OWEGO, NY, 10-FEB-03 -- A retail package sorting system for L.L.Bean designed and installed by Lockheed Martin met all operation requirements successfully during a recent peak gift-ordering season at its main order fulfillment center in Freeport, Maine. L.L.Bean is a premier catalog merchandiser offering apparel and goods for outdoor activities, including hunting, camping and fishing. We were extremely impressed with Lockheed Martin's know-how and ability to complete this project within a very compressed schedule, said L.L.Bean Engineering Manager Dave Lockman. The Lockheed Martin team performed remarkably well under a very tight deadline. They got us up and running with minimal impact, and the system greatly increased our capacity throughout our peak processing period. Lockheed Martin's support was outstanding. This is the most successful integration project I've been a part of, and significant credit must go to Lockheed Martin for that success.

We are proud to add L.L.Bean as another satisfied customer, noted Brian Tanton, vice president Material Handling and Identification Solutions for Lockheed Martin Distribution Technologies. Our work for L.L.Bean is a significant step for us as we continue to enhance our commercial distribution and fulfillment center business.

The Lockheed Martin system, which provided a new sortation line to support the company's growing retail business, includes computer controls, a linear sorting station and conveyor. Lockheed Martin was responsible for the overall system detail design, subcontract management, controls development, installation, testing of the system and customer training.

Lockheed Martin Distribution Technologies, Owego, NY, designs, produces and integrates mail automation, material handling, recognition, information processing and online postage systems for postal services, package delivery operations, corporate mail centers, and distribution, fulfillment and manufacturing centers worldwide. Distribution Technologies is a unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation, Bethesda, MD.