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GE plastics Web Site

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GE Superabrasives launched a new business, GE Gem Technologies, and an exciting new product line, Bellataire™ Diamonds. Using Design for Six Sigma methodology, unique diamonds, whose molecular structure has been altered by nature's heat and pressure, are restored to their original state, making Bellataire™ Diamonds highly desirable both to the jewelry industry and consumers. GE Plastics delivered record financial results in 2000, with double-digit growth in revenue and earnings. This performance was driven by strong global volume, particularly in Asia, and our ability to offset oil and indirect materials inflation with pricing and productivity gains. We are taking steps to keep up with increasing global demand for our Lexan® polycarbonate, which is largely driven by expansion in the business equipment, optical media (CD-ROMs, compact and digital video disks) and telecommunications industries. We are currently expanding our polycarbonate resin plants in Burkville, Alabama, and Cartagena, Spain, adding more than 400 million pounds of new capacity. New compounding plants in Thailand and China were opened in 2000 to support the high demand in Asia. The year 2000 also saw completion of our transition to a new Internet-based commercial model. We launched what we believe is the plastics industry's most complete portal, gepolymerland.com, offering our customers unprecedented purchase, design, research and technical functionality backed up by unsurpassed delivery fulfillment. The model has been replicated at all of our businesses, including Silicones and Specialty Chemicals, and our Internet sales, $5 million a week as we began the year, are now $50 million weekly. We respond faster than ever to our customers' critical-to-quality service requirements and continue to drive our competitive edge. The digitization of our business is not limited to customer service. Our sourcing initiatives include the development of global data warehouses, catalogs and Internet platforms that will give us the ability to enjoy the lowest-cost online purchasing process available. We have also applied digitization to everything from financial reporting and human resource reviews to how we conduct meetings. Each change adds new speed and productivity to even the simplest transactions and allows us to focus on better serving our customers. We grew our revenue base through the acquisition of both Cadillac Plastics and Commercial Plastics, each global distributors of plastic sheet, rod, tube, film and shapes. This forward integration broadens and complements our product portfolio. Our Silicones business enhanced its growth trend in 2000 by acquiring Macklanburg-Duncan's sealants and adhesives business. This acquisition has broadened our current business in both the high-growth consumer do-it-yourself and construction segments. We also announced a new agreement with Toshiba, our joint venture partner in Asia, and Shin-Etsu Chemical to build additional manufacturing capacity that will serve rapidly increasing demand in that region. With our Internet sales and fulfillment model in place globally, our business growing through key acquisitions, strong demand for our products and our business energized by the opportunities of digitization, GE Plastics looks forward to another strong year in 2001. www.geplastics.com

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