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Johnson Controls and Polymer Group Announce Strategic Partnership

28 August 2000

Johnson Controls and Polymer Group Announce Strategic Partnership to Develop Headliners and Interior Components

Relationship joins leading companies
to produce fiber-based interior products

    PLYMOUTH, Mich., Aug. 28 Leading automotive interior
systems supplier Johnson Controls, Inc. and Polymer Group, Inc.
-- the world's third largest producer of nonwovens and engineered
materials -- announced today that they have entered into a mutually exclusive
strategic supplier partnership.
    The Polymer Group will work with Johnson Controls to develop and supply a
variety of fiber-based products for headliners and other interior components,
augmenting Johnson Controls' current offering for headliners and other
interior components. Automakers and consumers will benefit through improved
acoustical properties, lower interior vehicle noise and enhanced aesthetics.
    "The Polymer Group's unmatched reputation for innovation and manufacturing
excellence -- coupled with its outstanding technological capabilities -- made
this partnership a natural fit," said Bob Stander, vice president and general
manager - product and business development, overhead systems for Johnson
Controls. "As a result of this partnership, our customers will not only
benefit from Johnson Controls' vehicle interior integration experience, but
also from the Polymer Group's APEX(TM) technologies and their experience in
nonwovens and engineered materials."
    Johnson Controls has been a leader in headliner materials, headliner
assemblies and complete overhead systems for more than 15 years. According to
Stander, fiber materials are used in the manufacturing of numerous automotive
interior components -- from headliners to door trim panels -- to help
automakers lower interior vehicle noise, meet important safety and acoustical
requirements and enhance aesthetics.
    "The partnership brings together leading companies from the fiber and
automotive interior industries," said Jerry Zucker, Polymer Group's chairman,
president and chief executive officer. "This relationship will allow us to
manufacture high-quality, fiber-based interior components more quickly and
cost effectively.