Timken Teams Up with Daido Steel for $60 Million Rolling Mill Expansion

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). Timken Company (NYSE:TKR) (Canton, Ohio) recently announced that it would spend $60 million and partner with Daido Steel of Nagoya, Japan to increase manufacturing capacity at its Harrison Steel mill in Canton, Ohio. Timken will be able to produce high-tolerance, special bar quality mill products for the auto market that includes Japanese automakers with plants in the United States. A 76,000 square-foot mill addition will be built. The project will comprise of expanded rolling, finishing and inspection capabilities. Upon completion, it will be possible to produce differentiated steel bars down to one-inch in diameter for use in power transmission and friction management applications.

Since its founding by Henry Timken in 1899, the company has been run by the Timken family. Today, the company boasts sales of $5 billion (2006), operations in 27 countries and approximately 25,000 employees, a proud history indeed. In 1916, the Timken Company was the only domestic bearing manufacturer with an in-house steel source. The plant has a proud chronicle of modernizations and upgrades. A new, larger continuous caster was added and put into operation in 1992. In June 1997, the Timken Company retained Centerline Engineering Corporation (Wexford, Pennsylvania) to provide services for a $55 million modernization of the Harrison plant. When completed in 1998, the plant became a leader in continuous-cast mall and intermediate-sized steel bars.

Today, the steel mill occupies over 7 million square feet of space. The expansion is expected to add some 30 new full-time positions to the 700 employees already on staff. The planned kick off for construction is scheduled for June of this year, with completion expected during the third quarter of 2008.

Daido Steel is offering up its own expertise in the manufacturing of the special quality small-bar steel. This small-bar steel is not currently readily available in the United States. The customers for the new lines of products include Nissan Motor Company, Honda Motor Company and the Toyota Motor Corporation. If all goes as planned with the relationship being developed between Timken and Daido, other areas of collaboration in the manufacturing and supply of steel and steel-related products between them will continue to flourish.

Industrial Info first reported on the Canton Harrison Steel mill expansion plans in January 2007 and will continue to track the progress of the expansion. In July 2006, Industrial Info reported that Timken was also investing $5 million at the Canton Gambrinus Steel Finishing mill for a new heat treat line. The design-build contractor on the project is SMS-Elotherm of Cleveland, Ohio. The new heat treat line project is expected to be complete later this year. The Timken Company maintains two additional plants in Canton, Ohio; they are Canton Faircrest Steel mill and the Gambrinus Piercing Tubing mill.

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