Stevens Urethane Awarded ISO 9001:2000 CERTIFICATION

Easthampton, MA — July 19, 2004 — Stevens Urethane, a leading global supplier of thermoplastic polyurethane film, sheet and tubing, has been certified to ISO 9001:2000 standards for the design and manufacture of extruded polyurethane products at the company’s Easthampton, Massachusetts facility. ISO 9001:2000 is a family of international standards covering various requirements for implementing a quality management system, and provides a framework for continuous improvement. Stevens Urethane is one of the few companies in its industry to achieve ISO 9001:2000 certification.

“We embarked on the certification process as a strategic business quality initiative,” said Richard W. Zimmer, president of Stevens Urethane. “While we’ve long been recognized as a supplier of quality products, ISO 9001:2000 certification demonstrates our company-wide commitment to maintaining quality at the highest levels. It gives us a competitive edge in the international marketplace, and assures our customers that we adhere to stringent quality management processes.”

The evaluation, conducted by ISOQAR, an independent auditor, demanded participation from every Stevens Urethane employee. Preparation for the evaluation, and the evaluation itself, spanned more than 18 months.

“This very significant milestone was made possible by the cooperation and teamwork of all of our associates,” said Cher Nicholas, director of process engineering and quality systems, who coordinated the effort. “ISO 9001:2000 is an ongoing process that involves a constant focus on quality. It has helped us develop procedures that will result in even better products for our customers. Our team-oriented workforce provided a lot of input to the improvement initiatives to ensure we achieved this goal.”

In 2003, Stevens Urethane was awarded a Massachusetts Workforce Training Grant through the Division of Employment and Training, to train its workforce in ISO 9001:2000 quality system principles, including documentation, customer satisfaction and continual improvement.

Based in Easthampton, Massachusetts., Stevens Urethane manufactures a full range of high-performance urethanes for use in a wide variety of “can’t fail” applications for consumer, medical, commercial, and industrial markets. Stevens Urethane is the only company in the world to offer urethane in blown film, extruded sheet, tubing, cord, and profile form.

For additional information, contact: Stevens Urethane, 412 Main Street, Easthampton, MA 01027. Phone: 1-877-TPU-FILM (1-877-878-3456). FAX: (413) 779-1259. E-mail: info@stvure.com. Stevens Urethane is a business unit of JPS Elastomerics Corp.