Beckman Coulter Promotes Crans to Vice President, Manufacturing & Integrated Supply Chain Services.

Business Editors

FULLERTON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 27, 2002

Beckman Coulter, Inc. (NYSE:BEC) today announced vice president-director, Linda Crans, 53, will assume the position of vice president, manufacturing and integrated supply chain services, effective immediately.

Crans, who joined the company in 1974, will be responsible for instrument and reagent production at various sites in the United States and in Australia, China, Germany, Ireland, Japan and South Africa. She will also oversee staff responsible for logistics, material planning and procurement, technical services, administrative services and facility services. In this new capacity, Crans will report to Edgar E. Vivanco, president of the company's Specialty Testing Division.

"Projects that Linda has managed during her tenure with the company have consistently demonstrated exceptional levels of process efficiency at the same time they were successfully completed within budgetary and deadline constraints," said Vivanco. "Her success reflects a strong combination of leadership skills, strategic vision and a capacity for detail that will be assets in a manufacturing environment."

Prior to accepting this position, Crans led a global, multi-functional team of several hundred employees in planning and implementing the company's global enterprise resource planning systems. The project benefited from her experience in other senior positions with the company including vice president-director, program management, quality assurance and support services for the company's Clinical Diagnostics Development Center and vice president -- director, quality and regulatory affairs.

Crans graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. She has authored technical articles for customer and trade publications and her professional affiliations include the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC), the Biomedical Marketing Association (BMA), and the American Society for Quality (ASQ).

Beckman Coulter, Inc. is a global biomedical company, headquartered in Fullerton, California. The company develops and markets instruments, chemistries, software and supplies that simplify and automate laboratory processes throughout the biomedical testing continuum. Through pioneering medical research and drug discovery, specialty testing, and patient care diagnostics, Beckman Coulter supports all phases of the battle against disease. Annual sales for the company totaled $2 billion in 2001, with 62% of this amount generated by recurring revenue from supplies, test kits and services. For more information, visit www.beckmancoulter.com.