Delphi Recognized With SAE Environmental Awards

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Delphi Recognized With SAE Environmental Awards

Recycled TPO Instrument Panel Wins; Trimmings Reuse Named as Finalist

MICHIGAN, WARREN, May. 17 -/E-Wire/-- Delphi Automotive Systems (NYSE: DPH) received two recognitions at the SAE Environmental Excellence in Transportation Awards ceremony held Wednesday at the SAE Government/Industry Meeting in Washington, D.C.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001019/DELPHIAS )

Brian Spuck, Delphi Interior Systems product engineer, won in the materials development and usage category. Cesar Gonzalez, Delphi Interior Systems environmental engineering general supervisor, was a finalist in the recycling, reuse and remanufacturing category.

"We are honored to have been recognized by SAE for our environmental and waste reduction initiatives," said James A. Bertrand, president, Delphi Interior Systems. "Both projects highlight and exemplify Delphi's continual assessment and improvement of manufacturing processes to benefit the environment."

Spuck's project is titled "Instrument panel skin manufactured with 100 percent recycled TPO material," and was implemented at Delphi's Componentes Mecanicos de Matamoros (CMM) plant in Mexico. According to Spuck, the purpose of the project was three-fold, incorporating many of Delphi's Environmental Principles:

* To confirm Delphi's position as the leader in the manufacturing of environmentally friendly TPO (thermoplastic polyolefin) instrument panels, * To create an environmentally friendly product by reusing and managing scrap material in place of utilizing a landfill or other disposition process, and * The desire to push TPO technology to the fullest limits.

An industry first, Delphi utilized 100 percent recycled offal from the manufacturing process in the manufacture of the skin, while still meeting strict durability and physical property performance criteria.

Both cost and environmental savings have been achieved as a result of implementing this process. "Not only were we able to meet our customers' expectations and specifications, we were able to reduce virgin material usage, thus creating a greener product to benefit the environment," Spuck said.

Gonzalez's project is titled "Recycling of vinyl and TPO from instrument panel offal." Advancing to the finals in the recycling, reuse and remanufacturing category, the purpose of the project was to improve the handling method and disposal costs associated with the instrument panel offal (trimmings) waste stream. This project was also implemented at Delphi's CMM facility.

The implementation of this project resulted in the reuse of more than 786 tons of material, diverting it from landfills and reducing the amount of raw material used.

"Currently, the instrument panel offal that is generated during the trim process is transported to an outside company that recycles it for use in the production of shoe soles for the Mexican market," Gonzalez said. "While this recycling does minimize the negative environmental impact by avoiding landfill space use, our ultimate goal is to be able to reuse the recycled vinyl and TPO for our own instrument panel production process. We are working with the recycling company to make that happen."

The SAE Environmental Excellence in Transportation Awards are given to recognize individuals or groups who, through their ingenuity and dedication, make significant innovations in reducing the environmental impact in the transportation industries. The key criteria for recognition are innovation, originality, demonstrated significant favorable impact on the environment and improvement over any existing technologies, methods and public acceptance.

For more information about Delphi Automotive Systems, visit Delphi's Virtual Press Room at www.delphiauto.com/vpr.

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Delphi Interior Systems

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