Jan. 18, 2007 — The Timken Co. announced it will invest approximately $60 million in its steel rolling operations to increase the company's capacity to produce differentiated steel products.

The investment, which will feature expanded rolling, finishing and inspection capabilities, will help Timken produce steel bars down to 1-inch diameter for use in power-transmission and friction-management applications for a variety of customers, including the rapidly growing automotive transplants. The project will also help Timken meet the demanding requirements for special bar-quality steel from a wide range of customers in the bearing, industrial, energy, distribution and automotive segments, as well as Timken’s automotive and industrial groups.

Daido Steel Co. Ltd. will assist Timken with the technical aspects of the project. Daido, a leading Japanese producer, has an outstanding reputation for manufacturing special quality small-bar steel and serving demanding customers, including Nissan Motor Co., Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp.

“We welcome this opportunity to work with Daido. They have an impressive reputation for manufacturing high-performance products and for providing customer service,” said Salvatore J. Miraglia Jr., President of Timken’s Steel Group. “We have already made investments to expand our large-bar capabilities to an industry-leading 15-inch outer diameter. With the new small-bar project, we will be extending our capabilities down to one-inch diameter, giving us an unmatched size range of alloy steel bar products in North America.”

Daido and Timken say they also intend to explore other possible areas of collaboration in connection with the manufacture and supply of steel and steel-related products and services.

“We recognize Timken as a company with a long history of steelmaking experience and sophisticated technical performance,” said Masatoshi Ozawa, President and CEO of Daido Steel. “The collaboration with Timken will bring us the best solution to meet Japanese customers' expectation of success in transplant projects of special bar-quality steel in the United States. Building on this initiative, we also will be exploring other areas of possible collaboration.”

The new facilities will be housed in a 76,000-square-foot addition that will be built at the Harrison Steel Plant in Canton. Construction is expected to begin in mid-June, with completion expected in mid-2008. Once complete, Timken expects to add approximately 30 new positions to operate the small-bar mill.

Daido Steel excels in the manufacture of specialty steel products and components for automobiles as well as industrial and electrical machinery. Founded in 1916, Daido markets a broad range of specialty steel products to companies such as Nissan Motor and Honda Motor. Headquartered in Nagoya, Japan, Daido operates an international network with locations in North America, China, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Timken supplies highly engineered bearings, alloy steels and related products and services from its operations in 27 countries. Timken has 27,000 employees and reported sales of $5.2 billion in 2005.