SPD: Plans to produce SPD glass

SPD Inc.'s parent company, Hankuk Glass Industries Inc., is Korea's largest glass manufacturer and is a licensee of Research Frontiers Incorporated.

SPD Inc. was formed as a separate subsidiary of Hankuk Glass Industries devoted exclusively to the production and sale of SPD film and products.

Over the past several months, SPD Inc. has been fine-tuning and testing its coating equipment, as well as pilot production of SPD film and end-products. The SPD film and SPD "smart" products produced in these runs was delivered to customers including InspecTech Aero Service (SPD aircraft cabin windows), a large international automobile manufacturer (SPD sunroofs), and others. The remainder of the film inventory is being used to fill other near-term customer orders and for internal purposes.

SPD Inc. has successfully completed equipment testing and pilot production, and is now in the mass production phase, which first involves a transition to its new SPD plant in Inchon, Korea. The SPD equipment has been moved from the various pilot plant facilities for reassembly in the Inchon factory's two "clean room" facilities. The customization of SPD Inc.'s large coater and SPD Inc.'s facility for mass production of the raw materials used by this coater have been completed, and personnel have been relocated to the Inchon factory. The approximately 30,000 square foot state-of-the-art factory compound contains three floors of space for showrooms, research and development facilities, and offices, as well as two large clean room areas for coating and laminating. Expansion space is also available.

SPD technology uses a thin flexible film to regulate the amount of light passing through normally clear glass or plastic, and benefits users of a wide variety of everyday products such as windows, mirrors, eyewear and flat panel displays. SPD Inc. has previously announced its mission to market SPD light-control film to companies that will incorporate it into SPD-Smart(TM) end-products, and has also announced that it will offer a variety of its own end-products. Today, SPD Inc. is pleased to report that in response to market studies and end-product manufacturer requests, it will also produce and offer SPD smart glass to be used in end-products. They will supply SPD film already incorporated into flat or laminated glass, cut to customer specifications, with electrical interface built-in and ready for operation.

In January of 2002, SPD Inc. expects to be producing SPD smart glass in addition to delivering SPD film.