For Immediate Release

October 31, 2003

Contact:	Hector Bourgeois
	Phone (508) 563-7181 Fax (508) 564-4851

Cape Cod, Massachusetts – Fern Engineering Inc., a worldwide engineering company that provides expert consulting services and products to the turbomachinery industry, announced today that it will supply its well-proven design for the transition section between the gas generator and power turbine of a Rolls-Royce Avon gas turbine to Rolls-Royce Power Engineering plc, a UK-based company. Rolls-Royce plans to integrate Fern's design, which features an expansion joint configuration that accommodates thermal growth, on all new Avons. Fern's expansion joint design will also be utilized as a replacement part for existing Avons.

Under the terms of the agreement, Fern will be the sole supplier for a period of three years for the expansion joint design. Fern Engineering's president, Hector Bourgeois, said, "This agreement gives us access to the worldwide fleet of Avon's for the retrofit market. This allows us to provide our design to a much larger audience."

Fern first developed the design in 1996 at the request of an Avon user, and has sold 27 units as after-market replacements. All 27 are still in service today, proving the reliability of the piece, which is composed of fatigue-resistant Inconel 625 metal.