Industry News

Messinger Bearings Awarded Chicago Gear Contract
Messinger Bearings has been awarded a contract to provide 40 large bearings to Chicago Gear for use in eight Babcock & Wilcox coal pulverizers for Texas Utilities.

Babcock & Wilcox was awarded the contract to supply eight identical, supercritical coal-fired boilers as part of TXU's solid-fuel power generation program in Texas. According to Messinger Bearings’ press release, the eight boilers, each with a capacity of 858 MW, will be the largest of this kind under construction in the U.S. to date.

Messinger was selected to provide the 35.433" diameter thrust roller bearings because of the company's previous experience supplying this type of bearing for other B&W pulverizers. Messinger will begin shipments to Chicago Gear in April and will complete delivery in November 2007.

Sumitomo Drive Announces Three Promotions
Sumitomo Machinery Corp. announced the promotion of Ronald Smith to CEO/president. Possessing 25 years of power transmission experience, Smith has worked for SMA for the past 16 years, advancing through numerous sales and management positions. In 2004, he became the company’s COO.

In other news, Randy Satterfield was promoted to vice president of sales for Sumitomo's eastern division.

According to a company press release, Satterfield joined Sumitomo in 1985 as a field sales engineer. He has held various positions with the company, most recently as regional vice president of the southeast region.

Lastly, Steven Leins was promoted to western division vice president of sales. He has worked at SMA for 22 years. Most recently, Leins held the position of regional vice president.

Timken Sells Automotive Steering Business
The Timken Co. completed the sale of its automotive steering business, which operates facilities in Watertown, CT, and Nova Friburgo, Brazil, to DriveSol Worldwide, Inc. of Troy, MI. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

“The sale of this business, which has not been profitable in recent quarters, is part of the structural changes we are pursuing to improve our ability to create shareholder value,” says Timken president and CEO James W. Griffith.

The steering components business employs approximately 600 people at the Watertown plant and about 300 people in Brazil. It had sales of $110 million in 2005.

DriveSol, an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc., will continue to manufacture steering tilt shafts, intermediate shafts and steering components at the Watertown plant, and steering columns at the Nova Friburgo plant. Production at both facilities is focused on tube forming, coating, painting and precision assembly.

“As a result of our focus on driving innovation in the core areas of friction management and power transmission, we have decided to exit this non-strategic business,” said Jacqueline A. Dedo, president of Timken's Automotive Group. “In addition to our previously announced restructuring programs, we are continuing to examine and implement further actions to improve financial performance in our Automotive Group.”

Fairport Products Acquires Auburn Ball Bearing
Fairport Products, a designer and manufacturer of power transmission parts, announced that it has completed the acquisition of Auburn Ball Bearing from M.D. Knowlton Co. The new business will now be known as Auburn Ball Bearing.

Auburn Ball Bearing is a leading provider of quality thrust bearings. The “V” groove design of the Auburn thrust bearing reduces rolling friction and evenly distributes the load over the balls.

Fairport Products designs and manufactures power transmission components and equipment for clients across a number of industries such as machine automation, automotive and food production.

Auburn Ball Bearing will move its operations to Macedon, NY, where the new business will be based.

Paccar Announces Plans for $400 Million Powertrain Manufacturing Plant
Paccar Inc. unveiled plans for a new $400 million powertrain manufacturing and assembly facility in the southeast United States.

“Strong demand for high-quality DAF, Peterbilt and Kenworth products has resulted in record production and market share for Paccar worldwide,” says Mark Pigott, chairman and CEO. “The industry-leading reliability and resale value of Paccar’s light-, medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, including the success of Paccar’s powertrain, as well as exciting initiatives such as Paccar’s diesel-electric hybrids, remote vehicle diagnostics and software development have driven stellar financial performance.

“The 400,000-square-foot facility strengthens Paccar’s global manufacturing and assembly capability and positions Paccar to capitalize on growing opportunities in North America, Europe and Asia,” adds Pigott. “The $400 million investment in Paccar’s newest facility complements the $2.5 billion invested over the last ten years to accelerate award-winning product development, Six Sigma implementation, customer after-sales support and dynamic information technology programs in our capital goods and financial services markets.”

According to the company's press release, construction of the facility will begin in mid-2007 and is targeted for completion in 2009.

Tom Plimpton, Paccar president, says, “This will be Paccar’s most technologically advanced facility and reinforces our efficient manufacturing platform that builds the highest-quality products in the industry.”

Bison Gear Appoints New President
Bison Gear & Engineering Corp. announced the appointment of Martin Swarbrick as president and chief operating officer.

Most recently, Swarbrick was vice president and director of business excellence for Motorola. During that period, Motorola was awarded the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 2002 and the Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame award in 2004.

“Martin's track record as a leader in the disciplines of Performance Excellence, Quality, Customer Advocacy and Six Sigma will drive Bison Gear's continued growth by offering the best overall value package to customers,” says Ron Bullock, Bison chairman and CEO.

Swarbrick's 27 years as a business leader began in Ireland as a manufacturing engineer for General Electric, where, over a seven-year period, he progressed to manufacturing manager.

He spent the next seven years with Verbatim (Kodak) as operations manager. In 1991, he became operations director for Motorola's Land Mobile Products sector, and shortly after became vice president and general manager with responsibility for manufacturing operations and distribution for Europe, The Middle East and Africa.

Bison Gear & Engineering Corp. designs and produces gearmotors in parallel shaft and right-angle configurations, as well as AC and DC motors, for OEMs worldwide.

Danaher Motion Announces Record-Breaking Shipments of SynqNet Motion Network
Danaher Motion announced that shipments of its SynqNet motion and I/O network have exceeded 225,000 axes.

SynqNet is a motion control networking system for machinery builders in the medical imaging, packaging, machine tool, robotics, semiconductor, printed circuit board manufacturing/assembly and flat panel display industries. The system enhances machine throughput, modularity, reliability and serviceability, according to the company’s press release.

Global servo suppliers now offer more than 130 different SynqNet products, including standard servo and stepper amplifiers, I/O devices and custom multi-axis, integrated products for a wide range of applications.

The SynqNet motion network utilizes the industry standard IEE802.3 physical layer for robust electrical isolation and 100-meter cable lengths with a deterministic protocol layer engineered by Danaher Motion.

According to the company's press release, SynqNet was designed to meet multi-axis motion applications and to address industry trends toward interoperable, digital machinery.