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PROVIDATA Honors Airbag Industry's Top Suppliers

30 November 1998

PROVIDATA Honors Airbag Industry's Top Suppliers at Airbag 2000 Conference

   Autoliv, Bosch, Masuda Chemical, Milliken, OEA, SCI, Siemens and Takata
              Earn Top Marks in Airbag Benchmarking by PROVIDATA

    KARLSRUHE, Germany, Nov. 30 -- Eight airbag suppliers earned
"Best-in-Class" designations according to a recently published competitive
intelligence/market research study, "The Automotive Airbag Market, 1998-2005,"
by automotive industry researchers, PROVIDATA.
    "The PROVIDATA Best-in-Class designation was given to the airbag supplier
that achieved the highest cumulative score in seven categories -- global
presence, vertical integration, product coverage, product technology,
price/cost competitiveness, quality and manufacturing expertise," said Scott
D. Upham, president of PROVIDATA.  Upham added "In order to evaluate each
supplier, PROVIDATA interviewed hundreds of OEM and airbag supplier engineers,
purchasing and advanced product planning executives."
    PROVIDATA's Best-in-Class airbag supplier companies are:

    PRODUCT                 COMPANY                            LOCATION
    Airbag Modules          Takata Corporation                 Japan
    Airbag Inflators        Autoliv Inc.                       Sweden
    Airbag Initiators       OEA Inc.                           U.S.A.
    Airbag Cushions         Safety Components International    U.S.A.
    Airbag Fabric           Milliken & Company                 U.S.A.
    Airbag ECU's            Siemens Automotive                 Germany
    Occupant Sensing        Robert Bosch Automotive            Germany
    Sodium Azide            Masuda Chemical                    Japan

    PROVIDATA's 1,000-page "The Automotive Airbag Market, 1998-2005"
competitive intelligence/market research study profiles all aspects of the
global airbag industry, including manufacturing, technology migration and
globalization trends.  This new report also forecasts which companies will be
active as new entrants, purchasers, sellers or abandon the industry
altogether.  This report contains more than 150 competitive intelligence
profiles of airbag system and component supplier profiles (producers of airbag
modules, covers, cushions, fabric, fibers, coatings, inflators, propellants,
initiators, canisters, filters, sensors, electronics, connectors and steering
wheels).
    PROVIDATA's "The Automotive Airbag Market, 1998-2005" study is the largest
and most complete market research study ever conducted on the expanding global
airbag market.
    To purchase this report, please call Scott D. Upham at 734-281-0200.  More
information about PROVIDATA's programs, descriptions of recent research
reports, and full text press releases can be found on the Internet at
http://www.providata.com.
    Headquartered in Southgate, Michigan, PROVIDATA is the recognized leader
in providing the automotive industry with affordably priced competitive
intelligence/market research products for the airbag, 4WD, chassis, interior,
exterior, electronics and component sectors of the global automotive industry.