Delphi Honored by Society of Plastics Engineers For Material Conversion Innovation

Delphi's accomplishment wins SPE award; two other Delphi technologies are cited

LIVONIA, Mich., Nov. 18 -- Delphi Corp. earned more recognition than any other automotive supplier Monday during the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Automotive Division's 33rd Annual Innovation Awards. A material conversion for a dashboard component recently implemented by Delphi received the 2003 Most Innovative Use of Plastics Award in the Interiors Category from the SPE. Two other Delphi technologies also were finalists in the category.

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Delphi's award winner uses a new fiberglass and mica-reinforced polypropylene material to replace a conventional fiberglass-reinforced styrene maleic anhydride material in a current production vehicle application. The new material, developed by Delphi in association with its customer and material supplier, requires no change in the part or the tool design. Noteworthy benefits of the new material include significant material cost savings and improved end-of-product-life recyclability.

Delphi's material conversion was implemented as a "running change" to the internal structure of the dashboard in full-size pickup trucks and SUVs manufactured by General Motors Corp. The new material contributes to improvements in "buzz, squeak and rattle" and helps create a quieter interior because of lower sound transmission properties compared with the conventional material.

"Delphi is very proud to be honored by the Society of Plastics Engineers for this significant new material development," said Patrick J. Stewart, chief engineer for interior systems at Delphi Safety & Interior Systems. "More importantly, we are very pleased that our material conversion will help our customer reduce material costs while providing remarkable product improvements." He also noted that although the material conversion was implemented in seven different vehicle manufacturing sites, it was completely transparent to the customer.

One of the Delphi finalists in the Interiors Category of the Most Innovative Use of Plastics Awards was a highly integrated modular door system developed by Delphi engineers in Europe and used in a European commercial vehicle application. The innovative design of the modular door system includes a significant use of plastic to enhance the physical and functional integration of door features. It helps significantly improve quality and contributes to a lower overall program cost. It also helps solve certain technical and styling issues for the customer.

The other Delphi finalist in the category was a water-based paint system for thermoplastic polyolefin skin instrument panels. It offers a low-gloss capability, which enables vehicle manufacturers to achieve a luxurious appearance and helps reduce glare that can result from instrument panel surfaces. This unique coating also helps improve product durability because of its excellent resistance to cleaning chemicals.

"Winning this prestigious SPE award and having two other finalists in the same category is further demonstration of Delphi's tremendous expertise in automotive interior systems technology," said Stewart. "This continues our company's great tradition of automotive interiors innovation."

For more information about Delphi Corp., please visit our Virtual Press Room at www.delphi.com/media .

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