The plant will make Timken’s tapered roller bearings in sizes up to 300 millimeters in diameter for the global markets. The company said it expects to break ground on the 15,000-square-meter site during the first quarter of 2016, with start-up slated for early 2017, the company said.

"The new facility strengthens our footprint in Europe and further equips us to meet customer needs with our market-leading quality and service levels," said Christopher A. Coughlin, executive vice president and group president for Timken, in a statement.  

"This investment further advances the company's strategic growth plan DeltaX, which includes geographic expansion, competitive manufacturing and accelerating product development-to-commercialization activities, allowing Timken to more efficiently meet local and global customer needs."

Timken has 63 manufacturing plants and service centers around the world, eight of which are in Italy, France, Poland, Romania and the United Kingdom. Its first Romanian plant began operations in 1997, the company said.

"We'll continue to leverage the proximity to our existing plant in Ploesti, relying on its infrastructure and our well-established talent pipeline to expand our capabilities," said Andreas Roellgen, vice president for the company's process industries business segment and managing director for Europe.