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Donnelly Hohe Wins SPE Awards for Innovative Plastic Components

20 August 1997

Donnelly Hohe Wins SPE Awards for Innovative Plastic Components

    HOLLAND, Mich., Aug. 20 -- Donnelly Corporation
announced today its Donnelly Hohe operations in Germany have won two Society
of Plastics Engineers awards in the exterior trim category for innovative
plastic mirror components.
    Taking first place in exterior trim was Donnelly Hohe's painted exterior
rear view mirror housing for the Porsche Boxster.  Donnelly Hohe uses
gas-molding technology to form a plastic housing that varies in thickness from
5 mm to 20 mm.  To make the housing, nitrogen is injected into the thick areas
of the product mold while the plastic material is still liquid.  The nitrogen
forces the excess plastic material out of the housing mold and into special
overflow cavities.  The plastic forms around the edges of the housing mold,
leaving the center hollow.  This process prevents deformations or defects in
the housing, and produces an attractive, high-quality mirror design.
    Donnelly Hohe's mirror frame for the Mercedes-Benz/Kaessbohrer City-Bus
took fourth place in the exterior trim category.  Again Donnelly Hohe uses gas
injection molding technology, this time to produce a large mirror frame with
excellent tolerances and rigidity.  Because of the size of the mirror housing,
two gas injection nozzles and two expansion cavities for the plastic material
are needed.  The award-winning design enabled Donnelly Hohe to produce the
first-ever bus mirror made mostly of non-metal parts.
    Donnelly is the world's only one-stop automotive mirror maker, with
capabilities to produce prismatic, aspheric, electrochromic and added-feature
mirrors, as well as mirror housings.
    Donnelly mirror innovations include the industry's most accurate compass
mirror, integrated supplemental turn signals and the Illuminator outside
mirror, which illuminates the area next to and underneath the vehicle.
    Donnelly Corporation is an international automotive supplier dedicated to
serving customers around the globe with high-quality fabricated, molded and
coated glass products.  The company has been based in Holland, Michigan since
1905, and today operates from 28 locations in the U.S., Mexico, Europe and
Asia.  Donnelly is recognized as a leader in the application of participative
management, and was named as one of the "Top Ten" in the book, The 100 Best
Companies to Work for in America.

SOURCE  Donnelly Corporation