NORTH CANTON, Ohio,
April 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The
Timken Company (NYSE: TKR; www.timken.com) announces the opening of
a new, 27,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art gear drive
manufacturing facility in Houston.
An integral part of the Timken Power Systems group, the new plant
will significantly improve production efficiencies in the
manufacture of Philadelphia Gear® brand high-speed
drives. A long-time designer and innovator of high-speed gear
drives serving the energy industry, Timken opened the dedicated
facility to expand the company's ability to capture strategic
opportunities with new and legacy original equipment (OE)
customers.
"This investment represents our commitment to meet the growing
demands of our energy-market customers," said Carl Rapp, vice president of Timken Power
Systems. "The new facility will be able to supply customers in the
power generation, oil and gas, refining and pumping industries with
reliable, high-speed gearboxes to keep their pumps, compressors and
generators running in some of the most challenging operating
environments in the world. While low oil prices represent a
near-term challenge to the industry, we expect sales for our new
high-speed gear drives to continue to grow over the coming
years."
To meet growing demand, Timken Power Systems equipped the
facility with two 5-AXIS machines that employ gear milling
technology instead of the traditional hobbing process. These
machines can perform up to six different operations used to
produce helical gears, shafts and pinions from raw material,
with the potential to reduce the OE production cycle by weeks.
"The gear milling process, for example, can reduce pure machine
time of a standard-sized gear from 110 hours to 25 hours," said
Boyd Swearingen, general manager of
the new facility, as well as Timken Power Systems' business in the
Gulf Coast, Latin American and Middle
East regions. The milled gear teeth are finish ground on a
traditional Hofler form grinder to achieve the required AGMA 14
quality level of Philadelphia Gear drives. Before shipment, each
gearbox then undergoes a full-speed no-load spin test that measures
sound levels, temperatures and vibration.
Swearingen noted that in addition to the state-of-the-art
equipment, the Houston facility is
unique for a gear shop and incorporates ergonomic safeguards in the
assembly area. "It's a very clean plant, not what you typically
think of as a gear shop," Swearingen said. "In addition to the
machinery being totally enclosed and EPA-compliant, all the
electrical and plumbing are buried within the foundation to remove
hazards and enhance the aesthetics of the facility."
(To view a short video of the new milling process as well as
facility images, visit the Image and Video galleries at
www.timken.com/news.)
The Timken Company has been steadily expanding its ability to
service the entire industrial powertrain beyond bearings by
leveraging its recent acquisitions of leading brands that provide
solutions in gear motor and generator services as well as
electronic controls. The Timken Power Systems geographic footprint
now provides services from more than 20 locations in seven
countries.
About The Timken Company
The Timken Company
(NYSE: TKR; www.timken.com) engineers, manufactures and markets
bearings, transmissions, gearboxes, chain and related products, and
offers a spectrum of powertrain rebuild and repair services. The
leading authority on tapered roller bearings, Timken today applies
its deep knowledge of metallurgy, tribology and mechanical power
transmission across a variety of bearings and related systems to
improve reliability and efficiency of machinery and equipment all
around the world. The company's growing product and services
portfolio features many strong industrial brands including
Timken®, Fafnir®, Philadelphia
Gear®, Interlube® and
Drives®. Known for its quality products and
collaborative technical sales model, Timken posted $3.1 billion in sales in 2014. With approximately
16,000 people operating from 28 countries, Timken makes the world
more productive and keeps industry in motion.
Media
Contact:
|
Investor
Relations:
|
Gloria
Irwin
|
Steve
Tschiegg
|
Communications
Manager
|
Director - Capital
Markets and Investor Relations
|
4500 Mount Pleasant
St. N.W.
|
4500 Mount Pleasant
St. N.W.
|
North Canton, OH
44720 U.S.A.
|
North Canton, OH
44720 U.S.A.
|
Telephone:
234.262.3514
|
Telephone:
234.262.7446
|
Mediarelations@timken.com
|
Steve.tschiegg@timken.com
|
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100210/TIMKENLOGO
Video -
http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/PRNA/ENR/199813-The-Timken-Company-Tooth-Milling.mp4
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
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SOURCE The Timken Company