Wednesday March 28, 12:08 pm Eastern Time
  Press Release
  Symbol Mobile & Wireless Technology Selected To Track Steel Industry Purchases Via Web
  Symbol Devices To Transmit Materials Data From Point of Activity To 500 Producers, Customers Through SteelPartner.com Portal
  HOLTSVILLE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 28, 2001-- TRW Inc. (NYSE: TRW - news) has selected Symbol Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: SBL - news) to supply wireless mobile computing devices for SteelPartner.com, a Web-based e-commerce system for the steel industry. TRW is developing SteelPartner.com for the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), which launched the system to improve the industry's operating efficiency. 
  Within three years, TRW expects more than 500 steel processors will be linked with producers and using SteelPartner.com for planning, transportation and inventory management transactions. Symbol's technology will enhance SteelPartner.com by providing wireless transmission of information about all materials produced, moved, stored and delivered. Symbol's mobile and wireless devices will be deployed by roving steel workers to scan bar codes on shipments and transmit the data throughout the supply chain, so customers, processors and manufacturers can better understand where the materials are at any given time. 
  ``Symbol's wireless mobile computing solutions will help producers and processors better track and manage the inventory flowing through their supply chain. It will allow them to respond in real time to new orders as well as cutbacks, streamline production and reduce waste,'' said Stanley P. Jaworski, Jr., vice president and general manager, Symbol Channels and Alliances. ``Symbol and TRW are committed to AISI's goal of improving the industry's efficiency and profitability,'' Jaworski said. 
  ``We're using the standard called for by the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), which requires certain essential products to be bar coded,'' said Gary Marzec, chairman of the outside processors manager's group of the American Iron and Steel Institute. 
  ``SteelPartner.com enables us to track our material from the processor to the customer. TRW and Symbol will help us obtain information on what customers want in their shipment - the coil dimensions they need, the mechanical properties they're looking for in their steel --- all done through the Symbol wireless system and SteelPartner.com,'' said Marzec, who is also manager of outside processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), services and inventory control for LTV Steel Corp., a Cleveland-based steel producer and leading member of AISI. 
  AISI consortium companies include steel producers Bethlehem Steel Corp., Dofasco, Inc., Ispat Inland, Inc., LTV Steel Corp., National Steel Corp., Rouge Steel Company, US Steel Group, WCI Steel Inc., Weirton Steel Corp., Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp., and more than 500 steel processors. 
  About TRW 
  TRW Inc., headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, provides provides advanced technology products and services to the automotive, aerospace, telecommunications and information technology markets worldwide. TRW manages SteelPartner.com from its Pittsburgh office. TRW, which is celebrating its 100th year of operations during 2001, had year-end 2000 sales of $17.2 billion. For more information, visit www.trw.com. |