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Bayer and GE Plastics Complete Automotive Glazing Joint Venture

10 March 1998

Bayer and GE Plastics Complete Automotive Glazing Joint Venture; Exatec(TM) Automotive Glazing Systems to Develop Abrasion-Resistant, Coated Polycarbonate Vehicle Windows

    STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich., March 9 -- Bayer AG, Leverkusen,
Germany, and GE Plastics, a unit of General Electric Company , in
Pittsfield, Mass., announced today that they have completed creation of a
joint venture in the field of abrasion-resistant, coated polycarbonate
automobile windows.  The new company, Exatec(TM) L.L.C., will be headquartered
at Wixom, Mich., with European headquarters at Cologne, Germany.
    The 50-50 joint venture will invest about $40 million in research,
technology and equipment during the next few years with the aim of developing
the materials, the abrasion-resistant coatings, applications technology and
process technologies required to enable the broad use of polycarbonate windows
in advanced vehicle designs.
    "We're pleased that Bayer and GE Plastics have completed the formation of
the joint venture," said Douglas Nutter, president of Exatec.  "We're
confident that this innovative alliance will transform the technology of
automotive glazing and will bring added value to the industry by providing a
viable alternative to glass."
    To demonstrate the feasibility of polycarbonate glazing, the venture is
completing a 100,000-square-foot development and engineering center in Wixom,
which will initially employ about 25 to 30 people growing to as many as
75 people in 2002, said Nutter.
    "Our focus is on developing and validating the technology necessary to
bring polycarbonate windows to automobiles," says Dr. Ralf Dujardin, Exatec
vice president of technology.  "We have a long way to go and a lot of work to
do, but we're confident that we can accomplish our goal of having
polycarbonate window systems on high-volume automobiles in seven or eight
years."
    The main advantages of polycarbonate glazing over glass windows include
not only a high degree of design freedom and high resistance to impact and
forced entry, but also a weight savings of up to 40%.  This will be a further
contribution of the plastics industry's ability to improve vehicle fuel
efficiency and to lower emissions, said Nutter.
    The new window systems would be suitable for use in cars, delivery
vehicles and small trucks through to recreational vehicles.  Moreover, the
joint venture's work supports the research activities of the National Highway
Transport and Safety Agency (NHTSA) in the U.S. to develop a window system
which reduces the risk of injuries to occupants of vehicles in cases of side
impact and roll-over accidents.
    The initial activity of the joint venture focuses on combining the
technical and research and development efforts of both Bayer and GE to develop
a new polycarbonate window system having the abrasion resistance of glass.  If
the joint venture's development efforts are successful, the automotive
industry and its suppliers will have a technical basis to move to large-scale
window production.  The joint venture is developing the ability to manufacture
a significant number of polycarbonate windows for customer evaluation.
    Combining the resources of the two companies is expected to permit the
remaining technological challenges to be solved more rapidly, consequently
reducing development costs and providing a viable alternative to glass
automotive windows.
    Exatec is located at 31220 Oak Creek Drive, Wixom, Mich. 48393.
Activities at the facility include resin and coatings research, design,
engineering, process development, prototyping and limited production.
Management of the company in addition to Nutter and Dujardin include: Mike
Sykes, engineering leader; Mark Matsco, plastics technology leader; and
Dimitris Katsamberis, coatings leader.  The main telephone number at Exatec in
Wixom is 248-960-1478.

    TM trademark of Exatec LLC

SOURCE  Exatec L.L.C.