December 02, 2008

Timken India to become global manufacturing hub for bearings

It is reported that Timken India Manufacturing Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the USD 5.2 billion Timken Company in the US, will soon become the sole manufacturing hub for about 70% of varieties of the bearings produced.

The first phase of Timken India Manufacturing Private Limited with an annual capacity of 310,000 bearings will be completed by October 2008. The second phase will be operational by April 2009 and add another 420,000 units. Initially, more than 80% of the products manufactured would be exported to Timken’s plant across the globe and to several customers, including Caterpillar and Terex.

Mr James W Griffith president & CEO of Timken said that the USD 25 million Chennai plant would help the global company achieve its core strategic objective of accelerating growth in industrial markets in Asia. He added that "Timken already has another subsidiary company in Jamshedpur called Timken India Limited and the success of this facility gave us the confidence to make this investment."

Mr Sanjay Sinha GM of Timken India said that "Every product coming out of the assembly line is already sold to customers. The order book is full for the next 11 months."

Timken also has Global Technology Centre in Bangalore supporting more than 30% of the global IT related services. In addition the centre provides accounting both payables and receivables for the headquarters and also offers design, engineering and testing services. Besides manufacturing bearings, Timken has also been sourcing several components including turned rings and housings from India for its global operations.