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Successful Closing Creates GSI Lumonics Inc.,

23 March 1999

Successful Closing Creates GSI Lumonics Inc., Leader in Industrial Laser-Based Manufacturing 
    WATERTOWN, Mass., KANATA, Ontario, March 22 -- General
Scanning Inc. and Lumonics Inc. (Toronto: LUM.) today announced
they have successfully closed their merger of equals to create GSI Lumonics
Inc., one of the world's largest producers of laser-based advanced
manufacturing systems.
    The merged company serves customers in six key industrial markets and had
combined sales of more than US $300 million in 1998.  GSI Lumonics' management
team is lead by Chief Executive Officer, Charles D. Winston (formerly
President and CEO of General Scanning), President and Chief Operating Officer,
Warren Scott Nix (formerly President and CEO of Lumonics) and Chief Financial
Officer, Desmond J. Bradley, (formerly Vice President, Finance, and CFO of
Lumonics).  Robert J. Atkinson is the Chairman of GSI Lumonics having served
in the same position with Lumonics.
    GSI Lumonics' common shares will be listed on NASDAQ and The Toronto Stock
Exchange under new trading symbols: GSLI on NASDAQ and LSI on the TSE.
Trading in the common shares of the new company will begin on Wednesday, March
24, 1999.
    GSI Lumonics Inc. brings laser-based automated advanced manufacturing
systems, instrumentation and components to leading industrial companies
worldwide.  The Company supplies products and service to the semiconductor,
electronics, medical, automotive, aerospace and consumer packaging markets.
The Company's web site address is http://www.gsilumonics.com.
    To the extent this news release discusses financial projections,
information or expectations about GSI Lumonics Inc., General Scanning Inc., or
Lumonics Inc., products or markets, or otherwise makes statements about the
future, such statements are forward looking and are subject to a number of
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from the statements made.  The factors include the fact that the companies'
sales have been and are expected to continue to be dependent upon customer
capital equipment expenditures, which are, in turn, affected by business
cycles in the markets served by those customers.  Other factors include
continued volatility in Asia and in the semiconductor industry, the risk of
order delays and cancellations, the risk of delays by customers in introducing
their new products and market acceptance of products incorporating subsystems
supplied by the companies, similar risks to the companies of delays in their
new products and other risks detailed in the companies' Annual Reports and
Quarterly Reports.