GM's Rick Wagoner to Kick-Off Auto-Tech 2004

DETROIT, April 21 -- General Motors Corporation Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner will open Auto-Tech 2004, the annual automotive industry trade conference organized by the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG).

The theme of Auto-Tech 2004 is: Driving Performance Together. Wagoner's remarks will kick off the three-day conference at 8 a.m. on Aug. 31 at Cobo Center's Riverfront Ballroom in Detroit and will stress the importance of cooperative efforts by automotive OEMs and suppliers to drive common global processes.

"We are very pleased to have Rick Wagoner as our keynote speaker," said Andrew J. Cummins, AIAG's executive director. "Rick's participation in Auto- Tech 2004 reinforces the mission of AIAG and the importance of the projects that its member companies are completing together."

More than 150 exhibitors and nearly 4,000 auto industry executives are expected to participate in Auto-Tech 2004. The conference fosters cooperation, collaboration and open communication among companies in the supply chain-key ingredients in maintaining a lean and efficient automotive industry.

Auto-Tech 2004 will include a number of educational sessions that address four key business processes in the automotive industry, including: Collaborative Engineering & Product Development, Electronic Commerce/EDI (electronic data interchange), Materials Management and Quality.

In its 17th year, Auto-Tech brings together automotive OEMs and suppliers to share technology standards and processes that reduce cost and complexity in procurement, logistics and manufacturing processes. Exhibitors on the 52,000- square-foot exhibit floor will include leading automotive manufacturers and technology and automotive suppliers.

For more information about Auto-Tech 2004, visit http://www.aiag.org/autotech/. Online registration will be available after May 3.

Founded in 1982, AIAG is headquartered in Southfield, Mich. Its more than 1,600 member companies include North American, European and Asia-Pacific OEMs and suppliers to the automotive industry with combined annual sales of more than $850 billion. A not-for-profit association, AIAG's primary goals are to reduce cost and complexity within the automotive supply chain and to improve speed-to-market, product quality, employee health-and-safety and the environment. Additional information is available on the Internet at www.aiag.org .