GE Plastics Intensifies Global Application Technology (GApT) Efforts to Leap-Frog Creation of Next-Gen Applications.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Company Sees Global Application Technology as Major Competitive Path to Future as it Accelerates Expansion of GApT Capabilities Worldwide

Conventional wisdom regarding the plastics industry is that there is nothing new under the sun. But GE Plastics is anything but conventional when it comes to maintaining a global leadership position and accelerating new market penetration and growth. So, while others may accept what the industry pundits say, the company is aggressively beefing up the capabilities of its Global Application Technology (GApT) organization to deliver next-generation materials solutions to customers around the world.

At its six state-of-the-art Centers of Excellence, strategically located in the United States, Europe, China, Japan, and India, GE Plastics is investing millions in new equipment, machinery, and technical customer support to further drive the use of its innovative materials in high-end applications. These range from environmentally responsible products; functional and aesthetic components for cars, aircraft, and trains; and energy efficient architectural glazing to consumer electronics, packaging, and alternative energy sources; and from optical media, fibers, and coatings to next-generation display films and healthcare devices.

"The mission of GApT is to support the growth of GE's product portfolio though advanced application development and customer support the world over," said Rick Pontillo, general manager, Global Application Technology, GE Plastics. "Through our Centers of Excellence, GApT is GE Plastics' face to the customers and is the driving force behind the company's role as a global innovation engine that produces practical customer solutions. There is no question that GApT is and will continue to be a key competitive differentiator for us over the next decade and beyond."

GE Plastics' GApT organization is a key part of GE's carefully crafted business strategy to strengthen its position as the leading global provider of hands-on technical, design, and testing services to support customer growth and innovation. The organization's emphasis on innovation, advanced engineering, and flexibility is embodied in a six-phase customer innovation process geared to developing custom-application solutions. These six interrelated phases have been developed to provide full-service support at each stage of the application development process and include: market segment and customer needs analysis, concept development, application design development, engineering analysis and design optimization, processing, prototyping, real-world testing, and the development of actual parts.

To further support each critical phase of the customer innovation process, GApT offers a broad range of additional services. For example, the organization is actively purchasing the latest equipment to accelerate capability expansion in the areas of application technology innovation, engineering, process development, and value-added technical support. Another example includes GApT's process development work, which encompasses the full range of molding, extrusion, and thermoforming methods, while performance testing methodologies and technologies to help ensure that key properties of a given application are accurately measured throughout the development process. GApT Centers of Excellence also offer secondary operations support such as painting, welding, and vacuum metallization, as well as the structural analysis of finished components. These efforts are being facilitated through an engineering staff of over 140.

The six GApT Centers of Excellence specialize in different applications, processes, and materials, based on global and regional customer needs. In the Americas, centers in Pittsfield, Mass., and Southfield, Mich., focus mainly on healthcare, automotive interiors and other transportation sectors, and data storage. The European center in Bergen op Zoom, The Netherlands, targets fluid engineering, energy, and automotive glazing applications. In Shanghai, China, electronics, display films, and industrial wiring are key areas of specialization. Moka-City, Japan focuses on automotive pedestrian safety, auto wiring, and under-hood vehicle applications. The center in Bangalore, India performs predictive engineering. In 2006, a new Center of Excellence will be opened in Korea further expanding GApT's global reach with still more capabilities.

"Expanding GApT's global capabilities is one of the most ambitious efforts coming out of GE Plastics in recent years," Pontillo said. "Through these efforts, we are leveraging our people, cutting-edge process and materials technology capabilities, and global expertise to help our customers meet marketplace challenges and grow their businesses - after all, that's the bottom line."

About GE Plastics

GE Plastics is a global supplier of plastic resins widely used in automotive, healthcare, consumer electronics, transportation, performance packaging, building & construction, telecommunications, and optical media applications. The company manufactures and compounds polycarbonate, ABS, SAN, ASA, PPE, PC/ABS, PBT and PEI resins, as well as the LNP(1) line of high-performance specialty compounds. GE Plastics, Specialty Film & Sheet manufactures high-performance Lexan(1) sheet and film products used in thousands of demanding applications worldwide. In addition, GE Plastics' dedicated Automotive organization is an experienced, world-wide competitor, offering

leading plastics solutions for five key automotive segments: body panels and glazing; under the hood applications; component; structures and interiors; and lighting. As a Worldwide Partner of the Olympic Games, GE is the exclusive provider of a wide range of innovative products and services that are integral to successful Games.

(1) LNP and Lexan are trademarks of General Electric Company.