PACCAR Chairman Mack C. Pigott Is Named '2004 Manager of the Year' Stark's Truck & Off-Highway Ledger

CHICAGO, Nov. 22, 2004 -- Mark C. Pigott, chairman and chief executive officer of PACCAR Inc, a major manufacturer of Kenworth, Peterbilt, DAF and Foden-branded commercial trucks in North America and Europe, was selected today by the business journal Stark's Truck & Off-Highway Ledger as its 17th annual "Manager of the Year."

The respected business publication cited a lengthy string of impressive returns on assets, capital investments and productivity gains as the chief reasons for the selection of the PACCAR chairman as its '2004 Manager of the Year.'

Stark's Truck & Off-Highway Ledger said, "PACCAR's 65-year string of profitability, continual dividend payouts to shareholders since 1941, a 20.4% return on equity during the past 10 years, a 8.6% return on sales since the start of 2004, an impeccably managed balance sheet (fully funded pension plans, a mere $46.3 million in overall debt, cash on hand that stands at $1.94 billion), and stock options that have been expensed since 2003, is remarkable in an industry noted for volatile cyclical swings -- a true measure of proper corporate management."

The business journal added, "Mr. Pigott may be the most capable and successful chief executive in today's global commercial truck business."

It added, "PACCAR entered 2004 well prepared for a dramatic expansion of business. Supplier parts shortages no longer limited it to gradual increases in truck-making schedules earlier this year. In fact, PACCAR was the first commercial truck assembler early this year -- unlike 1999 -- to raise its manufacturing schedules on a consistent basis with unhampered sources of parts supplies. Much of the credit is linked directly to a unique three-year strategy of investing in its truck parts suppliers to guarantee constant supplies and partially offset higher commodity prices that have increased material costs."

The PACCAR chief told the business journal in an interview, "We have the vast majority of our supplier partners on long-term, multi-year agreements. It's been a 'win-win' for the supplier and for the customer, and for PACCAR, because we're able to invest in our suppliers. We're able to develop technology with our suppliers. We've been able to hold many courses to teach our suppliers about Six Sigma [manufacturing discipline] and that has been a tremendous benefit for everybody in the logistics chain. As a result, as the [commercial truck] market has increased over the last 12 months or so, and because we are in daily contact with suppliers and have this excellent partnership-relationship, we're able to take a look at growing demand and increase production at the supplier's facility and our facility in a cooperative manner."