Williams Controls:Eberly New Director,Consolidation of Automotive Operations

PORTLAND, Ore., Feb. 8 - The Board of Directors of Williams Controls, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: WMCO - news) has elected David S. Eberly to the board, effective January 24, 2002. Mr. Eberly is a managing Director and co-founder of GMA Capital, a private equity and investment-banking firm representing a variety of key suppliers in the automotive and truck markets. Mr. Eberly has a wide range of experience in corporate acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and private financings, and is a founding shareholder and was a member of the Board of Directors of European Gateway Acquisition Corp. Eberly, 38, graduated from Miami University (Ohio) in 1985 with a B.S. in Finance and Management.

The Company also announced that it has completed the consolidation of its automotive components manufacturing operations into a single site located in Sarasota, Florida. Previously, the Company manufactured its automotive electronic throttle controls (ETC's) in separate facilities in Deerfield Beach and Sarasota, Florida. Commenting on the consolidation, Williams Controls' President and Chief Executive Officer, Thomas K. Ziegler stated, ``The consolidation of our automotive ETC manufacturing operations into a single facility will allow us to reduce operating costs, and significantly improve our manufacturing efficiencies. The production launch of several new, previously announced ETC programs at the Sarasota facility is proceeding smoothly. The production start-up of these new programs, combined with the consolidation of existing production, should permit us to achieve profitability in our automotive components business more quickly than originally expected, now estimated to occur in the second quarter of next year.''

Williams Controls is a designer, manufacturer and integrator of sensors and controls for the transportation industry. For more information, you can find Williams Controls on the Internet at www.wmco.com .