A Decade of Safety and Health: Eight Freudenberg-NOK Facilities Win Awards from RMA

PLYMOUTH, Mich., June 9 -- For the 10th consecutive year, the Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA) has awarded Freudenberg-NOK facilities with its Safety and Health Improvement Program (SHIP) Awards. Eight of the company's production facilities were honored with a total of 11 awards -- the most received by a single company this year.

Freudenberg-NOK facilities located in Ligonier and Shelbyville, Ind., and Franklin, N.H., received the RMA SHIP Excellence Award for achieving an incidence rate that is 75 percent better than the overall RMA plant average.

The SHIP Improvement Award was presented to the company's facilities in Ashland, Laconia and Franklin, N.H.; LaGrange and Cleveland, Ga.; Ligonier and Shelbyville, Ind.; and Newport, Tenn. This award recognizes facilities that achieve an incidence rate that is both 10 percent better than the previous year's rate and the same or better than the RMA average incidence rate.

"It's a great achievement to be honored 10 years in a row for providing a safe work environment for our associates," said Richard E. Allen, CEO of Manufactured Products for Freudenberg-NOK. "Through our lean culture, we are not only committed to producing world-class products, but improving safety, and our associates have a big part in making that happen everyday."

Overall, 75 tire and rubber manufacturing facilities earned SHIP Awards this year for their 2003 performance. The awards were created in 1981 by the RMA to recognize organizations for achieving significant enhancements in worker and health safety.

The Rubber Manufacturers Association is the national trade association for the rubber products industry. Its members include more than 100 companies that manufacture various rubber products, including tires, hoses, belts, seals, molded goods and other finished rubber products. RMA members employ over 120,000 workers and account for more than $21 billion in annual sales.

Founded in 1989, Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership is a joint venture between Freudenberg & Co. of Germany and NOK Corp. of Japan.

Freudenberg-NOK is a leader in both automotive sealing and noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) products and is a supplier to all automakers producing in North America, as well as all major tier one chassis and drivetrain suppliers. The company's headquarters and technical center in Plymouth, Mich. houses the most extensive supplier-operated sealing and noise and vibration testing facility in North America.

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