Pirelli wins a prize in the USA

PIRELLI'S " MIRS e-FACTORY" WINS THE AMERICAN FROST & SULLIVAN 2001 AWARD FOR TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION

Milan, January 11th, 2002 - Pirelli have won the " Market Engineering Technology Innovation Award 2001" awarded in the USA by Frost & Sullivan, the California-based industrial research and studies company. The award is for the development of the new MIRS technology (Modular Integrated Robotized System) used for the design and manufacture of tyres.

Pirelli received this prestigious award " for clear superiority in tyre industry technology: Pirelli's outstanding achievement lies in being the first company to create a tyres e-factory, and in its ability to manage the whole business cycle on-line, thus driving down production costs" .

The highly effective MIRS system is a fully automated e-factory, providing maximum manufacturing flexibility. The factory is entirely computer-managed, from the processing of the order through to delivery of the end product. In the view of Frost & Sullivan's analysts, " Pirelli have achieved an 80% increase in productivity thanks to the use of robots, which also means savings in labour, materials and energy costs" . Production times have also been significantly reduced: with traditional technology up to six days are needed to produce all the components of a tyre and then assemble them. Whereas with MIRS the whole process takes 72 minutes.

Three MIRS e-factories are currently operating in Italy, (Milan-Bicocca), Germany and England. The Breuberg factory in Germany produces the Eufori@ Run Flat tyre (which guarantees completely safe performance for up to 150 km, even after a puncture). The tyre is fitted to the new Mini Cooper produced by BMW.
In the meantime in Rome, Georgia, the factory that will house the first MIRS e-factory in the United States is currently under construction.

As Alfred Ortiz, Frost & Sullivan's industrial analyst put it: " The setting up of MIRS in North America will push other tyre manufacturers to follow Pirelli's leadership in manufacturing. As the sole creator and owner of MIRS technology, Pirelli have clearly demonstrated their worldwide cutting edge leadership in tyre manufacturing" .