GE Plastics Drives “Bumper-to-Bumper” Solutions for Global Automotive Industry for Nearly 50 Years

BERGEN OP ZOOM, THE NETHERLANDS — September 28, 2006 — For nearly half a century, GE Plastics has earned the reputation as a leading global automotive supplier of bumper-to-bumper solutions in engineering thermoplastics. With over 78 locations across the globe, GE Plastics’ dedicated Automotive organization is an experienced, world-wide competitor, fully committed to serving an industry that manufacturers products for the world’s most demanding customers.

Led by GE vice president and general manager of GE Plastics’ Automotive business, Greg Adams has structured the Automotive business to develop advanced material solutions to help serve its global customers, and to utilize its world-renown R&D and commercial resources to respond to the industry’s ever-evolving design and technical needs. One key quality that has remained consistent over the years at GE is its ability to create best-in-class products to help address the growing consumer demand for automobiles that are ecologically optimized, in addition to being pedestrian and passenger safe.

Honored repeatedly with awards from across the globe, GE Plastics’ Automotive division offers leading plastics solutions for seven key automotive segments: 1) body panels and glazing, 2) under the hood, 3) components, 4) structures and interiors, 5) lighting, 6) new markets, and 7) design innovation & technology demonstration. “GE Plastics offers some of the most advanced global expertise, resources, and support available in today’s fiercely competitive automotive industry,” said Adams. “Only a select few global players in resin technologies can offer OEMs and tier 1 customers the wherewithal to address safety and environmental legislation, as well as consumer demands for additional features, sophisticated aesthetics, and design styling. We are committed to providing the automotive industry with the innovative tools necessary to help develop the highest value application solutions all over the vehicle,” Adams said.

The company sees its customer centricity and technology innovation as its key differentiators, and continues to invest heavily, both in the development of new, proprietary technology, and adding value through concept design and new application development. As a global industry leader in materials technology and support, GE’s Automotive business helps bring new concepts to market while contributing to reduced total system costs.

According to Greg Adams, vice president and general manager of Automotive for GE Plastics, this means always keeping the customers’ customer – the consumer – in focus. “To do this we must go beyond quality to develop concepts that enable an attractiveness with which the consumer can feel an emotional attachment,” Adams explains. “To guide us in this we have identified five emotional desires that drive consumer behavior: style; savings; speed; safety and serenity. By testing new concepts against these criteria we aim to deliver solutions that benefit the whole supply chain.”

The five consumer desires to be met by materials and application designs are summarized as follows:

Style – signature surfaces with modern and appealing shapes and lines,

Savings – more affordable automobiles that use less fuel and have low environmental impact,

Speed – lighter vehicles for higher performance driving,

Safety – designs that provide for greater occupant and pedestrian safety in the event of accident,

Serenity – the underlying quality that ensures an automobile’s higher residual value and gives the owner satisfaction of contributing to a sustainable environment.

GE is committed to helping its automotive customers meet these consumer desires by providing outstanding application development, technical support, and customer service to OEMs and top tier suppliers across the globe. The active role GE plays in customers’ product development cycles continues to fuel emerging automotive needs relating to vehicle aesthetics, efficiency, and performance.

Furthermore, GE’s ecomagination* initiative and related portfolio of products that support the environment is also a major company initiative. “GE is one of the first major companies to launch such a global initiative that aggressively brings to market new technologies that may help customers meet pressing environmental challenges,” says Adams. “As consumers focus on vehicles with better fuel efficiency via weight-out, hybrid vehicles, safety, design differentiation and more environmental responsibility, GE Plastics’ Automotive business will continue to provide innovative materials solutions for our customers in the automotive industry.”

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