Above: The combination of Torrington and Timken has expanded our product line, our manufacturing capabilities and our competitive edge. Together, we won a contract to supply spherical bearings, a core industrial product, to a U.S.-based manufacturer of coal pulverizers. The contract also illustrates how combining Torrington’s design strength (spherical bearings) with Timken’s manufacturing capabilities (Ploiesti, Romania plant) worked together to win new business.
Our precision steel components business also is seeing results from its increased focus on the customer. By working closely with General Motors, it was awarded the contract for all the planetary gears (sun, pinion and ring) to be used in four new 6-speed transmissions for rear-wheel drive vehicles. |
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Supplying our customers with superior products and exemplary service is not new for Timken. What is new is how we view our customers, anticipate their product needs and find even better ways to serve them. In 2003, our focus on customer centricity – getting closer to the customer – improved our responsiveness while creating new revenue opportunities.
A leading example is our aerospace business, which shifted its reliance on the commercial aviation market to military applications, responding to demand for military helicopters. With the helicopter market expanding and product demand increasing, we created a special team to integrate all aspects of customer support, sales, engineering and quality to focus on the needs of helicopter customers. Today, military applications account for more than half of our aerospace sales – and opportunities continue to grow.
In 2003, our aerospace business won $20 million in federal funding to develop hybrid bearings for the next advanced jet engine for military use. Entering the process at this early stage gives us a competitive advantage, allowing us to design the products with our original equipment customers. Following our strategy of getting closer to the customer, sales in our aerospace business grew almost 10% in 2003, despite a decline in the overall market.
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Left: Showcasing our ingenuity, responding quickly to customer demand and allowing baseball games to go on rain or shine are all part of a 2003 Timken success story. Representatives of Miller Park Stadium in Milwaukee contacted our engineers for a custom solution to fix the retractable roof in time for opening day. The solution: rolling element spherical thrust bearings with an engineered surface. We delivered the bearings in record time, thanks to new manufacturing capabilities resulting from the Torrington acquisition. |
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