AIMS, Co. Completes Automated Quality Control System for LITESPEC Optical Fiber,LLC - LITESPEC’s Fiber Optic Throughput Increases 26%

Research Triangle Park, NC – October 1, 2001 Advanced Integrated Manufacturing Solutions, Co. (AIMS) today announced completion of the Draw Tower Automation System (DTAS) for LITESPEC Optical Fiber, LLC a leading manufacturer of high quality optical fiber.

“Every year the speed at which we can produce optical fiber increases dramatically. We want to increase production and improve the quality of our product through enhancements to our process,” stated John Spivey, Senior Engineer of LITESPEC Optical Fiber L.L.C. “We envisioned an automated quality control system that would allow us to increase throughput, optimize the manufacturing of optical fiber, and minimize our employee effort. AIMS products gave us dramatically increased insight into our manufacturing operations and transformed paper intensive manufacturing into a paperless environment. As a result, our staff was able to characterize and tune our fiber manufacturing processes such that we realized an average 26% increase in throughput (line speed).”

DTAS, a combination of AIMS Integrator™ and AIMS Monitor™ product technologies, allowed for a seamless integration with LITESPEC’s existing enterprise applications and and now delivers real-time data for process visualization and quality control. The AIMS Co. solution presents one, unified intuitive interface that integrates with all equipment allowing operators to transition from various equipment stations throughout the manufacturing process with minimal effort.

“We were very excited to contribute to LITESPEC’s vision of an automated quality control system,” said Bobby Mullen, CTO of AIMS, Co. “Our experience and knowledge in a broad range of manufacturing industries positioned us well to work with LITESPEC. We are confident that we provided a comprehensive solution that will scale and evolve as LITESPEC’s manufacturing demand increases.”

About LITESPEC Optical Fiber, LLC

LITESPEC Optical Fiber, LLC ("LITESPEC") is a joint venture company of LITESPEC Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of OFS Fitel and Sumitomo Electric Lightwave, Corp. (SEL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Electric Industries, Inc., Japan (SEI) for the manufacture of single mode optical fiber. The joint venture was officially formed on January 31, 1989, and is located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Currently, the customer base for LITESPEC's optical fiber includes both domestic and international cables.