Corning Celebrates in Kaiserslautern, Germany

Anniversary of Substrates Plant and Grand Opening of Filter Facility

Corning Incorporated 

The Corning Kaiserslautern Diesel Manufacturing Facility manufactures Corning DuraTrap(R) AT filters for light-duty diesel applications. The plant began shipping product to customers in Europe and around the world in the third quarter of this year.

The grand opening occurs one year after the company announced a $44 million investment to build the state-of-the-art facility which is located near customers in Europe. This location provides customers with significant advantages, including shorter delivery times, reduced inventory costs, lower transportation costs, and improved service.

Corning also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Kaiserslautern Main Plant, which manufactures advanced substrates for light-duty vehicles. Corning broke ground on the facility in 1985 and began shipping products a year later. Since then, the company has continued to invest in the facility, its employees, and the business.

"Today's event underscores Corning's ongoing commitment to providing leading-edge emissions-control products to our customers around the world," said Corning Chairman and CEO Wendell P. Weeks. "Corning has a long history of creating clean-air solutions, including 25 years of manufacturing here in Kaiserslautern to meet the needs of our European customers. As the automotive market grows and global regulations tighten, we continue to respond with innovations that enable Corning to capture strategic growth opportunities, while helping solve some of our customers' most difficult problems."

Corning's world-class research and development, engineering, manufacturing, sales, and marketing expertise supports a vehicle market that is expected to grow from 75 million in 2011 to more than 100 million vehicles by 2016. As vehicle production increases, so does demand for Corning light-duty emissions control products.

"Europe is the leader in light-duty diesel vehicles where Euro 5 regulations require every vehicle to have a filter," said Mark A. Beck, senior vice president and general manager of Corning Environmental Technologies. "Our new facility, along with Corning's other emissions control plants in South Africa and North America, will help us meet the increasing demand for our clean air products. In addition, we are currently expanding our light-duty substrates business in Asia. We expect these significant investments to enable us to support our customers' growth objectives."

In addition to increased vehicle production and a growing market, the emissions control business is driven by strict emissions standards. As global regulations tighten, vehicle manufacturers are required to use more, and advanced, substrates in each vehicle. To help meet this growing substrate demand, Corning recently announced two expansions at its Corning Shanghai Company Limited (CSCL) plant in Shanghai, China. The expansions are expected to be complete in the second half of 2012 and the third quarter of 2013.