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Ryobi Die Casting Honored with Ford's World Excellence Award

9 September 1999

Ryobi Die Casting Honored with Ford's World Excellence Award

    SHELBYVILLE, Ind., Sept. 8 -- Ryobi Die Casting recently
received Ford Motor Company's Recognition of Achievement World Excellence
Award, recognizing the company as one of its top suppliers in the world for
1998 performance.
    The World Excellence Achievement Award is a prestigious annual award
honoring Ford production suppliers who have met and exceeded rigorous
standards for performance in cost, quality and delivery as measured by the
Supplier Improvement Metrics (SIM).  SIM data are available to Ford suppliers
on the exclusive Ford Supplier Network website, located at
http://web.suppliers.ford.com.
    Carlos Mazzorin, Ford Motor Company's group vice president of Purchasing
and Ford of Mexico said, "Ryobi Die Casting is world-class -- part of an
exclusive club of Ford's top suppliers.  Ryobi made extraordinary
contributions to Ford that helped make 1998 a very successful year and helped
deliver high quality and value to our customers.  Performance like this
deserves to be recognized."
    "We are very pleased to receive this honor, as it is another indication of
the outstanding team we have here," said Ryobi Die Casting President and CEO
James C. Smith.  "Together, we have established an on-going goal to deliver
this level of world-class product and service to each and every one of our
customers," he added.
    Recognition of Achievement awards were given to suppliers for special
accomplishments such as Outstanding Supply Performance, participation in the
Warranty Reduction Program pilot or Minority Supplier Development.
Recognition Awards were given to 25 suppliers.
    Ryobi Die Casting is one of North America's leading die casting producers,
providing precision die castings to the automotive and power equipment
markets.  The company has manufacturing operations in Shelbyville, Ind.,
Pickens, S.C., and a sales, service and engineering office located in Troy,
Mich.  Founded in Shelbyville in 1986, Ryobi Die Casting is a division of
Ryobi North America and employs nearly 1,000 people.