Timken announced the opening of two new manufacturing facilities — one in India and one in China — to expand its presence in the region's aerospace and industrial markets.
The company will continue to ramp up production over the coming quarters at its industrial bearing manufacturing plant in Chennai, India, and its aerospace and precision products facility in Chengdu in China's western area.
Construction of Timken's aerospace and precision products facility in Chengdu began in the fourth quarter of 2006. The facility will manufacture bearings and related products for global customers and China's rapidly growing commercial aviation industry. Timken, which established a presence in China in 1992, also has plants in Wuxi and Yantai and will soon begin construction of a new joint-venture facility in Xiangtan to manufacture ultra-large-bore bearings for China's wind energy market.
Timken employs more than 4,500 people in Asia and has operations in six Asian countries. The company says it had revenue of more than US$400 million in the region in 2007 and now operates seven manufacturing plants in Asia.
"The opening of our plants in Chennai and Chengdu is not only important to our ability to serve customers in Asia, it represents a major step forward in our strategy of driving growth in global industrial markets," said James W. Griffith, Timken president and chief executive officer. "We will continue to make investments, both organic and inorganic, to take advantage of strong global demand in our targeted industrial growth markets."
