MRO Today - Manufacturing Industry News Archives

Manufacturing Industry News:
News from the week of July 21, 2003

Study depicts TQM, online purchasing as top innovations
ISM announces details for sixth annual MRO conference
House approves cuts for MEP
Kodak to cut as many as 6,000 workers
Stanley Works announces 200-300 job cuts
New jobless claims fall below 400,000 mark
Survey of CEOs: Optimisim up, investment and hiring down
Global economic report sends mixed signals
OSHA cites clamp manufacturer following amputation
Timken wins federal funding for advanced bearing project
Snap-on to close factories, eliminate jobs
Airgas inks supply chain management deal with Goodrich
ISSSP debuts Six Sigma iKnow Knowledge Network
MRO Software unveils Strategic Asset Management offer
Ford, UAW discussing future of four plants in the U.S.
Online direct materials purchasing passes indirect materials
Timken and NSK form global needle bearing alliance
NIBA to host belting seminar in Colorado

Study depicts TQM, online purchasing as top innovations
An international research study of companies revealed that corporate executives believe that online purchasing and total quality management were the most significant business innovations for their companies. The research results, released today, were the result of a HI Europe study, conducted on behalf of Dow Corning Corp. HI Europe is a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based Harris Interactive.

Findings show that 40 percent of executives surveyed rank total quality management as the most important business innovation for their organizations in the past three years. The study also shows that 19 percent of executives predict that more than half of their specialty chemicals purchases will be transacted online within the next three years.

Respondents included 691 executives in the Americas, Europe and Asia from a range of industries, including textiles, rubber, plastics, paper, health care, electronics, construction, paints and coatings, beauty and personal care, and automotive.

"These results reflect clear trends in the external business environment," said Dow Corning global executive director for marketing, sales and customer service Scott Fuson. "It indicates that companies seeking to compete in the global marketplace need to maintain a consistently high standard of product quality around the world. Total Quality Management, as well as Six Sigma, have provided proven means to accomplish that."

Perceptions about the importance of total quality management ranked highest in Asia, as compared to the other regions. Forty-five percent of respondents in Asia cited it as the most significant business innovation for their companies, as compared to the global average of 40 percent.

"We recognized the importance of maintaining high quality standards early on, which is the reason we are pleased that Dow Corning has been granted global ISO 9001 registration," Fuson said.

The ISO 9000 family of standards represents an international consensus on good management practices with the aim of ensuring that an organization can continually deliver the product or services that meet a customer's quality requirements. To be certified to the standard, companies must implement a quality management system embracing all company activities.

Process engineering and supply chain management ranked as the second and third most significant business innovations, respectively. Among respondents who cited process engineering, the results were strongest in Europe, where 27 percent felt it was the most significant business innovation.

Among those who ranked supply chain management as most significant, respondents in the Americas gave it the highest preference, with 21 percent identifying it as the most significant, compared to the global average of 15 percent.

Research results also revealed that companies intend to move an increasing amount of their raw materials purchases from traditional sales channels to online purchasing channels.

A total of 7 percent of respondents indicated their companies currently transact more than half of their specialty chemical material purchases online, while 19 percent predict in three years they will transact more than half online.

"The movement toward increased online purchasing demonstrates the benefits of Web-based purchasing channels have been recognized and are being acted upon by businesses around the world," Fuson said.

The survey showed that the speed of this transition to online purchasing channels varied by region. Respondents in the Americas showed the fastest transition to online transactions.

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ISM announces details for sixth annual MRO conference
The Institute for Supply Management will hold its Sixth Annual MRO Group Conference & Workshops Sept. 30-Oct. 1 in New Orleans. There will be one-day workshops the day before and the day after the conference.

ISM said the following speakers agreed to give presentations:
• Cap Gemini's Eric Imrie will present eSouring - The Way of the Future?
• NOVA Chemicals director of global MRO purchasing and supply Mary Weddle will present The Procurement Scorecard, Measurement and Benchmarking.
• Supply chain partnerships presenter Tim Underhill will speak on the topic: Is MRO Purchasing a Commodity, or Is There Something More?
• Dr. Robert Kemp will speak about Humor in the Workplace.
• Case studies will be presented by Fritz Troller, Ashland Inc. director of strategic sourcing Terry Tyler, and Florida State University and Grainger on How FSU Buys.

For more information, click here.

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House approves cuts for MEP
The House approved a funding cut for small manufacturers during a time when the United States posted the highest unemployment rate in nine years. The manufacturing sector has shed jobs at an alarming rate – with the United States losing more than 1 million manufacturing jobs since the recession reportedly ended in November 2001.

The House Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary (CJS) Appropriations bill would fund the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) at $39.6 million, a 63 percent cut from the current level. The action approving the House CJS appropriations bill leaves the future of MEP’s national network in doubt. The funding level in the House bill, nearly two-thirds below the current level, would not sustain the national system of nonprofit centers. The Senate will likely consider the fiscal 2004 CJS Appropriations bill in early September.

MEP, a public-private program, provides small manufacturers with critical support to bolster our domestic production base and keep manufacturing jobs in the United States. For the past two years, the administration proposed funding MEP at $12.6 million, effectively eliminating the national program.

The House action runs counter to the $106.6 million approved for MEP in fiscal 2003 by the 108th Congress earlier this year. In the past, MEP garnered support from a majority of legislators for full funding. The leaders of the House CJS Appropriations Subcommittee received letters signed by a total of 246 fellow House members supporting $110 million for MEP in fiscal 2004. Reps. Jack Quinn, R-N.Y., and Marty Meehan, D-Mass., co-chairs of the House Manufacturing Task Force, made statements supporting MEP.

"My colleagues on the Manufacturing Task Force and I sent a letter requesting funding to the appropriations committee clearly stating the importance of the MEP to our districts and to our manufacturing sector," said Quinn. "This program needs full funding in order for our struggling industrial sector to compete worldwide and to retain the much-needed jobs that it provides."

"The Manufacturing Extension Partnership program is saving existing jobs, creating new jobs and generating income for manufacturers in Massachusetts and across the nation. In these uncertain economic times, adequate funding for MEP is critical,” said Meehan. “We shouldn't yank the rug from under our nation's manufacturers by dramatically cutting MEP funding"

Last week, Senators Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., came out against the House action, stating: “The decision...to cut the MEP leaves small manufacturers across the country without an important tool to remain competitive in the global economy."

The two senators spearheaded a Senate Manufacturing Task Force letter signed by 58 senators asking appropriators to provide MEP with $110 million in FY 2004.

“We are deeply disappointed in this action by the House. Unless MEP funds are restored in the House-Senate conference committee, it will have a huge impact on manufacturers – especially small, family-owned businesses that are the backbone of our nation’s economy,” said Mike Wojcicki, president of the Modernization Forum, the trade association for the MEP centers. “These funding cuts would eat away at MEP’s ability to reach out and provide services to the nation’s 348,000 small manufacturers. We need smart investments like MEP to fight soaring unemployment and sustain a strong position in the global marketplace.”

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Kodak to cut as many as 6,000 workers
Eastman Kodak Co. will eliminate up to 6,000 jobs as demand for its photographic film continues to decline, the company reported. Consumer attention has shifted over the past several years from film photography to digital photography, and Kodak is looking for more markets in which it can compete.

“Our traditional consumer film and processing operations continue to face challenges associated with the increasing popularity of digital photography as well as persistent economic weakness,” said Kodak CEO Dan Carp.

The cuts will stretch across the organization, affecting manufacturing, administrative, and research and development workers. Under Kodak’s restructuring plan, the company hopes to save as much as $300 million to $400 million every year.

In the meantime, Kodak is taking steps to diversify. On July 21, it acquired dental software and imaging systems provider PracticeWorks Inc. for $466 million. A foray into the medical imaging market could be exactly what Kodak needs to realize new sources of growth.

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Stanley Works announces 200-300 job cuts
The Stanley Works will cut 200 to 300 more jobs by the end of 2003, the company announced in its second quarter financial results conference call. The company has cut 1,100 jobs, or about 6 percent of its jobs, since the beginning of the year.

Stanley is eliminating workers and moving production to regions where production costs are minimal.

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New jobless claims fall below 400,000 mark
New claims for unemployment insurance plummeted by 29,000 to 386,000 for the week ended July 19, according to the Labor Department.

The decline marked the second straight week of declines and the first time since Feb. 8 that new claims fell below 400,000, a level economists use to define a weak labor market.

The more stable four-week moving average also declined, by 5,500 to 419,250. Economists call the four-week average more stable because it tends to smooth out week-to-week volatility.

The number of workers continuing to claim unemployment insurance after more than a week also declined, by 24,000 to 3.6 million, for the week ended July 12.

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Survey of CEOs: Optimisim up, investment and hiring down
CEOs of the nation's fastest growing companies have turned positive about the economy's prospects over the next 12 months. But, when it comes to their own operation, they hedge their bets with more-conservative revenue, investment and hiring plans, suggesting that the economic tide has not yet turned.

In second quarter interviewing, 59 percent of CEOs interviewed were optimistic about business conditions over the next 12 months, up substantially from 41 percent in the prior quarter. Only 9 percent were pessimistic, off from 16 percent; and the remaining 32 percent were uncertain.

Yet despite this change in perspective, a noteworthy 73 percent said their company's revenue growth could be stymied by weak market demand in the year ahead, only three points fewer than in the prior quarter.

Their next most-important concerns were minor by comparison: shrinking margins, cited by 36 percent (up a point); and lack of capital for investment, 24 percent, (up a point).

"Rebounding optimism may be traced to anticipation about the impact of the latest Bush tax cut package, and the hope that it will re-ignite discretionary consumer spending," said PricewaterhouseCoopers private company services managing partner Rich Calzaretta. "But, despite this change in outlook for the broader economy, these CEOs continue to have nagging concerns about demand for their own products and services. This suggests their business hasn't yet experienced an uplift."

Fewer fast-growth companies are planning major new investments of capital over the next 12 months: only 34 percent, down from 39 percent in the prior quarter. Planned spending is also off slightly, to an average of 10.7 percent of revenues from 11.4 percent in the prior period.

Fast growth companies are also maintaining a cautious approach to new hiring. Although 6 percent are planning a net workforce reduction over the next 12 months, and 30 percent will stay about the same, 64 percent expect to hire net additions, down from 69 percent in the prior quarter.

"Until they experience renewed vitality in their business, the vast majority of these CEOs will be tightening their belts and delaying their decisions on new investments and hiring," said Calzaretta. "They will need solid, sustained evidence of a stronger economic pulse before they risk adding to existing operations."

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Global economic report sends mixed signals
While there have been signs of moderate improvement in the first two quarters of 2003, a number of significant headwinds will continue to challenge the global economy, according to a recent report by the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI.

In The Global Economy at a Crossroads: Fears of Deflation; Prospects of Recovery, economist and report author Cliff Waldman wrote that some positive signals mix with ongoing concerns for the world’s economy in the next 18 months.

“The end of the Iraq war, combined with hopeful signs in the U.S. economy, economic stability in Latin America, and a more aggressive monetary policy in the Eurozone are all positive signs for a struggling global economy,” he said. “But, while the most likely scenario is for modest global growth in 2003, followed by stronger growth in 2004, there are still headwinds which are generating a degree of downside risk to a positive near-term outlook.”

Among the more optimistic factors for a U.S. recovery are the modest orderly decline in the U.S. dollar since February 2002, the significant fall in long-term bond yield rates since 2000, and the declining spreads in the corporate treasury market since October 2002, all of which facilitate an accommodative monetary policy to produce improved economic growth in the second half of 2003 and into 2004.

In addition, a well-timed tax cut will help continue to drive consumer spending, and a nominal recovery in corporate profits is now underway. Waldman argues that if the profits recovery accelerates and becomes more evenly distributed between cost-cutting and revenue growth, it will eventually lead to stepped-up business demand and hiring.

Roadblocks to a strong economic pickup in the U.S. include an elusive business investment recovery to date, skyrocketing natural gas prices, an increase in oil prices since the immediate aftermath of the Iraq conflict, deflation in goods prices, and a weak labor market.

Prospects for the global economy also remain murky. After an abysmal economic performance in 2001 and 2002, Latin America is showing signs of life. Argentina is clearly recovering, and the region as a whole appears poised for moderate growth in 2003 and 2004.

The same may not hold true for Europe and Japan, although the recent 50 basis point ease by the European Central Bank is certainly a plus for the languishing Eurozone economy, particularly as it faces the challenges of an appreciating euro. But the structural weakness of the German economy, which accounts for about 35 percent of total Eurozone output, and continued weak German data suggest that Europe will make little, if any, contribution to global output in the next year or two.

Recent data on the long-suffering, deflationary Japanese economy reinforce near-term pessimism regarding the prospects for the world’s second largest economy. China, however, is expected to maintain its momentum with GDP growth of 7 percent or better in 2003 and 2004.

“While Japan languishes in deflation, the signs around the world are as yet too faint to generate a concern about a global deflationary spiral,” Waldman says.

For more information on this report, visit www.mapi.net.

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OSHA cites clamp manufacturer following amputation
Specialty automotive clamp manufacturer R.G. Ray Corp. faces $150,300 in fines proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) following an accident Jan. 20 in which an employee lost three fingers in an improperly maintained power punch press.

OSHA opened its investigation Jan. 23 in response to the reported amputation accident. The federal workplace safety and health agency arrived at the plant after receiving information about the amputation and concerns that workers believed such an accident might reoccur.

The subsequent inspection found considerable problems with a dangerous and willful lack of machine guarding and power press maintenance as well as serious problems with electrical hazards, periodic inspection of power presses and other point of operation hazards.

"This company was aware of the hazards associated with power press operations and chose to ignore them," said Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao. "OSHA's commitment is to prevent the occurrence of such injuries and we are prepared to help employers achieve that goal. However, when employers fail to do their part in this effort, they'll find us ready to fully enforce our standards."

R.G. Ray Corp. employs approximately 350 full-time workers in Buffalo Grove, Ill. OSHA previously cited the company for violations of workplace safety regulations for mechanical power press operation in March 2000, and for not reporting an amputation injury in 1999.

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Timken wins federal funding for advanced bearing project
The Timken Company was awarded $20 million in federal funding beginning immediately to develop versatile affordable advanced turbine engine (VAATE) phase 1 hybrid bearings for aerospace engines. This is the first contract issued with Timken under the VAATE program for hybrid bearings.

The VAATE program is a joint initiative between the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, NASA and the U.S. aerospace industry. One of the program's goals is to increase the affordability of new turbo-propulsion technology over the year 2000 state-of-the-art technology

"Our initiative in launching this new and innovative technology supports Timken's growth strategy in advanced gas turbine mainshaft applications," said Timken senior vice president of technology Salvatore Miraglia. "Timken is proud that we have been asked to play a key role in developing these new technologies. We have been advancing technologies in the aerospace business for a long time. Timken previously helped develop a special bearing for the JSF X-35 fighter that was critical in achieving vertical takeoff, a key element to the aircraft."

Nearly $1.2 million was already targeted initially at materials development and testing. Additional development efforts in modeling, testing, sensors and integrated components will follow.

"We look forward to working together with others in the aerospace industry," said Timken president and CEO James Griffith. "And we're very excited about playing a key role in advancing the current state of bearing technology to make the next generation of turbine engines a reality."

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Snap-on to close factories, eliminate jobs
Snap-on Inc. will cut 560 jobs and close hand tool and power tool factories in Kenosha, Wis., and Mount Caramel, Ill., according to a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper. The company told employees during a meeting on Monday.

Work will move from the Kenosha and Mount Caramel factories to a plant in Milwaukee and one in Johnson City, Tenn.

Snap-on cited "customer and competitive conditions" as the reason for the decision, but said current workers will remain employed until Oct. 1, when the company will begin closing the factories.

Snap-on currently employs 12,800 workers worldwide. The Kenosha plant opened in 1929 and the Mount Caramel plant opened in 1937.

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Airgas inks supply chain management deal with Goodrich
Airgas Inc. signed an agreement with Goodrich Corp. to be Goodrich’s preferred supplier of industrial gases, welding supplies and safety products, with greater savings to those Goodrich facilities that use more than one product line.

The agreement is part of the Airgas Strategic Accounts program, which provides supply chain management solutions to corporate customers with multiple manufacturing sites nationwide.

“Companies are looking for creative ways to improve efficiency, manage their supply chains and reduce vendors,” said Airgas senior vice president of sales Pat Visintainer. “We have the footprint, the distribution capabilities, the range of products and a proven supply chain management process to deliver results across a customer’s entire enterprise, as we plan to do for Goodrich Corporation.”

“We are always looking for ways to manage our supply chain more effectively across all our divisions,” said Goodrich director of supply chain management John Foulk. “After having Airgas as our safety supplier for the past few years, we worked together to structure this new agreement to add gases and welding supplies and provide greater savings to Goodrich locations that use more than one product line. This kind of agreement would not be possible without people who provide consistent service and local attention at every facility.”

Strategic Account Managers and teams within Airgas’ 12 regional companies provide the day-to-day service through more than 700 branch locations nationwide.

“Airgas grew Strategic Accounts to more than $225 million last year as more and more major corporations sought to improve their supply chain management,” said Visintainer. “Airgas is committed to offering a solid resource to give customers the best total range of business solutions.”

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ISSSP debuts Six Sigma iKnow Knowledge Network
To further enhance information sharing and learning among the Six Sigma community, the International Society of Six Sigma Professionals Inc. introduced the iKnow Knowledge Network, a state-of-the-art collaborative information repository designed to deliver comprehensive, credible Six Sigma information online to ISSSP professional members.

"Numerous studies have shown that many individuals spend up to 10 hours a week searching for information they need to do their jobs," said ISSSP president and founder Roxanne O'Brasky. "A Google search of Six Sigma pulls up 566,000 results, a mind-boggling amount of information that makes it virtually impossible to easily access desired content. We developed iKnow to provide our members with a user-friendly, streamlined interface that quickly and easily delivers on-target information created and contributed by leaders in the Six Sigma community."

iKnow will deliver the information needed by ISSSP's diverse international membership, which includes Six Sigma professionals from the healthcare, automotive, aviation, defense, banking/finance, consumer goods, hospitality, home improvement and consulting industries.

Designed to accelerate the integration of Six Sigma with business processes, iKnow contains:
• articles;
• information about useful books;
• video, audio and PowerPoint presentations by ISSSP corporate member leaders who are experts in Six Sigma deployment;
• white papers;
• press releases and other industry news;
• notes from roundtable discussions;
• focused session archives;
• updates about upcoming events such as conferences, symposia and educational programs; and
• case studies.

Contributors to iKnow will include leaders in the Six Sigma community from ISSSP corporate member companies such as Bank of America, Dial Corporation, Dow Chemical, DuPont, GlaxoSmithKline, Goodrich, Honeywell, Johnson & Johnson, Kohler, Lockheed Martin, Mazda USA, McKesson, Raytheon and Samsung.

Six Sigma is a comprehensive methodology that strives for near perfection by rigorously defining, measuring, analyzing, improving and controlling existing processes to eliminate defects. Successful Six Sigma programs greatly increase cost savings, profitability, efficiency and customer satisfaction.

The iKnow Knowledge Network was previewed at ISSSP's 4th Annual Six Sigma Leadership Conference, which attracted more than 250 Six Sigma professionals from some of the most highly regarded U.S. and global companies.

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MRO Software unveils Strategic Asset Management offer
MRO Software made available an innovative approach to improve the performance of a company’s strategic assets. Strategic Asset Management Methodology (SAMM) combines value and performance management, best practices management, project management and operations/change management methodologies together into a structured and repeatable approach to implementing comprehensive asset management solutions.

The Strategic Asset Management Methodology helps asset-intensive companies to evaluate projects in a business context. For companies to drive bottom-line benefits from their asset base, they first need to understand which of their assets are truly critical, and how they interact with other assets and business processes. SAMM helps companies define and prioritize business improvement projects based on the relative criticality of assets. By prioritizing management activities based on asset criticality, companies will get the best return on investment.

SAMM is a comprehensive approach that covers the initial value discovery phase focused on identifying projects, followed by the realization phase focused on the execution of the projects, and includes an enhancement phase where performance is measured and future improvements are defined.

SAMM leverages years of successful field implementations in asset management. In the discovery phase, SAMM combines return on investment (ROI) exercises with an understanding of best practices and where better asset performance can lead to bottom line results. SAMM drives an organization to use the same approach and measurements across the entire customer life cycle. The customer benefits from this approach because Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) developed in the discovery phase to justify the project are carried over to the realization phase to measure performance and progress of the project.

SAMM is designed around MRO Software’s asset management suite. Using the detailed knowledge of the MAXIMO solution, SAMM maximizes the functionality to deliver bottom line results for customers.

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Ford, UAW discussing future of four plants in the U.S.
Ford Motor Co. and the United Auto Workers (UAW) recently began preliminary contract negotiations in which Ford will try to persuade the UAW of the necessity to close four plants and eliminate more than 5,000 jobs, according to the Detroit Free Press newspaper.

Ford said that its revitalization plan requires the closing of four plants, probably the Edison Assembly in New Jersey, the St. Louis Assembly Plant, Cleveland Aluminum and the Vulcan Forge in Dearborn, Mich.

Ford also wants to cut as many as 1,800 white-collar jobs and 3,700 blue-collar jobs at the four plants.

The UAW is not likely to make these concessions easily. The last contract with Ford put a moratorium on plant closures, so Ford has been forced to idle plants in the meantime, rather than close them.

The UAW's current contract with Ford expires Sept. 14. It was ratified in 1999.

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Online direct materials purchasing passes indirect materials
The percentage of direct materials purchased online surpassed the percentage of indirect materials purchased online for the first time since this report was developed in fall 2000, according to the Report On eBusiness from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) and Forrester Research Inc.

Survey respondents spent an average of 11.7 percent of their total direct materials spend using the Internet in Q2, up 1.7 percent from Q1. Indirect materials spending remained flat at 11 percent.

"For the first time, companies purchased more direct materials using the Internet than indirect materials. Large companies that procure more than $100 million per year also increased their use of online auctions," said ISM spokesperson Edith Kelly-Green. "Two of the main concerns keeping survey respondents from wider adoption of the Internet surround the lack of supplier enablement and integration with internal and external systems."

Kelly-Green continued, "Respondents cited the following as barriers to Internet adoption:
• most of our suppliers (99 percent) do not have B2B capabilities;
• not all suppliers are ready to participate;
• to use most Internet services, we would need to input data to both our MRP system plus the suppliers' systems; for that reason, we choose not to use supplier services; and
• lack of software integration capabilities between our company and our suppliers."

"All companies agree that the Internet continues to grow in importance, with 42.3 percent of large-volume purchasers saying that the Internet was very important to their purchasing strategy in Q2, an increase of 10.7 percent from Q1," said Forrester senior analyst Jennifer Chew. "These same purchasers made significant or dramatic changes to their procurement processes in Q2 as well, with an increase of 6.3 percent to 22.7 percent."

Other key findings include the following:

Supplier collaboration increases
Despite the limited capabilities of their trading partners, 60.6 percent of companies collaborated with suppliers online in Q2, an increase of 1.5 percent from Q1. Furthermore, 93 percent of companies that collaborated online either increased or maintained their level of collaboration during the past three months.

Online marketplaces attract more non-manufacturers
Thirty-six percent of non-manufacturers purchased through online marketplaces in Q2, up more than 4 percent from Q1. In addition, 15.1 percent of non-manufacturers increased their usage of online marketplaces, while only 1.5 percent decreased use.

Online RFP usage is on the rise
Some 61.8 percent of companies used the Internet for RFPs (request for proposal) in Q2, a drop of 4 percent from Q1. Despite the overall drop, 27.5 percent of companies increased their usage of the Internet for RFPs, 4.7 percent more than in Q1.

Large companies are using more e-procurement tools
In Q2, 41.9 percent of companies used an enterprise-wide procurement tool, a 1.8 percent increase over Q1. Additionally, 12.5 percent of large companies used the tools significantly more than the previous three months, compared with 7.3 percent in Q1.

For the Report On eBusiness, ISM and Forrester Research received survey replies from supply management executives from both manufacturing and non-manufacturing organizations. For more information, visit www.ism.ws or www.forrester.com.

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Timken and NSK form global needle bearing alliance
The Timken Company and NSK Ltd. reached an agreement to jointly serve certain Japan-based auto manufacturers and their principal suppliers with engineering solutions based on needle bearings and related services.

Project teams comprised of representatives from both companies will identify opportunities to serve those customers more effectively by offering a global platform for developing and supplying needle bearing solutions, thereby offering greater customer value than either company could provide separately.

The alliance builds on a needle bearing joint venture formed in 1963 between NSK and Torrington. NSK recently acquired full control of this venture as a result of Timken's acquisition of Torrington earlier this year.

"Going forward, this alliance presents us with an opportunity to combine the complementary talents of two leading bearing manufacturing companies to better serve the interests of customers who themselves have increasingly global needs," said Timken president and CEO James W. Griffith. "In addition to creating additional value for customers, the agreement enables the two companies to grow independently and profitably without having to increase asset intensity."

"Timken and NSK have a history of working well together," said NSK president and CEO Seiichi Asaka. "For example, we currently are building a plant with Timken in China to manufacture single-row tapered roller bearings, and we also will continue our agreement to serve the tapered roller bearing needs of certain Japan-based vehicle makers."

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NIBA to host belting seminar in Colorado
NIBA-The Belting Association will host a two-day belting seminar called Fundamentals of Belting Technology on Oct. 30-31 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

This two-day session is geared to belt fabricators with up to four years field experience, belting sales representatives at any level of experience and customer service personnel with up to five years experience.

Contact NIBA headquarters at for a seminar brochure or visit the NIBA Web site at www.niba.org to download registration information.

This latest NIBA offering features a DVD presentation on the following topics for both lightweight and heavyweight belt: history of belting; categories and elements of belting; belt selection; troubleshooting; and basic math calculations for belting.

Instructors are NIBA members with in-depth industry experience. Many opportunities for interaction among students and with instructors will enhance the learning process.

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