Freudenberg-NOK Names Hahn Vice President of Supply Chain Management

PLYMOUTH, Mich., Feb. 10, 2005 -- Freudenberg-NOK has named Thomas S. Hahn as vice president of supply chain management, a newly created position. The announcement was made by Dr. Mohsen Sohi, president and chief executive officer for the company.

In his new position, Hahn will be responsible for leading supplier relationships and driving improvements throughout Freudenberg-NOK's supply chain, including global strategic sourcing, purchasing and logistics. Hahn will be based at the company's headquarters in Plymouth and will report directly to Sohi.

"Thomas brings a great deal of insight on supply chain management to the company and we are excited to welcome him to the team," said Sohi. "Freudenberg-NOK is committed to being world-class, and by creating a position that enhances our global purchasing practices and builds our supplier relationships we continue to move down the path to success."

Hahn comes to Freudenberg-NOK from Pactiv Corp. in Chicago, a specialty packaging company, where he served as director of strategic materials. In this position, Hahn delivered significant cost savings through strategic sourcing, negotiation, competitive bidding, on-line auctions and product redesign.

Prior to that, he was a senior manager at A.T. Kearney, Inc., where he analyzed practices, identified development needs and recommended an implementation strategy to embed the latest technologies and best practices into the core procurement and sourcing processes.

From 1995 to 2000, Hahn held several positions of increasing responsibility at Proctor & Gamble Co. During this time, he spent two years in Kobe, Japan launching a new program for the company and working extensively with the research and development functions to optimize costs in the design phase of the product development cycle.

Hahn earned a master's in business administration from the University of Chicago and a bachelor of science degree in operations management from Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.

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 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.

Freudenberg-NOK offers its automotive customers globally integrated products, including sealing packages for transmissions, engines, brakes, axles and steering, NVH components and packages, and all rubber, plastic and PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) components for suspension, electrical and fuel systems.

The company 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 website at http://www.freudenberg-nok.com/ .