assembling printed circuit boards on a ping pong table out of their home, which the four brothers, two sisters, and parents shared together. The Chins manufactured circuit boards by hand, long before Surface Mount Technology existed. After 6 months of manufacturing boards in their garage the Chins risked it all and pooled together their life savings to move into a 1200 SQFT office. 

 

EMI’s first large customer was AST Research, building their famous Apple memory packs and computer add-on cards. In fact, CP, EMI’s President and CEO since inception, first started in electronics as an assembler for AST Research. CP often says during their beginning stages, “we shared everything, and things were incredibly tight. My original intended career was to become a clothing tailor”. The Chins felt that the United States’ future was going to involve electronics and they wanted to capitalize on this opportunity.

 

By the end of 1983 EMI moved into a larger facility, employed 90 individuals, and was one of Southern California’s fastest growing contract manufacturers. During this time, EMI supported companies such as Kingston Technology and Xerox. Fast forward to today, almost 40 years later, EMI stands as one of Southern California’s largest contract manufacturer employing 600 plus individuals. EMI has even expanded via a wholly owned subsidiary in Hong Kong, China and Vietnam (EMI China and EMI Vietnam) employing 500 plus individuals overseas.