Honored with E-Z-GO at 21st Shingo Prize Conference

Williamsport, PA - June 1, 2009 - Lycoming Engines, a Textron Inc. company (NYSE: TXT), was recently honored for its operational excellence at the 21st Annual Shingo Prize Conference in Nashville, Tenn. Ian Walsh, Lycoming senior vice president and general manager, accepted the Shingo Silver Medallion at the conference’s gala.

“The Shingo Silver Medallion makes a strong statement that Lycoming has transformed itself into a world-class manufacturer,” Walsh said. “It also helps us set the bar for moving up to the top honor, The Shingo Prize, which we were proud and excited to see our teammates at E-Z-GO win at this year’s Shingo ceremony. Way to go E-Z-GO!”

Dubbed the “Nobel Prize for manufacturing,” the Shingo Prize is named in honor of Dr. Shigeo Shingo, the famous engineer who helped create the Toyota Production System and other Lean Manufacturing processes. The Shingo Prize program is recognized as the global, premier award process for operational excellence. Businesses can challenge for Shingo only after they have shown measurable, statisitical and sustained levels of operational excellence and exhibit a lean culture across all functions.

After submitting a comprehensive report based on its achievements over a minimum of three years, the business then must undergo a rigorous multi-day on-site evaluation. Scores for the Shingo Award are given in several categories, including leadership and ethics, people development, continuous process improvement, lean enterprise culture, and business results.

Since beginning its transformation in 2005, Lycoming has:

• Improved quality and reduced non-conformities by over 90 percent;
• Improved safety by 30 percent and twice gone one million hours without a lost time injury;
• Improved OEM on-time delivery from 40 to 98 percent and been named one of Cessna’s “Top Suppliers,” the first engine manufacturer so honored;
• Benchmarked for our Value Stream Improvement Process (VSIP) and Quality Improvement Process (QIP)

Lycoming’s Shingo evaluation took place last fall and the award was announced in December.

About Lycoming Engines
Lycoming Engines specializes in Engineering, Manufacture, Service and Support of piston aircraft engines. Headquartered in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Lycoming piston engines power more than half of the world's general aviation fleet - both rotary-wing and fixed-wing. Lycoming Engines is a division of Avco Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Textron Inc. More information is available at www.lycoming.com.

About Textron Inc.
Textron Inc. is a multi-industry company that leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft Company, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Greenlee, and Textron Systems. More information is available at www.textron.com.