Above: In 2003, Timken drove opportunities with new products and manufacturing capabilities. Timken expanded the facility in São Paulo, Brazil to include the precision steel components business. Emerson Gomes, manufacturing leader – precision steel components, inspects equipment on the line. The company also introduced the StatusCheck™ condition monitoring system, which takes us beyond bearings. |
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More than 50% of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. are light trucks – pickups, minivans and sport utility vehicles (SUVs). It is a growth segment for the automotive industry and an area of strength for Timken engineering. We have leveraged our capabilities to win new business, including such new vehicle platforms as the 2004 Nissan Titan Truck. A global sales and engineering team from Japan and the U.S. worked with Nissan and some of its key suppliers to provide a broad array of products for this vehicle.
The Titan's front wheels contain Timken® SENSOR-PAC™ bearings and hub assemblies. The rear axles have Timken differential and pinion bearings and the rear wheels are equipped with Timken® UNIT-BEARING™ bearings. Timken® bearings are also on the front and rear wheels of the Nissan Pathfinder Armada, the company's first full-size SUV. Timken is targeting additional opportunities to work with Japanese customers in North America.
Timken’s focus on customer centricity means serving the customer on a global basis. This led our precision steel components business to expand its manufacturing capabilities into South America to serve a key automotive customer. Production at the newly expanded operations in our São Paulo, Brazil, plant is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2004.
Our Industrial Group’s focus on the customer also has resulted in new opportunities around the bearing. The StatusCheck™ wireless condition monitoring system transmits vibration and temperature data. This allows customers to readily detect conditions that could lead to overheating and breakdown of critical equipment.
Additionally, our new line of industrial lubricants expands our friction management solutions. Timken now sells lubricants for automotive, rolling mills, rail and high-speed manufacturing environments. |