DENSO in Athens Becomes Separate Company

By End of Year, 150 New People May be Hired

MARYVILLE, Tenn., March 31 -- DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee, Inc. (DMTN) President Neal Ozeki announced that the company's Athens location will become an independent business, effective April 1. The new company's name is DENSO Manufacturing Athens Tennessee, Inc. (DMAT) and Harvey Oita, executive vice president at the Athens location for the past three years, has been named president.

Currently, Athens employs 800 associates. Oita said another 150 may be hired by the end of the year throughout both Athens manufacturing divisions (fuel injection and ceramic products).

DMTN President Ozeki said continuous growth at the Athens location was a major reason for this decision by DENSO. Since its grand opening in 1997, the Athens operation has been a part of DMTN, which has its headquarters in Maryville. The Maryville operations will continue as DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee under Ozeki's leadership.

Assigned to the Athens location three years ago, Oita has been with DENSO Corporation for 30 years, serving in Japan, India, and Indonesia, as well as several years in California.

"This is a positive move for all of our associates," Oita said. "I appreciate the tremendous support from Maryville during the past six years. For our future, we look forward to continue being a growing corporate partner in McMinn County."

The Athens facility currently produces oxygen sensors, fuel injectors, air-flow meters, ignition coils and spark plugs, with production about to begin on a monolithic carrier, part of catalytic converters -- a different product base than that at the Maryville facility.

In becoming a separate company, DMAT has added a general services division, including accounting, payroll, purchasing, and environmental departments. The company has also expanded its departmental services in compensation and benefits, and safety and health. To ensure a successful start-up of these areas, the Maryville location has transferred already- trained staff with DENSO experience.

"This development supports DENSO's increased presence in Tennessee as well as North America," said Ozeki. DENSO now operates three DENSO affiliates in Tennessee:

  *  DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee in Maryville,
  *  DENSO Manufacturing Athens Tennessee in Athens, and

* TBDN Tennessee Company in Jackson (TBDN is the former Purodenso, now a joint venture with Japan-based Toyoda Boshoku Corporation).

DENSO Corporation, a leading global supplier of advanced technology, systems and components, employs 87,000 people in 31 countries with worldwide consolidated sales for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2002 totaling $18.1 billion*. Corporate headquarters are located in Kariya, Japan. In North America, DENSO employs 14,000 people at 25 locations with consolidated sales for the above fiscal year totaling $4.7 billion*. The Maryville location is one of the largest with more than 2,150 associates.

* Figures for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2002 include the effect of an irregular 15-month reporting period, due to 45 overseas subsidiaries and overseas affiliates changing their year-ends to March 31 from December 31.

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