Dana Corporation Earns Record Sixth IndustryWeek 10 Best Plants Award

Toledo, Ohio -- Sep 27, 2004 -- 8Dana Corporation (NYSE: DCN) announced today that its Franklin, Ky., piston ring facility has been named among IndustryWeek magazine’s 10 Best North American manufacturing facilities for 2004. Dana has earned this honor a record-setting six times in the 15-year history of the award, which focuses on excellence in manufacturing.

“We areextremely proud to have one of our facilities named an IndustryWeek Top 10 plant. It is especially gratifying to know that Dana holds the record as the company to have earned this honor the most often,” said Dana Chairman and CEO Michael J. Burns. “The Franklin facility’s dedication to customer satisfaction, quality, and safety has helped make it a benchmark for our industry.”

Added Mike Laisure, president of Dana’s Automotive Systems Group, “The people at our Franklin facility have a great deal to be proud of.  Not only are they the sixth Dana facility to be honored as an IndustryWeek best plant, but they have also achieved one million man hours without a lost time injury, and they are the recent recipient of the Kentucky Governor’s Safety Award.”

The Franklin facility manufacturers stainless steel oil ring expanders for North American automotive original-equipment manufacturers, as well as the aftermarket.  It also manufactures for a Japanese joint venture between Dana and Riken.  This partnership, Allied Ring Corporation, supplies parts to Honda, Nissan, and Toyota.                   

The Dana facility was chosen from among some 400 nominees, which were required to submit detailed questionnaires focusing on facility performance in several areas, including quality, customer and supplier relations, the application of new technologies, and productivity, cost reductions, manufacturing flexibility and responsiveness, inventory management, environmental and safety performance, new-product development, and overall market results.  With the aid of a team of outside experts, 25 plants were chosen as finalists for the award.  The 10 winners were selected after an extensive review process, including site visits to each finalist facility.

The other Dana facilities that have earned the IndustryWeek 10 Best Plants honor are:

Owensboro, Ky., structures facility, 2003;

Stockton, Calif., structures facility, 2002;

Hopkinsville, Ky., structures facility, 1998;

Bristol, Va., driveshaft facility, 1996; and

Minneapolis, Minn., hydraulics facility, 1990.

Dana Corporation is a global leader in the design, engineering, and manufacture of value-added products and systems for automotive, commercial, and off-highway vehicles.  Delivering on a century of innovation, the company’s continuing operations employ approximately 45,000 people worldwide dedicated to advancing the science of mobility.  Founded in 1904 and based in Toledo, Ohio, Dana operates technology, manufacturing, and customer-service facilities in 30 countries.  Sales from continuing operations totaled $7.9 billion in 2003.  Dana’s Internet site is www.dana.com.

 

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