CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - May 23, 2005 - GE Fanuc Automation Americas, Inc., a unit of GE Infrastructure, has announced the winners of the 2005 Automation Discovery Awards - which are based on exemplification of "imagination at work" and the values behind that spirit: Imagine, Solve, Build, Lead. GE Fanuc announced the award winners at the GE Fanuc Discover Series Users Conference, May 23-26, New Orleans.

“Automation users today face challenges ranging from bringing products to market faster and raising quality to reducing inventory and generating a higher return on investment,” said Jeff Garwood, president and CEO for GE Fanuc Automation. “While we endeavor to bring success to every customer through enabling technologies and resulting performance improvements, we have selected four outstanding organizations for highly exemplifying the spirit of ‘imagination at work’ – a core philosophy at GE – and applying it in their automation solutions.”

The GE Fanuc Automation Discovery Award recipients and their achievements are:

• Chaparral Steel - Automated manufacturing to drive on-time order shipments to customers as well as achieving higher reliability, increased uptime, and greater flexibility with smoother upgrades.
• Kimberly-Clark Corporation - Exceptional use of open and layered technology to leverage a vast installed base of hardware and software; achieved consistency of visualization and execution systems across multiple global sites and focused on meeting the evolving business needs of electronic information - rather than infrastructure only.
• Millar Western Forest Products - Utilized high-speed data acquisition solution from Binnington Development Corporation to achieve $15,000 per day ROI, substantial increase in throughput, optimized machine performance, and early detection of flaws and quality changes.
• Nissan North America, Inc. - Revved up its first full-size vehicles with new plant in Canton, Mississippi, achieving uptime approaching Six Sigma, 75% smaller engineering staff than competitors, 70% decrease in maintenance training, and 50% reduction in engineering training.

For more information, visit www.gefanuc.com or contact: GE Fanuc Information Center, P.O. Box 8106, Charlottesville, VA 22906, Phone: (800) GE FANUC, Fax: 434-978-5205, e-mail: gefanuc@gefanuc.com.

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