London, UK 9/19/07—Whatman has begun a three-year overhaul of operations, following completion of a strategic review. The announcement was made during the company’s review of first-half results (see page 12). The three-phase plan is designed to produce an £8 million ($16.0 million) increase in annual profits. In the first phase, Whatman has begun to address sales and operations planning, as well as data integrity and product validation issues. These changes include the discontinuance of certain product lines, a reduction in the number of manufacturing sites and the introduction of lean manufacturing techniques. In the second phase, the company will focus on top-line growth by strengthening its core business through application engineering and life cycle management of current stock keeping units (SKU), including the extension of the FTA technology into diagnostic and pharmaceutical testing applications. In the third phase, Whatman plans to increase R&D spending from 3% to 5% of sales. In addition, Bob Thian, who has been chairman since 2002, has announced that he will resign from the Board next May.