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Freudenberg-NOK LaGrange, Ga., Facility Named IndustryWeek's Best Plants Finalist

3 August 1999

Freudenberg-NOK LaGrange, Ga., Facility Named IndustryWeek's Best Plants Finalist

    PLYMOUTH, Mich., Aug. 3 -- The Freudenberg-NOK LaGrange, Ga.,
O-ring facility -- which has conducted 260 kaizen activities over a three-year
period to increase productivity, reduce plant complexity and enhance product
quality -- has been chosen as one of 25 finalists in IndustryWeek's Annual
America's Best Plants competition.
    LaGrange was selected as a finalist from a pool of more than 400 nominees
because of its performance in several areas including:
    *  Customer reject rates of three parts per million;
    *  Warranty costs at zero percent of sales;
    *  Customer retention at 100 percent over the past five years;
    *  On-time delivery rates of 99.3 percent;
    *  A 69 percent reduction in order-to-ship time over the past five years;
    *  A 47 percent decrease in scrap percentage of sales since 1995; and
    *  A 31 percent improvement in total inventory turns since 1995.

    By conducting 260 kaizens between 1995 and 1998, the facility has been a
major contributor to the Freudenberg and NOK Group's recent milestone -- being
the first automotive supplier to surpass 12,000 kaizen projects.
    "We are very honored to be a finalist in IndustryWeek's annual
competition," said Bruce Warren, vice president and site executive, LaGrange
O-ring Production Facility.  "By using perfection in customer satisfaction as
our goal, we have attained our current level of performance through customer
focused teams.  We are always trying to make improvements."
    The QS-9000 certified LaGrange facility -- a dedicated production plant
that manufactures safety-critical O-ring and seal components systems for the
automotive, semiconductor and aerospace industries -- had sales of $58 million
in 1998 and expects annual sales of $70 million for the year 2000.
    Occupying 112,000 square-feet, the facility serves customers including
Borg-Warner, Continental, DaimlerChrysler Corp., Ford Motor Co., Siemens
Automotive and TRW.
    The plant has received the Rubber Manufacturing Association's Safety,
Health and Improvement Program Excellence Award for three consecutive years;
the Georgia Department of Labor's Outstanding Achievement Safety Award;
DaimlerChrysler's Gold Pentastar Award; the Nissan Quality Achievement Award;
and the ITT Gold Award.
    Established in 1990, IndustryWeek's annual best plants competition
requires nominees to report on performance metrics and practices in categories
such as benchmarking, community and employee involvement, cost reductions,
customer focus, inventory management, new-product development, quality and use
of technology.
    IndustryWeek, which is the flagship publication of Penton Media, is a
management magazine that helps senior executives in manufacturing and its
supporting industries build, safeguard and expand the wealth of their
companies.
    Plymouth, Mich.-based Freudenberg-NOK is part of the Freudenberg and NOK
Group Companies, which have total annual sales of more than $6 billion.  With
global automotive sales of approximately $3.5 billion, the Freudenberg and NOK
Group ranks among the world's top 20 automotive suppliers and is one of only
eight in the top 100 that has global balance in each of the three major
automotive markets -- Asia, Europe and North America.
    Through a global network of facilities spanning 24 countries with some
23,000 automotive employees worldwide, the supplier group offers its
automotive customers globally integrated products, including sealing packages
for transmissions, engines, brakes, axles and steering, NVH (noise, vibration
and harshness) components and packages, and all rubber, plastic and PTFE
components for suspension, electrical and fuel systems.
    The Freudenberg and NOK Group also offers an extensive portfolio of
precision-molded products for the aerospace, appliance, business machine,
fluid power, marine, medical, off-highway equipment and recreational vehicle
markets.  For more information, visit the Freudenberg-NOK web site at
http://www.freudenberg-nok.com