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Ingersoll Partners with Cinetic to Form Ingersoll Cinetic Automation

21 January 2000

Ingersoll Automation Partners with Cinetic to Form Ingersoll Cinetic Automation and Continue Global Growth

    FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., Jan. 20 -- Ingersoll Cinetic
Automation is the new name of the former Ingersoll-Rand Automation Company
following its sale to Cinetic, a large, international automotive supplier in
December.
    "Our company has grown in size and importance to the automotive
manufacturing community, and this growth did not go unnoticed in today's
merger-oriented climate," said Craig A. Black, President & CEO of the new
Ingersoll Cinetic Automation Company.  "For us to continue this growth, it is
important to have an enthusiastic parent, and Cinetic has the intellectual,
emotional, financial and technological commitment to make us a much stronger
competitor in the coming years."
    Ingersoll Cinetic Automation originated in 1965 with the establishment of
a sales and application engineering support center in Detroit.  That operation
has grown into an organization of nearly 500 employees, including 130
engineers.  Two large manufacturing facilities -- one at 23400 Halsted Road,
Farmington Hills, and another at 39001 Schoolcraft Road, Livonia --
are the heart of the company.
    "The Assembly and Test Division is in Farmington Hills, while the Centri-
Spray business is in Livonia," Black said.  "Both divisions focus on the
cleaning, assembly and testing of automotive powertrain components such as
engines, transmissions and axles."
    Original equipment manufacturers like DaimlerChrysler, General Motors and
Ford are Ingersoll Cinetic customers, but major tier one suppliers like
American Axle and Manufacturing, Cummins and Navistar are also important
customers.
    "Our new parent company, Cinetic, is part of Groupe Fives-Lille made up of
11 companies with more than 4,500 employees at facilities in 14 countries
around the world," Black said.  "These companies make products for our
customer base -- automotive, steel and aluminum.  Cinetic's involvement with
us gives us vastly increased technological and global capabilities.
The synergy we have with Cinetic's existing companies is just tremendous."
    Cinetic has headquarters in France and its parent, Fives-Lille is a highly
reputable industrial engineering company listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.
For almost two centuries, Fives-Lille has been supplying equipment to major
customers around the world in engineer-to-order contracts.
    "For Cinetic and Fives-Lille, this is a significant acquisition which will
complement an existing range of products and systems for the automotive
industry," said Jean-Pierre Capron, CEO, Groupe Fives-Lille.  "This
acquisition is a response to our customers for a global capability, and
it is also a response to U.S. customers for that capability.
    "It is our intention to grow and develop Ingersoll Cinetic.  Our plan is
to expand the business in North America through other complementary
acquisitions in the future," Capron said.