“If You Can Imagine It, We Can Build It””

1. June 15, 2000 email To: Paul Russell Page 1 of 3 Company: Hewlett Packard email: paul_russell@hp.com Copy: Bob Sanders email: btsanders@us.ibm.com Company: IBM Re: O-T-D Aluminum Pallet for EIPS Standard Paul, In regards to posting our drawing on the web, you certainly have our permission to do so. In reply to Bob Sanders questions, the weight of the pallet is 45.6 pounds/20.7 kg. The spacing between the deck slats (per the drawing) is 3.499”. This was calculated by the 60% minimum requirement per the Physical Properties of the “Suggested EIPS Test Protocol”. The top deck coverage per per our drawing is 61.6%. We based our design and engineering to meet or exceed the criteria as outlined in the above mentioned EIPS Test Protocol. We can certainly decrease the slat spacing by adding an additional slat which would bring the spacing to 2.155” (8 slat pallet). Or, we can utilize wider slats which would also decrease the spacing. This is only one of the advantages of our aluminum pallets, we can design and manufacture our products to meet any design criteria, without any additional costs. Our products are not influenced or restricted by expensive molds (i.e. plastics). The cost of this pallet is $94.00. In large quantities, a lease/purchase program can be utilized which would bring the cost to approximately $0.0376 ($0.04), per day, per pallet. This is approximately the same amount a company would pay for a daily trip rental for a wood pallet! The following life-cycle comparison illustrates how cost effective aluminum really is: (The comparison is based on a 10 year, direct purchase, total life-cycle) Type Wood Plastic Aluminum Life Expectancy 2 years 5 years 10 years Approximate Cost $20.00 $50.00 $94.00 Times purchased per 10 year cycle 5 2 1 Repairable? Yes No Yes Cost per 10 year cycle, not including repairs $100.00 $100.00 $94.00 above compared to Aluminum +$6.00 +$6.00 - Cost per year not including repairs $10.00 $10.00 $9.40 above compared to Aluminum +$0.60 +0.60 - “If You Can Imagine It, We Can Build It””

2. June 15, 2000 email Page 2 of 3 O-T-D Aluminum Pallet for EIPS Standard The above life cycle information is validated from a report by Battelle, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in August of 1997. In this report, steel pallets were used for comparison. Given that aluminum will not rust or require any maintenance, the total life-cycle expectancy should be greater than 10 years. It also indicates that wood and plastic pallets have longer life-cycles that can be generally expected in a real-life manufacturing environment. However, for sakes of comparison, I used their numbers. It should also be noted that the above figures do not include repair costs for wood pallets (plastic cannot be repaired), nor the administrative and operational costs associated with handling, storage and final disposal/recycling of wood and plastic pallets. If you have any additional questions or would like to discuss our product design in greater detail, please do not hesitate to contact me. Best regards, Terry Gabor Manager Business Development

3. O-T-D Aluminum Products vs. Other Materials Plastic • plastics represent a significant fire hazard - especially toxic gas release • when burning, Group II plastic pallets release THREE times the heat, pound for pound, than wood pallets • can splinter and crack • high tooling costs and expensive molds for special sizes • limited life-cycle • incapable of handling heavy loads over an extended period of time • can loose shape or “fit” over time (lower durability) • bulky design to meet load requirements - resulting in higher stacks and lost valuable storage space • costly recycling and disposal difficulties • very low scrap value Steel • rusts - requiring maintenance = higher life-cycle costs • promotes an adverse environmental impact from the process of scraping and painting • heavier - higher freight and handling costs • costly recycling and disposal difficulties • negligible scrap value Wood • fire hazard • holds dust and dirt - can contaminate product • decays • splinters and exposed nails cause injury to personnel and damage to product and equipment • difficult to produce uniform sizes in volume quantities • will attract insects if it is not treated - a real problem for international shipments • recycling and disposal difficulties especially if impregnated with preservative or fungicides • NO scrap value - costly disposal fees - negative impact upon the environment . Extra Costs additional operational expenses are incurred in handling and storing the above materials prior to their disposal.