Profile: The Timken Company (TKR)

The Timken Company (Timken), incorporated in 1904, is engaged in developing, manufacturing, marketing and selling products for the friction management and power transmission, alloy steels and steel components. The Company operates under two business groups: the steel group and the bearings and power transmission group. The bearings and power transmission group is composed of three operating segments: mobile industries, process industries, and aerospace and defense. The company manufactures two basic product lines : anti-friction bearings and steel products. In December 2009, Timken completed the sale of its Needle Roller Bearings business to Japan's JTEKT Corporation.

The mobile industries segment provides bearings, power transmission components and related products and services. Customers of the mobile industries segment include original equipment manufacturers and suppliers for passenger cars, light trucks, medium and heavy-duty trucks, rail cars, locomotives and agricultural, construction and mining equipment. Customers also include aftermarket distributors of automotive products.

The process industries segment provides bearings, power transmission components and related products and services. Customers of the process industries segment include original equipment manufacturers of power transmission, energy and heavy industries machinery and equipment, including rolling mills, cement and aggregate processing equipment, paper mills, sawmills, printing presses, cranes, hoists, drawbridges, wind energy turbines, gear drives, drilling equipment, coal conveyors and crushers and food processing equipment. Customers also include aftermarket distributors of products other than those for steel and automotive applications.

The aerospace and defense segment manufactures bearings, helicopter transmission systems, rotor head assemblies, turbine engine components, gears and other precision flight-critical components for commercial and military aviation applications. The aerospace and defense segment also provides aftermarket services, including repair and overhaul of engines, transmissions and fuel controls, as well as aerospace bearing repair and component reconditioning. In addition, the aerospace and defense segment also manufactures bearings for original equipment manufacturers of health and positioning control equipment.

The steel segment manufactures more than 450 grades of carbon and alloy steel, which are produced in both solid and tubular sections with a variety of lengths and finishes. The Steel segment also manufactures custom-made steel products for both industrial and automotive applications, including precision steel components. Approximately 10% of the Company’s steel is consumed in its bearing operations. In addition, sales are made to other anti-friction bearing companies and to the automotive and truck, forging, construction, industrial equipment, oil and gas drilling companies and to steel service centers.

Tapered Roller Bearings

The tapered roller bearing is Timken’s principal product in the anti-friction industry segment. It consists of four components: the cone or inner race, the cup or outer race, the tapered rollers, which roll between the cup and cone, and the cage, which serves as a retainer and maintains proper spacing between the rollers. Timken manufactures or purchases these four components and then sells them in a range of configurations and sizes. The tapered rollers permit ready absorption of both radial and axial load combinations. For this reason, tapered roller bearings are particularly well-adapted to reducing friction where shafts, gears or wheels are used. The uses for tapered roller bearings are diverse and include applications on passenger cars, light and heavy trucks and trains, as well as a wide variety of industrial applications, ranging from very small gear drives to bearings over two meters in diameter for wind energy machines. A number of applications utilize bearings with sensors to measure parameters such as speed, load, temperature or overall bearing condition.

Precision cylindrical and ball bearings

Timken’s aerospace and super precision facilities produce high-performance ball and cylindrical bearings for ultra high-speed and/or high-accuracy applications in the aerospace, medical and dental, computer and other industries. These bearings utilize ball and straight rolling elements and are in the super precision end of the general ball and straight roller bearing product range in the bearing industry. A majority of Timken’s aerospace and super precision bearings products are custom-designed bearings and spindle assemblies. They often involve specialized materials and coatings for use in applications that subject the bearings to extreme operating conditions of speed and temperature.

Spherical and cylindrical bearings

Timken produces spherical and cylindrical roller bearings for large gear drives, rolling mills and other process industry and infrastructure development applications. These products are sold globally to original equipment manufacturers and industrial distributors serving major industries, including construction and mining, natural resources, defense, pulp and paper production, rolling mills and general industrial goods.

Needle Bearings

The Company produces a range of radial and thrust needle roller bearings, as well as bearing assemblies, which are sold to original equipment manufacturers and industrial distributors worldwide. The applications include automotive, consumer, construction, agriculture and general industrial.

Bearing Reconditioning

A small part of the business involves providing bearing reconditioning services for industrial and railroad customers, both domestically and internationally. These services accounted for less than 5% of the Company’s net sales for the year ended December 31, 2008.

Aerospace products and services

Timken provides design, manufacture and testing for a wide variety of power transmission and drive train components including transmissions, gears and rotor head components. Other parts include bearings, airfoils (such as blades, vanes, rotors and diffusers), nozzles, gears and other precision flight critical components. Timken also supplies aftermarket maintenance, repair and overhaul services and parts for gas turbine engines, gearboxes and accessory systems in rotary and fixed-wing aircraft. Services range from aerospace bearing repair and component reconditioning to the complete overhaul of engines, transmissions and fuel controls.

Steel

Steel products include steels of low and intermediate alloy, as well as some carbon grades. These products are available in a range of solid and tubular sections with a variety of lengths and finishes. These steel products are used in a range of applications, including bearings, automotive transmissions, engine crankshafts, oil drilling components and other similarly demanding applications.

The Company competes with SKF Group, Schaeffler Group, NTN Corporation, JTEKT Corporation, NSK Ltd, Republic, Mac Steel, ArcelorMittal (Mittal Steel USA), Steel Dynamics, Nucor, Dofasco, Michigan Seamless Tube, Plymouth Tube, V & M Tube, Sanyo Special Steel, Ovako, Tenaris, Formtec, Linamar, Jernberg, Stackpole and FormFlo.