(FORT SMITH, Ark., June 4, 2004) — Four North American customer service centers have earned the prestigious President’s Quality Award presented annually by ABF Freight System, Inc.^® The award-winning facilities are located in Fargo, N.D.; Fort Wayne and South Bend, Ind.; and Kansas City, Kan. The President’s Quality Award is the highest internal recognition available to ABF^® service centers.

Each year, every ABF customer service center undergoes extensive evaluations that include a nomination process, a quality awareness survey, an on-site validation audit and scrutiny by the ABF Quality Implementation Committee. Finalists are submitted to the company president, who selects the winners. This year’s winning facilities are among 290 ABF service centers that compete in the rigorous selection process, which gauges resource management, damage/loss prevention, customer satisfaction and other key performance indices.

“ABF is committed to having the industry’s highest quality people, facilities, equipment, tools and processes,” said Robert Davidson, president and CEO. “The winning teams at these four service centers have distinguished themselves by being exceptionally responsive to challenges and consistently proactive in serving the varying needs of North American shippers. Their exemplary customer service is a benchmark for best practices in the transportation industry. They are the best of the best.”

Mr. Davidson is scheduled to present the President’s Quality Awards in Fargo and Kansas City on June 16 and in Fort Wayne and South Bend on June 17.

ABF created the President’s Quality Awards program to recognize facilities exemplifying the ABF Quality Process, a critical operational approach involving extensive training, oversight and assessment. “ABF defines quality as conformance to agreed upon requirements. That quality standard affords us the measurable ability to increase productivity, efficiency, and most important, customer loyalty,” said Joe Davis, director of quality awareness. “An ongoing emphasis on the quality process plays a vital role in successful operations by creating a shared language among employees, providing guidelines for identifying areas of nonconformance and offering clear channels to address and eliminate problems.”

Davis said the annual Quality Awards competition elicits best practices from all service centers by establishing new benchmarks. “The intensive selection process compares local performance against the highest international standards of proficiency to ensure that this recognition is substantial and meaningful. It creates a culture where continual improvement is a valued asset.”

ABF’s safety, security and freight-handling performance has been consistently recognized as best-in-class. Acknowledging this performance, the ATA presented ABF with the 2004 Excellence in Security Award. In 2003, ABF was awarded the President’s Trophy for safety by the ATA, for an unprecedented fifth time. ABF has also been a Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and Free and Secure Trade (FAST) approved carrier to and from Canada since 2003. During the past decade, 99 percent of all shipments handled by ABF have moved without a loss or damage claim. In 2001, the ATA selected ABF as the top LTL motor carrier both in claims/loss prevention and in security, the first such dual award of its kind. In 2002, ABF was again selected by the ATA as the top LTL motor carrier in claims/loss prevention.

ABF Freight System is one of North America’s largest and most experienced motor carriers, with direct service to all 50 states, nine Canadian provinces and Puerto Rico. In addition to its broad service to Mexico, the carrier offers service to 250 ports in more than 130 countries worldwide. Via its TimeKeeper^® service, ABF provides guaranteed expedited service for time-critical and time-definite shipments. The company’s Web site, abf.com has been ranked among the best 50 of all sites by CIO magazine and top 10 Web sites by BtoB magazine. ABF has been in continuous service since 1923 and is the largest subsidiary of Arkansas Best Corporation (Nasdaq: ABFS).

Contact: Mr. Danny Loe, director of marketing & public relations
Telephone: (479) 785-8803

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