Delphi Introduces High-Performance One-Piece Terminal

A new product that can help reduce manufacturing costs without compromising electrical performance. Delphi's new Micro Terminal System (MTS) 0.64 Standard (ST) is among the key technologies Delphi Corporation has on display at Agritechnica Nov. 13-17.

Delphi's MTS 0.64 ST is a high-performance, one-piece terminal system that costs at least 35 percent less than the two-piece systems it replaces while providing the same electrical performance, says Tammo Dettmers, Product Manager. This helps to reduce overall costs for the electrical harnesses and is applicable for use in unsealed, moderate-vibration areas such as the cabins and passenger compartments of agricultural, automotive and commercial vehicles.

The new MTS 0.64 ST is compatible with the cavity of the two-piece systems and provides a low engaging force with a wide range of mating tab widths: 0.63 (0.64) mm x 0.63 mm or 0.8 mm or 1.2 mm. Crimping dies from compatible designs are interchangeable, enhancing its versatility. Contact is assured with a minimum of 1 mm overlap and two independent contact beams. The terminal contact area is protected to ensure proper alignment of mating parts while a secondary locking shoulder ensures connections are maintained. Despite these secure connections and unlike previous one-piece systems, Delphi's MTS 0.64 ST is fully serviceable. A locking lance with overbend protection allows the MTS 0.64 ST to be unplugged with a special removal tool without being damaged, which has a positive impact on warranty costs. Delphi's MTS 0.64 ST is ideal for use in device or in-line connections. High-volume production is scheduled for early 2008.

Delphi Electrical/Electronic Architecture delivers power and signal distribution networks for today's increasingly complex vehicles. Delphi engineers act as master architects by using proprietary design tools and software to create a virtual model of a vehicle's E/E architecture - down to the last connector, electrical center, electronic module and wiring harness. In doing so, they evaluate the impact of various trade-offs to deliver a fully optimized E/E architecture system backed by Delphi technical centers and manufacturing facilities in 31 countries around the globe.

The New Connection System Meets High-Temperature, High-Vibration Requirements

Delphi Corporation's new second-generation two-way Active Connection System can accommodate more stringent requirements for vibration resistance and updated safety-feature connections than the two-, three-, four- and five-way serial systems commonly available.

This is especially important for agricultural equipment applications because farm machinery and equipment are routinely subjected to extended periods of intense vibration throughout the course of their functional lives. Delphi's new Active Connection System incorporates an innovative design and distinguishing features that are on the forefront of recent technological accomplishments. These include a combined radial and compression seal, which eliminates vibration-related failures by stabilizing the position using radial and vertical forces in the sealing area. An active terminal system that uses an S-spring element unique to Delphi, which moves with vibrations enhancing high-vibration performance, an active secondary terminal lock and an active Connector Position Assurance (CPA).

This active secondary terminal lock, developed by modifying Delphi's ATS 2.8 terminal, incorporates a special locking shoulder that prevents the terminal from being pulled out once it is inserted and the lock closed. The lock cannot be employed until the terminal is fully inserted, minimizing connection errors and preventing accidental closures.

The CPA works by opening the pre-lock position with the mating part as it is plugged in, allowing the active CPA to be closed. Until the connector is plugged in completely, the CPA remains fixed in its pre-position. Available in a variety of colors, the secondary lock also serves as the coding system and protects the housing seal. Because Delphi's new Active Connection System is suited for use in high-temperature, high-vibration environments, it is ideal for use on sensors in the engine compartment. It can be used for in-line or device configurations as well as for pigtail solutions when combined with the available male side of the connector.

Cleveland, OH October 1, 2007, Kim Disandis has been named director, business development for Power & Signal Group and will be responsible for key components of its growth strategy including acquisition management, global supplier marketing and global MARCOM. Ms. Disandis will report directly to Anthony Jachnycky, president, Power & Signal Group.

"Power & Signal Group has experienced a number of significant changes to its business model and competitive landscape within the past year," says Anthony Jachnycky, president, Power & Signal Group. "Kim’s diverse and rich background brings a fresh perspective to our business. She is poised to accelerate our deployment across all regions with our existing suppliers and customers as well as to actively expand our market share in existing and new market segments within the transportation industry," explains Jachnycky.

Ms. Disandis comes to Power & Signal Group with seventeen years experience with Arrow Electronics, Inc., including nine years as the General Manager of the Cleveland branch for Arrow Electronics Components (AEC) group and most recently, Regional Director, Global Alliance.

"Power & Signal Group’s European team is enthusiastic about the addition of Kim to the global PSG staff," says Dr. Rafael Salmi, managing director EMEA, Power & Signal Group. "Our European business continues to see solid growth within the European marketplace. Kim’s experience in managing global customers will boost our existing resources and efforts as we develop new customers and markets within the broad EMEA region," continues Salmi.

DriveSol Worldwide Holding Corp., ("DriveSol"), an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc. and owner of DriveSol Worldwide, Inc., announced today that it has acquired Wabash Technologies Inc. (“Wabash”). Wabash is a leading global designer and manufacturer of a broad range of custom designed sensors and actuators which include pedal position sensors, throttle/ETC position sensors, engine timing sensors, rotary/linear position sensors, and fuel injection stators/actuators for gas and diesel power-train markets. Currently, Wabash produces over 20 million sensors and over five million fuel injection stators/actuators annually for a customer base which includes all major OEMs, as well as leading Tier I systems suppliers serving the automotive, heavy vehicle, agriculture, construction, and off-highway global markets. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Mark Simon, President and of DriveSol Worldwide Holding Corp., said, “The acquisition of Wabash is another step forward in implementing DriveSol’s long-range strategy of becoming a global leader in electro-mechanical driver control assemblies and sensor and actuation products. This acquisition also reinforces our long-term commitment as a key supplier to the automotive and industrial markets.

"Automotive mechanical controls are moving rapidly toward broader use of electronic "by-wire" technologies and advanced sensors are a vital part of those vehicle systems. We also know that being an effective and innovative supplier includes providing a level of proprietary capability that the competitive world of today’s OEMs require. Having Wabash’s product line and electronic expertise will enhance our global engineering and development capability to provide multi-faceted benefits for current products as well as future advanced driver-control components and systems."

Simon explained further, "Wabash offers an exceptional portfolio of advanced technology solutions for speed sensing, position sensing, and fuel injector actuation and has developed a proprietary application specific integrated circuit ("ASIC") providing a new level of customized functionality for active sensor applications. Core to our strategy is that Wabash will continue to operate its business independently, maintaining and strengthening its well-established customer relationships."

Joe Gonnella, President and CEO of Wabash Technologies, states, "This business combination will deliver significantly higher added-value to our shared customer base. Highly synergistic product technologies provide us with a unique capability to design innovative electro-mechanical products and systems which fully integrate electronic controls into related mechanical functions. Furthermore, our expanded manufacturing footprint, including low-cost sites in all major automotive markets, positions us to be globally competitive across all product lines".

Wabash Technologies has manufacturing facilities in Mexicali, Mexico Krakovany,Slovakia and Huntington, Indiana where it also has a global design and process-engineering center. In addition, Wabash has dedicated sales and program management offices in Detroit and Swindon, U.K. Wabash has an experienced workforce of approximately 1,000 employees worldwide.

About DriveSol Worldwide, Inc.

DriveSol Worldwide Inc. is a global market leader in the design and supply of electro-mechanical pedal assemblies and steering columns/intermediate shafts to global automotive and industrial OEM’s. DriveSol is headquartered in Troy, Michigan and employees approximately 1,600 employees located in manufacturing and technical facilities throughout North America, Europe, South America, and Asia.

About Sun Capital Partners, Inc.

Sun Capital Partners, Inc. is a leading private investment firm focused on leveraged buyouts, equity, debt, and other investments in market-leading companies that can benefit from its in-house operating professionals and experience. Sun Capital affiliates have invested in and managed more than 165 companies worldwide with combined sales in excess of $35.0 billion. Sun Capital has offices in Boca Raton, Los Angeles, New York, and affiliates with offices in London, Shenzhen, and Tokyo.

Send all inquiries to:
Rex Smith
VP Sales & Marketing
DriveSol Worldwide, Inc.
1104 West Maple Road
Troy, Michigan 48084
248-729-2244
rsmith@drivesol.com
www.drivesol.com

"With the addition of Molex to PSG's portfolio, our team is able to offer additional alternatives and technologies as our customers look for products that meets their design parameters, "say Anthony Jachnycky, President, Power & Signal Group. "Our broader range will help us to both better accommodate our customers' design needs as well as to quicken their time to market-both critical success factors in our industry."

As the second largest connector manufacturer in the world, Molex is a technology and a new product resource for the automotive and commercial vehicle manufacturers, contract manufacturers and connector suppliers. Its industrial portfolio is among the world's largest with over 100,000 reliable products, including everything from electronic, electrical and fiber optic interconnect solutions to switches and application tooling. The Molex team is focused on the design, development and distribution of innovative solutions and new industry standards that meet tomorrow's needs, today.

To learn more about Molex's product offering or to request a quote, please contact your account representative or call (440) 836-6600 or 1-800-722-5273.

Molex product catalogs

As we expected, Delphi filed a motion with the Bankruptcy Court in New York on Friday, March 31st, seeking to reject its collective bargaining agreements and modify hourly retiree benefits. This motion is sometimes referenced with the section numbers 1113 and 1114 from the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The most important point is that Delphi only filed motions with the courts. There still must be a hearing for Delphi and the unions to present arguments to the judge. This is scheduled for May 9th & 10th. After this hearing the judge will make decision on the motions, scheduled for June 7th.

It is very important to remember that the national collective bargaining agreements remain in place throughout the process. Filing these motions also does not mean that Delphi will automatically impose terms on the unions and GM if the motions are granted. Delphi remains committed to finding a consensual resolution to the issues and intends to continue to discuss with the unions and GM ways to reduce costs in the U.S.

Delphi also made some important announcements concerning the Delphi Transformation Plan to come out of bankruptcy. They announced core strategic businesses and core manufacturing plants for the future. We are pleased to see that the Delphi Packard business (connectors & cable harness) was named as one of the core businesses and the main U.S. plants that support our requirements were named core-manufacturing sites.

Delphi filed another motion with the court requesting that Delphi be allowed to cancel some unprofitable contracts with GM. It is our understanding that none of the requests included the Delphi Packard contracts.

Even in light of Delphi’s March 31st filings, we remain optimistic of a positive outcome of the current negotiations. Even so, Power & Signal Group has developed contingency plans for a work stoppage at some of Delphi’s plants. Prior to the Delphi filing in October 2005, we made adjustments to our safety stock levels as part of our normal inventory management and to improve our on time deliveries. This resulted in a 20 percent increase to our normal safety stock levels. Since the filing we have worked with Delphi to increase our stock levels to almost double the October levels. Power & Signal Group is well positioned to support your Delphi requirements moving forward. Since there are many unpredictable issues outside of Power & Signal Group’s control, we cannot guarantee that there will be no disruption in product flow but we have executed well in building a bank of inventory to support your needs.

What can you do to assist?

At Power & Signal Group we will continue to build our inventory in preparation for a possible strike in Delphi facilities. In addition to our efforts, there are actions that you can take that will help.

There are also a couple of actions that we request you do not take in building your inventory

These adjustments will allow Power & Signal Group to use the most accurate data in our controlled efforts to purchase the right products to meet your requirements. While Power & Signal Group’s actions and your fulfilling the requests above will help, we cannot guarantee uninterrupted delivery. Our highest priorities are to manage the current day-to-day business and to strategically prepare for all potential scenarios during Delphi’s business reorganization. Our contingency plans are customer-focused and they continue to evolve as new developments occur with Delphi and as our knowledge of customer demand grows as a result of the above action items.

We appreciate your assistance in managing demand and inventory levels throughout this period of reorganization at Delphi. We remain confident that Delphi will emerge from its chapter 11-business reorganization in a more stable financial position, ready and able to competitively meet the stringent demands of the transportation industry.

Should you have any additional questions or concerns, please contact us at (440) 836-6600 or toll-free at 1-800-722-5273.

Power & Signal Group has expanded its Innerpack program – adding approximately 400 new part numbers to the existing Innerpack program. Be pre-packaging popular Delphi Connection Systems product we are able to respond rapidly to customers’ inventory needs for smaller material requirements. Our Innerpack process automates the packaging of small quantity parts and thereby ensures the count accuracy in each bag. All Innerpack bags are labeled with standard AIAG format barcode labels to assist your receiving process. Each label also includes a unique serial number and other manufacturing traceability information.

At Power & Signal Group we are committed to providing you with one of the best websites in the industry! As a result of customer requests we are pleased to announce our latest web enhancement – Online stock status and lead-time!

Effective January 15, 2006 the Power & Signal Group website now displays both the current available warehouse quantity as well as product lead time for all parts. Please note: The available stock quantity is displayed for information purposes only and is subject to change without notice. Allocation of stock to orders is not displayed on this site.

On October 8, 2005, Delphi filed for business reorganization under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The Delphi chapter 11-business reorganization is well financed, well planned and well organized. Under chapter 11, the company intends to resolve its existing legacy issues and the resulting high-cost structure of its U.S. operations.

While we do anticipate that Delphi will continue to meet customers’ quality, scheduling, delivery and production needs, Power & Signal Group, in anticipation of such an event, raised its inventory levels to ensure our ability to meet your demand on a timely basis.

We will continue to keep you abreast of how these changes could affect Power & Signal Group and its customers.

In June, Power & Signal Group implemented an Exchange Fax Solution to provide faster, electronic processing of incoming documents, including purchase orders. To facilitate this transition, all incoming fax numbers for Inside Account Representatives have been changed.

The former 216 fax numbers for the Inside Account Representatives will be discontinued effective August 15, 2005.

The European Union RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) directive goes into effect in 2007 and requires, among other hazardous substances, the elimination of Hexavalent chromium from all manufacturing processes. For DCS products, this primarily involves clips, clamps, fasteners and assemblies that undergo a post-plating process.

Currently, Power & Signal Group and DCS are working hand-in-hand to ensure an easy transition to Hexavalent Chromium-free products; including extensive steps to advance order Hexavalent Chromium-free products according to demand history. These steps will minimize inventory shortages and shipping delays as the new, PPAP’d products are introduced.

Effective April 1, 2005 Dr. Rafael Salmi has been promoted to Managing Director, EMEA, for Power & Signal Group. Dr. Salmi joined Power & Signal Group in October 2004 as Assistant Managing Director, EMEA. Prior to joining Power & Signal Group, Dr. Salmi acquired an extensive executive background in electronics industry management. Through his previous roles, including European Business Manager – Fiber Optics, for Molex and Regional Sales Manager for EXFO Europe, Dr. Salmi has a proven track record for developing successful business units, improving operations and increasing revenues. Dr. Salmi holds the following degrees: Ph.D. Experimental Physics from Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble, France, DEA Instrumentation and Measurement, Nuclear Sciences Institute, Grenoble, France; DESS Management from the Institute of Business Administration, Strasbourg, France. He is also fluent in several languages, including French, English, German and Spanish.

With its recent ERP system conversion, Power & Signal Group’s website underwent many changes. In the months since conversion, the company has gathered customer feedback and enhancement requests for improved functionality and ease of use. The company is proud to announce that the first phase of these changes have been completed.

The following enhancements have been made to the Power & Signal Group website:

• Standard pack quantities are again available on line.
• The online quote and sample order processes have been automated.
• Order statuses may be viewed at the line level.
• Order tracking information is available online.

If you have any questions on how to use the Power & Signal Group website, please contact your Customer Support Representative.