Eaton Honored With Ford's 2000 World Excellence Award

    Business Editors and Automotive Writers

    CLEVELAND--March 23, 2001--Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation , received Ford Motor Company's Gold World Excellence Award, for the second straight year, recognizing the company as one of its top suppliers in the world for 2000 performance.
    The World Excellence Award provides annual recognition based on quality, cost and delivery metrics jointly developed by Ford and its suppliers. Thirty-eight suppliers from 14 countries won awards in various categories. The awards were presented at a ceremony held last night in Dearborn, MI.
    Carlos Mazzorin, Ford Motor Company's Group Vice President of Global Purchasing and South America said, "Congratulations to Eaton. You are one of Ford's most valuable assets. Without your extraordinary contributions, we could not have achieved many of our goals in 2000."
    The Gold Award is given to the business units of suppliers that excel in all three areas. Seventeen suppliers won the Gold Award this year, an increase over last year's 11 winners.
    "It is a tremendous honor to be recognized by one of our most important customers for our performance in supplying engine valves and tappets," said Steve Buente, senior vice president - Automotive. "It's truly rewarding to receive Ford's highest award two years in a row for products we consider to be our signature as a powertrain-focused supplier."
    Eaton was also honored last year with Ford's Gold award along with receiving a Recognition of Achievement in the Consumer Focused Technology category for its patented ULV(R) Ultralite engine valves - a finalist for the 2001 Automotive News Pace Award for Product Innovation.