['PROGRESS', 'UPDATE', 'KEY', 'TECHNOLOGIES', 'SMOKING', 'QUALITY', 'TECHNOLOGY', 'Product', 'Smoking', 'Quality', 'Technology', 'remains', 'a', 'critical', 'area', 'of', 'key', 'technology', 'for', 'B&W.', 'In', 'the', 'short', 'term,', 'our', 'resources', 'are', 'prioritized', 'to', 'these', 'objectives', 'for', 'both', 'Domestic', 'and', 'International', 'product', 'styles.', 'For', 'Domestic', 'products,', 'gains', 'have', 'continued', 'to', 'be', 'made.', 'In', '1983,', 'only', '35%', 'of', 'our', 'sales', 'volume', 'was', 'judged', 'at', 'parity', 'or', 'better', 'relative', 'to', 'competitive', 'styles.', 'By', '1989,', 'this', 'has', 'increased', 'to', 'over', '85%.', 'And,', 'product', 'recipes', 'and', 'tests', 'are', 'in', 'progress', 'that', 'could', 'potentially', 'take', 'this', 'value', 'to', '100%', 'by', 'year', 'end.', 'All', 'key', 'domestic', 'styles', 'test', 'at', 'least', 'parity', 'against', 'major', 'competition', 'among', 'target', 'smoker', 'groups.', 'Furthermore,', 'KOOL', 'KS,', 'RICHLAND', 'KS,', 'and', 'RICHLAND', 'LIS', "100's", 'test', 'superior', 'to', 'competition/market', 'leaders.', 'These', 'improvements', 'have', 'been', 'brought', 'about', 'through', 'the', 'development', 'and', 'application', 'of', 'leaf', 'blending', 'technology,', 'casing', 'and', 'flavoring', 'technology,', 'and', 'cigarette', 'design', 'technology.', 'For', 'International', 'products,', 'attention', 'has', 'been', 'focussed', 'on', 'key', 'KENT', 'and', 'LUCKY', 'STRIKE', 'styles.', 'Hased', 'on', 'test', 'results', 'received', 'from', 'Hong', 'Kong,', 'KENT', 'KS', 'tests', 'very', 'well', 'against', 'competitive', 'offerings', 'among', 'franchise', 'smokers.', 'In', 'the', 'expanding', 'charcoal', 'market', 'in', 'Japan,', 'our', 'KENT', 'MELDS', 'KS', 'and', 'LUCKY', 'STRIKE', 'KS', 'styles', 'test', 'at', 'parity', 'or', 'better', 'when', 'compared', 'to', 'both', 'other', 'USIB', 'brands', 'or', 'local', 'Japanese', 'products.', 'These', 'results', 'reflect', 'our', 'growing', 'technology', 'base', 'of', 'charcoal', 'product', 'development.', 'Product', 'Smoking', 'Quality', 'Technology', 'continues', 'to', 'be', 'the', 'top', 'priority', 'program', 'for', 'R&D,', 'Through', 'the', 'interception', 'af', 'consumer', 'test', 'products,', 'we', 'recognize', 'that', 'our', 'competition', 'is', 'continuing', 'toe', 'strive', 'to', 'improve', 'their', 'own', 'products.', "B&W's", 'objective', 'is', 'to', 'obtain', 'a', 'competitive', 'advantage', 'through', 'development', 'and', 'application', 'of', 'critical', 'technologies', 'in', 'support', 'of', 'superior', 'smoking', 'quality.', 'PRODUCT', '_INTEGRITY/FRESHNESS', 'Beyond', 'the', 'recipes', 'needed', 'for', 'superior', 'smoking', 'quality,', 'B&W', 'recognized', 'smoking', 'quality', 'must', 'be', 'presented', 'to', 'the', 'consumer', 'in', 'a', 'fashion', 'that', 'maintains', 'the', "product's", 'inherent', 'quality.', 'Thus,', 'Product', 'Integrity', 'and', 'Freshness', 'play', 'critical', 'roles', 'in', 'ultimate', 'consumer', 'satisfaction.', 'R&D', 'is', 'working', 'together', 'with', 'Engineering', 'and', 'Manufacturing', 'to', 'develop', 'and', 'implement', 'new', 'technology', 'to', 'improve', 'our', 'relative', 'position.', 'Both', 'of', 'the', 'major', 'competitors', 'are', 'also', 'focussed', 'on', 'these', 'areas.', 'For', 'example,', 'the', 'patent', 'literature', 'is', 'evidence', 'of', 'the', 'strong', 'commitment', 'our', 'competitors', 'place', 'on', 'the', 'development', 'of', 'instrumentation', 'to', 'detect', 'and', 'eliminate', 'defective', 'products.', '04540', '“ie', '526100217', ' ']