GKN Sinter Metals Begins Operations At Green Field Plant in Brazil

    FRANKFURT, Germany, Sept. 12 GKN Sinter Metals has begun
production at its newly constructed green field plant in Brazil.  Situated on
a 60,000 square meter (15-acre) parcel of land in Hortolandia, Sao Paulo,
close to the Viracobos Airport, the 9,000 square meter (97,000 sq. ft.)
production plant is now manufacturing components for its primary global
customers in the automotive and hermetic compressor industries.

    According to GKN Sinter Metals Chairman & CEO Seifi Ghasemi, the company's
decision to establish a significant presence in Brazil was dictated, first, by
a need to be close to global customers who have local manufacturing facilities
and, second, because of the ability to offer options that might be
advantageous for other customers who import into Brazil.

    Radu Unanian, GKN Sinter Metals' Director of Commercial Development in
Brazil, notes that the primary advantage of powder metal technology over other
metal forming processes such as casting or conventional machining is the
ability to produce net-shape or near net-shape components, thereby greatly
reducing or eliminating material waste and lowering cost.

    GKN Sinter Metals, offering the P/M industry's broadest range of products,
processes and technologies, is utilizing at its Hortolandia plant 20- to 500-
ton compacting presses; sintering, steam, heat treatment and plasma furnaces;
20- to 500-ton sizing presses, and secondary machining equipment for turning,
grinding, drilling, tapping and welding.

    A state-of-the-art blending operation enables the Company to offer
products in bronze, iron, and other alloys.  A dedicated tooling operation has
been incorporated into the facility to optimize quality and delivery
parameters, and to ensure cost efficiencies in production set-ups.