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General Bearing Wins $1.7 Million Contract from Detroit Edison

24 March 1999

General Bearing Wins $1.7 Million Contract from Detroit Edison For Hyatt Tapered Journal Bearings

    WEST NYACK, N.Y., March 24 -- General Bearing Corporation
today announced that Detroit Edison, a subsidiary of DTE Energy
Co. , has contracted to buy $1.7 million of its Hyatt Tapered
Journal Bearings for coal-carrying freight cars.  The award was twice the size
of an earlier order the company earned from Detroit Edison in 1998.
    Based on excellent field performance, General Bearing recently earned
"Unconditional Approval" from the Association of American Railroads (AAR) to
sell its Hyatt Tapered Journal Bearings in unlimited quantities to railroads
and other railcar owners.  The Company said this was a significant factor in
being selected for the Detroit Edison contract.  Detroit Edison controls a
fleet of 6,000 coal carrying freight cars.
    Detroit Edison specified General Bearing's Hyatt Tapered Journal Bearings
rather than accepting the standard bearings used by the railcar manufacturer.
Dennis J. Buda, Supervisor of Assets, Fuel Supply, Detroit Edison, said: "We
place a tremendous value on our relationship with General Bearing and our
approval is a vote of confidence in its products and service.  We intend to
give General Bearing every opportunity to be our bearing provider of choice in
the future."
    General Bearing President David L. Gussack said, "We are extremely pleased
by Detroit Edison's new and substantially larger order.  Coal cars are a
demanding application for Tapered Journal Bearings because they carry heavier
loads and travel more miles than other railroad cars.  We consider this award
a testimony to the durability, quality and value of our product."
    General Bearing has supplied Tapered Journal Bearings to the railroad
industry since 1994.  Marketed under the Hyatt trademark, the bearings were
originally designed and produced by the former Hyatt division of General
Motors Corp., and had the industry's best performance record.  General Bearing
is well on its way to duplicating that record.
    General Bearing manufactures, assembles and distributes a wide variety of
bearing components and products including ball bearings, tapered roller
bearings, spherical roller bearings and cylindrical roller bearings.  Under
"The General" and the "Hyatt" trademarks, the Company supplies to Original
Equipment Manufacturers and Aftermarket Distributors in the automotive, truck,
railroad, office equipment, appliance and industrial machinery markets.
    "Safe Harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995: Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this news
release that may be considered forward-looking statements may be subject to
certain risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ
materially from those projected, including uncertainties in the market,
pricing, competition, procurement, manufacturing efficiencies, problems
relating to the Y2K issue and other risks detailed from time to time in the
Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  The Company
assumes no obligation to update the information in this release.