The Hindu Business Line : Timken India soon to become manufacturing hub for bearings

Chennai, April 16 Timken India Manufacturing Pvt Ltd (TIMPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of the $5.2- billion Timken Company (TC) in the US, will soon become the sole manufacturing hub for about 70 per cent of varieties of the bearings produced.

Addressing the media the President and CEO of TC, Mr James W. Griffith, said the Chennai plant, created at an investment of $25 million, would help the global company achieve its core strategic objective of accelerating growth in industrial markets in Asia.

TC already has another subsidiary company in Jamshedpur, Timken India Ltd (TIL) and the “success of this facility gave us the confidence to make this investment,” he added.

The first phase of TIMPL with an annual capacity of 3.1 lakh bearings will be completed by October. The second phase will be operational by April 2009 and add another 4.2 lakh units. Initially, more than 80 per cent of the products manufactured would be exported to Timken’s plant across the globe and to several customers, including Caterpillar and Terex.

“Every product coming out of the assembly line is already sold to customers. The order book is full for the next 11 months,” said the General Manager of TIMPL, Mr Sanjay Sinha.

TC also has Global Technology Centre in Bangalore supporting more than 30 per cent of the global IT-related services, he said. In addition the centre provides accounting (both payables and receivables) for the headquarters and also offers design, engineering and testing services, he added.

Besides manufacturing bearings, TC has also been sourcing several components including turned rings and housings from India for its global operations. This year the sourcing would cross more than $40 million, said Timken-India Managing Director, Mr Gordon Robinson.

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