Company news

The Timken Company, Canton, Ohio completed the sale of its Linear Motion Systems (LMS) division — Timken S.p.A in Milan, Italy, and Timken Deutschland GmbH in Stuttgart, Germany, — to Overseas Industries S.p.A., an Italian firm. LMS designs and produces linear guides for industrial equipment manufacturers, and in 2004 had net sales of about $40 million (32 million Euro). LMS also distributes needle roller bearings marketed under the Nadella brand. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

The sale includes the Nadella brand. Timken will retain the European needle bearing manufacturing facilities and transition needle bearing sales to Timken Torrington.

The company has also been awarded $7 million under an existing $20 million U.S. Air Force contract for hybrid bearing development. Timken will focus on quality assurance of rolling elements and new cage materials for bearings used in current and next generation gas turbine aircraft engines.

The $20 million is part of the Versatile Affordable Advanced Turbine Engine program Phase One, a joint initiative between the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, NASA, and the U.S. aerospace industry.

Steinmeyer GmbH, Albstadt, Germany, opened a direct sales office in Newton, Mass. The facility is responsible for sales and service of precision ball screws and lead screws in North America.

Aerospace Display Systems (ADS) and Transicoil Corp., recently merged to form ADS/Transicoil, and have moved headquarters to Collegeville, Pa. The 90,000 sq. ft. facility houses engineering, manufacturing, sales and marketing, and administration. A manufacturing facility in Malaysia remains open.

ADS specializes in the development and manufacturing of LCD technology, including LCDs, LCD modules, clocks, and chronometers. Transicoil manufactures rotating electromechanical components, precision motion controllers, instrumentation, transducers, and aviation/aerospace instruments and panels.

Together, they will continue to operate in two areas — precision rotating components and motion control — and will provide enhanced product offerings, new product development, and greater technical and sales support.

B&R Industrial Automtion Corp., Roswell, Ga., added Elec-Trol Inc., Hopkins, Minn., as a partner company in its automation distribution network. Elec-Trol represents B&R in Minnesota, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota. The addition increases B&R's market presence to 18 states. In addition, PacMation Inc., an independent distribution partner, has expanded its territory to include Oregon.

ABB MV Drives, Norwalk, Conn., has named Aaron Aleithe global vice president of business development. Aleithe is responsible for leading the growth of the business in the chemical, oil, and gas segment. He is based in New Berlin, Wis. and has a global and special North American market focus.

Aleithe has more than 20 years of experience in the drives industry. He has been employed by ASIRobicon since 1997, and most recently was vice president and director of Strategic Marketing.

Mectrol LLC, Salem, N.H., completed the sale of its polyurethane timing belt business, allowing it to concentrate on its motion control and automotive business units. The company will retain its headquarters, central engineering, and manufacturing facility in Salem, as well as manufacturing and sales operations in Pfungstadt and Wallau, Germany, Barcelona, Spain, and Puebla, Mexico.

The U.S. Senate confirmed William Alan Jeffrey as the 13th director of the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Jeffrey succeeds Arden Bement.

Jeffrey has been involved in federal science and technology programs and policy since 1988. Previously, he served as senior director for homeland and national security and assistant director for space and aeronautics at the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) within the Executive Office of the President. He has also held key positions at the Advanced Technology Office, the Tactical Technology Office with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office, and the Institute for Defense Analyses.

He received his Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University and his Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

SKF Spindle Service, a unit of SKF USA Inc., opened a service center in Armada, Mich., to better serve Detroit-area manufacturers. In addition to ball screw manufacturing and repair, the facility will offer spindle service. SKF reconditions and upgrades more than 6,500 spindles worldwide each year.