Metaldyne's Jun Xin Achieves SAE Fellowship Status

PLYMOUTH, Mich., March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Jun Xin, managing director, engineering-China at Metaldyne Corp., has been recognized by SAE International with Fellowship grade status.

SAE Fellowship status is the highest grade of membership bestowed by SAE International. It recognizes outstanding engineering and scientific accomplishments by an individual that have resulted in meaningful advances in automotive, aerospace and commercial-vehicle technology. The program, established in 1975, recognizes an average of only 20 worldwide recipients for this honor each year.

"This is a great honor for Jun," said Tom Chambers, president and COO of Metaldyne. "His many contributions to the advancement of new engine technology have helped move our industry forward while improving efficiency and reducing costs. His vast knowledge of the global automotive industry is a significant advantage for Metaldyne."

Xin is being recognized for his efforts to help advance the development of the Chinese mobility industry. He joined Metaldyne in 2007 from Chery Automobile Co. where he served as vice president, responsible for powertrain and hybrid research and development. He previously oversaw Chery's new engine and hybrid vehicle programs, leading a team of nearly 400 engineers, and was instrumental in developing the needed supplier base and associated technologies. He helped launch five highly successful gasoline engines, a common-rail direct injection diesel engine and a micro hybrid vehicle. In 2006, the 2L gasoline engine was recognized as one of the 10 best engines in China.

In addition to his outstanding leadership accomplishments, Xin has made significant contributions to the development of engine modeling technologies, which resulted in improved spray breakup models, multiple time scale combustion models, conjugate heat transfer modeling of an entire engine and wall film modeling. These developments have helped design concepts be reliably evaluated without prototyping, contributing to significant development cost savings.

He has published more than 30 technical papers and holds three patents. He was recognized with the SAE Excellence Award for Presentation in 2003.

Xin earned a bachelor's and master's degree from Zhejiang University and a doctorate from the University of Illinois.

Xin will receive this prestigious award during the SAE 2008 World Congress Awards Ceremony in Detroit, April 15.

About Metaldyne

Metaldyne is a wholly owned subsidiary of Asahi Tec, a Shizuoka, Japan- based chassis and powertrain component supplier in the passenger car/light truck and medium/heavy truck segments. Asahi Tec is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Metaldyne is a leading global designer and supplier of metal based components, assemblies and modules for transportation related powertrain and chassis applications including engine, transmission/transfer case, wheel end and suspension, axle and driveline, and noise and vibration control products to the motor vehicle industry.

Headquartered in Plymouth, Mich., Metaldyne has annual revenues of approximately $1.8 billion. The company employs more than 6,500 employees at 33 facilities in 14 countries.

For more information, please visit www.metaldyne.com.