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Williams Controls Subsidiary Announces Mexican Distribution Agreement

9 March 1999

Williams Controls Subsidiary Announces Mexican Distribution Agreement

    PORTLAND, Ore., March 8 -- Williams Controls, Inc.
announced that its subsidiary, NESC Williams, Inc. has
appointed Kompressoren, a subsidiary of Graco Mexicana of Monterrey, Mexico,
to be NESC's exclusive dealer for the company's over-the-road compressed
natural gas (CNG) conversion systems and the NESC FORKIT(TM) forklift CNG
conversion kits.  The company expects that this distribution agreement could
result in $150,000 to $300,000 of new business for NESC over the next year, a
15-30% increase in this subsidiary's overall revenues.
    These patented forklift conversion kits are the only Underwriters
Laboratories (UL) approved prepackaged CNG conversion kits in the world.  NESC
has successfully completed a major conversion project for Toyota Motor
Corporation and Hyster forklifts at Cartones Ponderosa in San Juan del Rio,
Mexico.  Major U.S. conversion projects include the Avon Lake, Ohio facility
for Ford Motor Company, plus other projects for Alcoa, Ralston Purina,
Chrysler Corporation and Whirlpool Corporation.
    Williams Controls is a leading manufacturer and integrator of innovative
sensors, controls and communications systems for the transportation and
communications industries.  For more information, you can reach the Company at
http://www.wmco.com on the World Wide Web.
    Forward-looking statements in this news release, if any, are made under
the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995.  Certain important factors could cause results to differ materially from
those anticipated by the statements, including the impact of changing economic
or business conditions, the impact of competition, the availability of
financing, the success of products in the marketplace, other factors inherent
in the industry and other factors discussed from time to time in reports filed
by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.