Timken Company has just opened two new manufacturing facilities in Asia, one at Chennai in India and the other at Chengdu in China. The company now operates a total of seven manufacturing plants in Asia.
“The opening of our plants in Chennai and Chengdu is not only important to our ability to serve customers in Asia, it represents a major step forward in our strategy of driving growth in global industrial markets,” said James W. Griffith, Timken President and Chief Executive Officer. “We will continue to make investments, both organic and inorganic, to take advantage of strong global demand in our targeted industrial growth markets.”
Timken announced plans to build its industrial bearing plant in Chennai in October 2006. The facility is located in one of India’s Special Economic Zones and will manufacture medium-sized tapered roller bearings for industrial customers. Timken has been present in India since 1992 and also has two other facilities in the country, a bearing manufacturing plant in Jamshedpur and a Global Technology Center in Bangalore that has the capability to design, develop and test new friction management and power transmission technologies. The company, which concentrated on friction management and energy saving products, would mainly cater to the global demands. With the completion of phase-I manufacturing line by October 2008, the production is expected to touch 310,000 bearings annually, he said, adding that it would touch 420,000 bearings under the Phase-II, expected to be completed by 2009.
Construction of Timken’s aerospace and precision products facility in Chengdu also began in the fourth quarter of 2006. The facility will manufacture bearings and related products for global customers and China’s rapidly growing commercial aviation industry. Timken, which established a presence in China in 1992, also has plants in Wuxi and Yantai and will soon begin construction of a new joint venture facility in Xiangtan to manufacture ultra-large-bore bearings for China’s wind energy market.
Timken employs more than 4,500 people in Asia and has operations in six Asian countries. The company had revenue of more than $400 million in the region in 2007.
