Owens Corning Advances on FORTUNE's 2008 List of 'America's Most Admired Companies'

Company Ranks First Among Industry Peers in Innovation

TOLEDO, Ohio, March 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Owens Corning (NYSE:OC) ranked third in the Building Materials, Glass Industry of FORTUNE's 2008 list of "America's Most Admired Companies" compared with a ranking of fourth in 2007.

"We are proud that Owens Corning ranks among America's most admired companies," said Mike Thaman, chairman and chief executive officer. "We will continue to build the company's reputation as an enterprise that delivers increasing value to its customers and shareholders by focusing on our growth initiatives."

The Most Admired list is the definitive report card on corporate reputations. FORTUNE's survey partners at Hay Group started with the FORTUNE 1,000 -- the 1,000 largest U.S. companies ranked by revenue -- and the top foreign ones operating in the U.S. Hay sorted them by industry and selected the ten largest in each. To create the 63 industry lists, Hay asked executives, directors and analysts to rate companies in their own industry on eight criteria: quality of management; quality of products and services; innovation; long-term investment value; financial soundness; ability to attract, develop and keep talented people; social responsibility; and use of corporate assets.

About Owens Corning

Owens Corning (NYSE:OC) is a leading global producer of residential and commercial building materials, glass fiber reinforcements and engineered materials for composite systems. A Fortune 500 company for 53 consecutive years, Owens Corning is committed to driving sustainability through delivering solutions, transforming markets and enhancing lives. Founded in 1938, Owens Corning is a market-leading innovator of glass fiber technology with sales of $5 billion in 2007 and 19,000 employees in 26 countries on five continents. Additional information is available at www.owenscorning.com.

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Source: Owens Corning

CONTACT: Jason Saragian of Owens Corning, +1-419-248-8987

Web site: http://www.owenscorning.com/

Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/677350.html

2008-03-17 18:17:54 0314410 PRNEWSWIRE