For Release June 30, 2008

Engineered Materials Solutions Expands with purchase of Hood & Co.

Engineered Materials Solutions, Attleboro, MA, is expanding its thermostat metals and parts business with the acquisition of Hood & Co., of Hamburg, PA. Hood was privately owned and terms of the acquisition were not announced. The acquisition closed today.

“We are very pleased to be able to bring together the different and complementary skill sets of two leading organizations in the thermostat metals business,” said Eric Olson, CEO and president of Engineered Materials Solutions (EMS). “Hood has a very strong presence in the heavy gauge thermostat metals and parts manufacturing side of the business, while for many years EMS has been the leader in the lighter gauge disc grade materials and parts segments. This is a very nice marriage of technological expertise and strengths. It increases our ability to serve our customers across product lines and it will allow our customers to streamline their purchasing and supply line practices.” he added.

EMS was formerly the clad metals business of Texas Instruments and is now a member of the Wickeder Group of companies, headquartered in Wickede an der Ruhr, Germany. The company is the worldwide leader in the production of thermostat metals which are used in a vast array of temperature sensing and control applications. The company is directly descended from the General Plate Company, which produced thermostat metals, and the Spencer Thermostat Company, which was founded by John Alby Spencer in 1921 to produce the snap-acting disc thermostat control that he invented and patented. EMS has manufacturing plants in Massachusetts and in China.

Hood & Co. was founded by Stanley Hood and incorporated in 1970. Hood has 90 employees and does all of its manufacturing in Pennsylvania. Like EMS, the company sells worldwide and it maintains warehouse facilities in Pennsylvania, Texas, Puerto Rico, France and Taiwan. The business will become an integral part of EMS and will continue to operate in Pennsylvania, under the Engineered Materials Solutions name.

“The Hood acquisition is an excellent fit with the products and expertise that EMS provides its customers,” said Dr. Jürgen Platt, CEO and president of Wickeder. “We will continue to evaluate additional acquisition opportunities that help expand these capabilities, as they arise.”

For more information on Hood or Wickeder, please visit their websites: www.hoodandco.com; www.wickeder.de.