(Archived) Praxair Completes Major Upgrade of its North Royalton Plant

DANBURY, Conn., February 12, 2004 — Praxair, Inc. (NYSE: PX) today announced the completion of a multi-million dollar plant renovation to supply industrial, medical and specialty packaged gases to customers in the Northern Ohio Area.

The newly renovated 24,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility features automated filling of gas cylinders across a broad range of products such as helium, breathing air, argon and carbon dioxide. In addition to the primary facility improvements, a dedicated filling area for Praxair's Medipure® medical oxygen cylinders, including Praxair's revolutionary Grab 'n Go® portable medical oxygen system, was designed with increased capacity for the needs of the rapidly expanding healthcare market segment in northern Ohio.

"The upgrade to the North Royalton facility is expected to improve productivity, lower costs, improve safety, and increase our capacity to consistently produce high quality products," said Derek Castle, vice president of operations for Praxair Distribution, Inc., a subsidiary of Praxair, Inc. "It reflects a very high level of automation and is designed as a lean manufacturing facility, which means that there is little need for a large empty-cylinder inventory," added Castle.

Praxair Distribution, Inc. and its subsidiaries and distributors deliver a large array of industrial and specialty gases, equipment and supplies, technical expertise, and services to thousands of customers in the United States and Canada. With hundreds of locations throughout North America, Praxair provides differentiated product and service offerings that help customers achieve their objectives faster, better and at lower total cost.

Praxair is the largest industrial gases company in North and South America, and one of the largest worldwide, with 2003 sales of $5.6 billion. The company produces, sells and distributes atmospheric and process gases, and high-performance surface coatings. Praxair products, services and technologies bring productivity and environmental benefits to a wide variety of industries, including aerospace, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, metals and others. More information on Praxair is available on the Internet at www.praxair.com.