PRESS RELEASE

Don Lummus, President and CEO of Davenport Industries noted that both Crudgington and Davenport Machine are involved in the design and manufacture of CNC and mechanical multiple spindle lathes and their component parts. B&S Screw Machine Services exclusively manufacture and distribute genuine Brown & Sharpe automatic lathe component parts. In announcing the acquisistions Lummus said "With these acquisitions, Davenport Industries establishes itself as the leading supplier of high quality, high production, quick changeover, flexible metal turning systems in the world today". Light Machine is the world leader in bench top machining centers and through its marketing agreement with partner company, Eshed Robotec, is a world leader in the design and manufacture of equipment and software for teaching manufacturing technology from stand alone modules through Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM).

Lummus , who will also be president of the Davenport Machine Division, announced that John Crudgington, David Petherbridge and Darrel Dregne will continue as the Division Presidents of Crudgington Machine Tools, B&S Screw Machine Services and Light Machine respectively. Darren Bird, Chief Financial Officer of Davenport Machine, has also been named Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Davenport Industries, LLC. Pat Muscarella and Dale Campbell will continue as Vice Presidents of the Davenport Machine Division.

The company plans to streamline its parts distribution systems and customer service operations while accelerating new machine introductions in the American and European markets. Current new machine offerings are (1) the Crudgington CMT-830 eight spindle CNC 1.1/4 inch capacity lathe with up to 32 axes of motion. (2) the Davenport Machine LS-522 five spindle computer controlled 7/8 inch capacity with up to 32 axes of motion and (3) the Light Machine Benchman XT Machining Center for secondary operations and job lot production. New machine introductions planned for 2000 include the servo powered version of the Davenport Model B Lathe in March and the Crudgington CMT-665 six spindle CNC 2.5/8 inch capacity lathe with up to 24 axes of motion in December.

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