Freudenberg-NOK Honors Its Top 12 Suppliers

DEARBORN, Mich., Sept. 23 -- At its 2003 supplier conference in Dearborn today, Freudenberg-NOK honored its 12 top suppliers with Gold, Silver and Bronze Performance Awards for excellence in quality, delivery and cost management

Receiving Gold Performance Awards were Akzo Nobel Polymer Systems, Bulk Molding Compounds, Inc. and United Parcel Service; honored with Silver Performance Awards were Cancarb Ltd., Combined Metals of Chicago L.P., ExxonMobil Chemical and Lord Corp.; and presented with Bronze Performance Awards were Advanced Elastomer Systems, DSM Elastomers, Firestone Polymers, LLC, Solvay Solexis, Inc. and Zeon Chemicals L.P.

"We are extremely pleased to honor our top suppliers who continually provide us with products and services that consistently meet or exceed our expectations," said Rich Uglow, vice president of purchasing, Automotive Sector for Freudenberg-NOK. "Supplier support is critical to Freudenberg- NOK's success and largely enables us to achieve our goal of providing our customers with the best technology and the highest quality products and service."

Freudenberg-NOK provides supplier performance feedback on a quarterly basis and overall performance is summarized annually. Points are awarded for each element including quality, delivery and cost improvement. Suppliers earning a rating of 90 or more points of a possible 100 receive "Partner" status, while those earning 75-89 points are granted "Preferred" supplier status.

The Gold Performance Award recognizes those suppliers that have achieved partner status for all four quarters of the calendar year; the Silver Performance Award is presented to those suppliers that have attained partner status for three quarters and preferred status for the other quarter; and the Bronze Performance Award is given to those companies that have achieved partner status for two quarters and preferred status the two other quarters.

Plymouth, Mich.-based Freudenberg-NOK is a leader in automotive sealing and vibration control products and a supplier to all automakers producing in North America as well as all major tier one chassis and drivetrain suppliers. Freudenberg-NOK is the American partner of the global Freudenberg and NOK Group, which has total annual sales of nearly $7 billion, worldwide automotive sales of approximately $4 billion and is one of the most globally balanced automotive suppliers.

Through a global network of facilities spanning 27 countries with some 25,000 automotive employees worldwide, the supplier group offers its automotive customers globally integrated products, including sealing packages for transmissions, engines, brakes, axles and steering, NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) components and packages, and all rubber, plastic and PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) components for suspension, electrical and fuel systems.

The global Freudenberg and NOK Group also offers an extensive portfolio of special precision seals for the aerospace, appliance, business machine, fluid power, marine, medical, off-highway equipment and recreational vehicle markets.

For more information, visit the Freudenberg-NOK web site at www.freudenberg-nok.com