On-Demand RF Bonding Systems

Johnson Polymer Becomes Strategic CODACO Partner

ROCHESTER, NY: May 10, 2004: CODACO announced today that Johnson Polymer, LLC of Sturtevant, Wisconsin, part of the SC Johnson family of businesses, has made a strategic capital investment in the company. The agreement includes strategic initiatives between the two organizations concerning the development and production of radio frequency (RF) polymers for use in the patented CODACO bonding system. In addition, Johnson Polymer has organized an internal group, with worldwide resources, to support its strategic relationship with CODACO.

"Our unique polymer technology is one of the enabling elements of the CODACO RF bonding system,” explains Mike Dalton, Johnson Polymer business director. “We are investing in CODACO because we have seen the benefits this technology can bring to helping customers improve the efficiency and simplicity of their processes as well as enabling them to create new products that are not possible with existing bonding methods. We believe in this technology and want to help CODACO accelerate the commercialization process.”

Johnson Polymer has played a prior role in the development efforts of certain existing CODACO formulations. While details of the agreement are not being made public, CODACO stated that the two organizations are engaged in cooperative formulating efforts in close coordination with CODACO customers.

“We are very excited to have Johnson Polymer as a strategic partner. Johnson Polymer shares our belief in the radio frequency bonding system, and its polymer technology is one of the enabling elements of the technology,” says Jonathan Gorbold, vice president and general manager of CODACO.

CODACO’s agreement with Johnson Polymer is expected to accelerate time-to-market for providing quick application-specific responses to customer requests for their proprietary technology: Cure on Demand Adhesives. The new bonding system consists of nonmetallic materials that allow pre-application on virtually any non-metallic substrate for later activation by RF energy. Manufacturers are not able to pre-apply tack-free adhesives to parts, freely manipulate the parts into complex assemblies, and rapidly activate the adhesive to bond the party.

Johnson Polymer’s unique water-based polymer system also enables the CODACO bonding system to be environmentally friendly in that the system does not produce volatile organic vapors, and once bonded, the materials are water-dispersible for re-pulping and recycling of disposable products.

About Johnson Polymer, LLC

Johnson Polymer is a leading global innovator of polymers that solve environmental, health and safety issues like VOC reduction in inks and paints, food contact safety for packaging materials, and recyclability for paper and plastic. Johnson Polymer is a global market-leading supplier of specialty polymers for the printing and packaging, paint and coatings, and plastics industries. As a leading innovator of environmentally compliant polymer technology, Johnson Polymer invests a large portion of its resources in research and development toward next generation products and technologies.

As part of a family of privately owned companies over 115 years old, and guided by the principles in its statement of corporate philosophy, This We Believe, Johnson Polymer’s objectives extend beyond financial growth and include broader social goals and involvement in the global communities in which it does business.

About CODACO, Inc.

CODACO develops and builds systems based on patented technology comprised of RF-activated polymeric materials and specialty RF power delivery systems. It provides materials and RF equipment for bonding as well as curing and drying inks and coatings. Winner of the R & D 100 2001 award, CODACO has a foundation based on a long-term development contract with a Fortune 25 company, but has recently expanded to developing solutions for applications such as filter manufacture, cap sealing, aseptic packaging and high speed curing of coatings.

The company occupies the former R&D facilities of Bausch and Lomb’s Ray Ban division and includes a specialized RF adhesive applications laboratory and state-of-the-art materials laboratories for analyzing formulation chemistries and bond structures. An independent company as of February 2002, CODACO was formerly a division of Ameritherm, Inc, a world leader in the development, manufacture and application of RF induction heating power supplies.