The start of production at the TRW Automotive Thailand facility is slated for early May of 2000. When production begins, TRW Automotive will be using the first-ever Sequenced, In-Line Delivery System (SILS) in the region for the chassis modules being supplied on Zafira. The SILS system is being developed by the TRW Automotive Information Technology group and the process was tested and proven in TRW's overall operations in Brazil to ensure smooth implementation in Asia.

The company has invested approximately $2.6 million in equipment for the facility; initially for assembly of chassis modules and actuation duplexing, although full localization of production is a possible future development. TRW also operates electronics, steering and suspension and engine valve plants in Thailand.

As Director - Investor Relations, Fiebig is responsible for managing the company's global investor relations programs. Fiebig joins Lear from DaimlerChrysler where he most recently worked in Treasury for the company's Mexican subsidiary based in Mexico City, Mexico. During his four years with DaimlerChrysler, he also served as Senior Financial Analyst - Investor Relations at Chrysler Corporation World Headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan (USA). He also has a background in marketing and production scheduling for Alpha Metal Finishing.

Fiebig earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan (USA) and a Master's of Business Administration in Finance from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana (USA). Fiebig, his wife, Claudia, and their daughter are in the process of relocating from Mexico City to the Detroit area.

The agreement pairs Visteon's technical expertise in the design, simulation and manufacturing of automotive climate control systems with Fujitsu's world-class computational analysis capabilities. It will help Visteon improve its product development cycle times by increasing the use and accuracy of advanced CAE modeling in the design process.

Fujitsu will develop exclusive hardware and software applications for Visteon that will allow the organization to optimize its use of CAE modeling technologies. Visteon will serve as a beta site for new hardware and software applications relating to vehicle level modeling tools. Visteon, in return, will provide Fujitsu with detailed evaluations of the stability, effectiveness and usefulness of these applications and will assist the Japanese corporation in the development of simulation-based design systems for non-related automotive programs.

Visteon will use Fujitsu hardware and software to power two of its key simulation technologies -- the Unified Parametric Vehicle System (UPV) and the Interior Climate Comfort Engineering System (ICCE). UPV is used to optimize front-end airflow and perform vehicle exterior aerodynamics analysis. UPV data is critical to establish the amount of heat loss or gain from a vehicle body.

ICCE allows engineers to design automotive interior climate control systems that optimize passenger comfort and climate control system performance. ICCE includes CAE methodologies such as parametric solid models, solar load models, warm-up and refrigeration cycle models, and analysis of the vehicle interior, airflow and temperature. In addition, ICCE includes the capability to correlate airflow and temperature to passenger comfort. The ICCE system is used to reduce the amount of climate control wind tunnel and "down the road" testing required for vehicle development.

"The agreement we have reached with Fujitsu will allow us to really push the development and use of some key simulation technologies," said Frank Croskey, vice president, Visteon Climate Control Systems. "This offers us a critical competitive advantage -- we are developing vehicle solutions based on remarkably accurate virtual simulation rather than field testing. This takes a great deal of time and cost out of the process while building in a new level of quality and predictability."

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